Coral Gardens
Coral Garden starts with a deep wall dive with a sheer wall into the depths. It's possible to see Manta rays, turtles, reef sharks, etc. It continues on the shallow coral reef.
Coral Gardens is great for living corals and marine life.
Coral Gardens is Sipadan's two-acts-in-one-tank dive. It opens as the island always does — a sheer wall falling away into blue where mantas, turtles and reef sharks cruise past at their own altitude — and then resolves onto the shallow reef that gives the site its name: one of the healthiest stretches of living coral on an island famous for them. The 10–23 metre profile makes it one of Sipadan's most accessible headline dives, comfortably within Open Water range.
Turtle cleaning stations in the shallows
The second act is the one that surprises people. After a week of walls, divers forget that Sipadan's reef tops are a destination in themselves — and here the hard-coral cover is nearly continuous, busy with anthias clouds, turtles wedged in for a rest every few metres, and the parrotfish soundtrack of a reef being noisily grazed. It's also where your safety stop becomes the best fifteen minutes of the dive rather than a countdown.
Our guiding habit here: spend the deep half early, then budget real time above 12 metres with your camera on wide — the garden in afternoon light is the postcard divers actually remember.
Coral Gardens sits in Sipadan's permit-day rotation. How the 254 daily permits work is worth reading before you plan; contact us and we'll build your permit day around sites like this one.
Contact us to dive at Coral Gardens
- Depth
- 10-23 metres (33-75 feet)
- Visibility
- 30 metres (100 feet)
- Location
- Northeast of Sipadan reef.
| Dive site | Min depth | Max depth | Level | Dive Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Barracuda Point | 5m 16ft | 40m 131ft | AOW | Wall, Reef |
| Coral gardens | 10m 33ft | 23m 75ft | OW | Wall, Reef |
| Hanging Gardens | 5m 16ft | 40m 131ft | OW | Wall, Reef, Sharks |
| Lobster lairs | 25m 82ft | 40m 131ft | AOW | Wall, Reef, Big Fishes |
| North Point | 25m 82ft | 40m 131ft | AOW | Drift, Wall, Reef, Sharks |
| South Point | 20m 65ft | 40m 131ft | AOW | Wall, Reef |
| Staghorn Crest | 20m 65ft | 40m 131ft | AOW | Wall, Reef, Sharks |
| The Jetty | 3m 10ft | 40m 131ft | OW | Wall, Reef |
| Turtle Cavern | 14m 46ft | 23m 75ft | AOW | Cave, Reef |
| Turtle Patch | 5m 16ft | 12m 39ft | OW | Wall, Reef, Sharks |
| Turtle Tomb | 17m 56ft | 23m 75ft | Divemaster | Cave |
| West Ridge | 18m 59ft | 40m 131ft | OW | Wall, Reef, Sharks |
| Whitetip Avenue | 17m 56ft | 40m 131ft | OW | Wall, Reef, Sharks |
| Midreef | 5m 16ft | 40m 131ft | AOW | Wall, Reef |
| The Drop Off | 5m 16ft | 40m 131ft | AOW | Wall, Reef |
Divers: book your Sipadan permits in advance!