Eel Garden
Eel Garden is famous for its many garden eels, rising out of the seabed.
Featuring rose, red, blue and black frogfishes, giant mantis shrimp, blue ribbon eels, batfish, etc.
Eel Garden, at the southeast end of Mabul's reef, opens with its namesake: colonies of garden eels rising from the seabed like a field of question marks, sinking away as you approach and re-emerging behind you. It's a hypnotic start — and then the site gets down to Mabul business. This is one of the island's best frogfish addresses, with rose, red, blue and black individuals logged here, plus giant mantis shrimp in their burrows, blue ribbon eels flaring at the sand line, and batfish escorting divers around the 5–25 metre profile. For the practical side, see Surfing.
The frogfish beat
The frogfish deserve the emphasis. They move house slowly, so once the guides have one pinned, sightings run for weeks — ask at the dive centre what's in residence before you splash, and you'll descend with a shopping list instead of a hope. For photographers, the mixed terrain (sand for the eels and mantis, sponge and rubble for the frogfish) means carrying one macro setup covers the whole dive. Our post on best dive sites semporna sabah goes into this in detail.
Conditions are typical Mabul: around 10 metres of visibility, little current, Open Water friendly, best dived slow and low.
Eel Garden sits in every Mabul operator's standard rotation. Contact us to plan your Mabul diving — this one belongs on the list of any muck diver's first day.
Contact us to dive at Eel Garden
Location: Southeast end of he reef.
- Depth
- 5-25 metres
- Visibility
- 10 metres (33 feet)
- Location
- Southeast end of the reef.
| Dive site | Min depth | Max depth | Experience |
|---|---|---|---|
| Crocodile Avenue | 5m 16ft | 20m 66ft | OW |
| Lobster Wall | 25m 82ft | 40m 131ft | OW |
| Ray Point | 5m 16ft | 15m 49ft | OW |
| Seaventures | 12m 39ft | 18m 59ft | OW |
| House Reef | 10m 33ft | 15m 49ft | OW |
| Eel Garden | 5m 16ft | 25m 82ft | OW |
| Froggy Lair | 5m 16ft | 10m 33ft | OW |
| Paradise | 5m 16ft | 10m 33ft | OW |
Divers: book your Sipadan permits in advance!
