The SIPADAN Blog
Guides written from the water: permits and planning, dive sites, marine life, courses and the islands around Sipadan — by people who dive them for a living.
Sipadan Diving Guide 2026: Permits, Seasons & Planning
How to plan a Sipadan dive trip in 2026. How the daily permit quota works, when to go, the certification you need and how to guarantee your dive day.
Read the article →The Marine Life of Sipadan: What You’ll Actually See
Green vs hawksbill turtles, sharks on every dive, the barracuda tornado, dawn bumpheads and the rare visitors. What you'll actually see at Sipadan.
Read the article →The Best Dive Sites in Semporna & Sabah — Beyond Sipadan
A local shortlist of the Semporna region's best dives: Sipadan's walls plus the Mabul, Kapalai, Si Amil and Mataking sites that fill your week.
Read the article →Muck Diving in Mabul: A Macro Diver’s Field Guide
Why Mabul is the muck-diving Mecca. What lives on its sandy slopes, how night dives change everything and camera setups that work there.
Read the article →Learning to Dive in Borneo: First Breath to Sipadan
Try diving with Discover Scuba, certify with Open Water then go Advanced: the course path that ends with you diving Sipadan.
Read the article →How Sipadan Stays Alive: Conservation That Actually Works?
Why Sipadan's reefs still thrive: the permit quota, the November closure, turtle protection, cleanups and the mangrove connection.
Read the article →Sleeping on a Converted Oil Rig
Off Mabul, a decommissioned oil platform lives on as a dive lodge. What staying and diving from the rig is really like and who it suits.
Read the article →Hand Signals & Your First Dive Computer
A practical refresher on the hand signals that matter underwater plus a no-nonsense guide to choosing your first dive computer before a Sipadan trip.
Read the article →Borneo for Divers on Surface Intervals
Eight Borneo experiences worth adding to a Sipadan dive trip: jungle rivers, island viewpoints, pygmy elephants and one very slow beach day.
Read the article →Barracuda Point, Explained
What actually happens at Barracuda Point. How the current builds the tornado, when it forms and how to dive the site so it forms around you.
Read the article →Turtle Tomb & Turtle Cavern: Sipadan’s Underwater Caves
The story and the science of Sipadan's famous caves. Why turtles rest (and sometimes perish) there and what it takes to dive them safely.
Read the article →The Drop Off: 600m, 3 Fin-Kicks from the Beach
Sipadan's most surreal geography: step off the old jetty and the seabed falls 600 metres. How to dive The Drop Off and what lives on the wall.
Read the article →Sipadan’s Hammerhead Window: Honest Odds
Hammerheads do pass Sipadan: deep, early and never on schedule. When the odds improve, which sites produce sightings and how to be ready.
Read the article →A Sipadan Dive Day, Hour by Hour
From the 5:30 alarm to the third dive's logbook entry: a realistic walk through a Sipadan permit day, with 3 dives, paperwork and all.
Read the article →Snorkeling Sipadan & the Semporna Islands
You don't need a tank to see turtles here. Where snorkelers get permits, which islands reward mask-and-fins best and how mixed groups plan it.
Read the article →Where to Stay for Sipadan: Mabul vs Kapalai vs Semporna?
The three bases for a Sipadan trip compared (island resorts, the stilt sandbar or town), by budget, permit access, house reefs and boat times.
Read the article →The Best Time to Dive Sipadan: Month by Month
Sipadan dives all year but visibility, seas, schools and permit pressure shift by month. A realistic calendar, including the November closure.
Read the article →From Cousteau: A Short History of Sipadan
How a tiny oceanic island became diving royalty: the Cousteau years, the resort era and its end and the protection that shaped today's Sipadan.
Read the article →Underwater Photography: Wide at Sipadan, Macro at Mabul
One trip, two photographic planets: shooting Sipadan's walls and schools wide then switching to macro for Mabul's critters. Settings included.
Read the article →What to Pack for a Sipadan Dive Trip?
A working packing list for Semporna's islands: exposure suits for 28°C water, reef-safe basics, cash and cards and the gear worth flying with.
Read the article →Sipadan’s Bumphead Parrotfish: The 75-Kilogram Demolition Crew
Dawn herds of bumphead parrotfish at Sipadan: how they build the island’s sand, why they gather at first light and how to dive with them without losing the reef in silt.
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