South Point
South Point is famous for its fantastic wall of coral formations and pelagics such as manta rays and hammerhead sharks (early morning).
It's a deep wall dive with the wall dropping at a vertical angle into the depths. The dive ends on the reef where you may spot the blue ringed octopus.
Dawn hammerheads at 40 metres — the lottery
South Point is Sipadan's dawn lottery — the site with the island's most fantastic coral wall and its most coveted rumour: hammerheads. The wall drops vertically into serious blue, mantas ride the outside lane, and in the early mornings, when the light is still grey and the thermoclines shift, this is where scalloped hammerheads appear at Sipadan when they appear at all. When they do show, it is deep and early: expect to be hanging in the blue at around 40 metres in the first light of the day, not up on the reef top. Nobody can promise them; every guide on the island knows which site to be at when the odds are best, and it's this one.
Beyond the hammerheads
Strip away the lottery ticket and South Point still earns its top-ten place: the coral formations on the wall are among the island's finest, and the dive traditionally finishes up on the reef where the small-stuff sweep begins — this is one of the sites where the blue-ringed octopus turns up for observant divers, which is as good a reason as any to slow the last ten minutes to a crawl.
Advice for hammerhead hopefuls
Our honest advice for hammerhead hopefuls: book multiple permit days, take the first slot of the morning, and treat a sighting as the bonus on top of a world-class wall dive rather than the purpose of it. That mindset produces better dives — and, in our experience, more hammerheads.
Contact us to dive at South Point
- Depth
- 40+ metres (131+ feet)
- Visibility
- 30 metres (100 feet)
- Location
- South of Sipadan Island.
| 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!