Mantabuan Diving
Matabuan Dive sites
- Stingray Alley Way
More about Mantabuan Diving
Mantabuan is one of the eight islands of the Tun Sakaran Marine Park, a short hop from Sibuan on the Semporna day-trip circuit — and as the name suggests, this is the park's manta island. Sightings are never guaranteed anywhere in the ocean, but Mantabuan's cleaning and feeding grounds give you as fair a chance as this coast offers, and the backup act would headline anywhere else: some of the shallowest black coral gardens you will ever dive.
That last part deserves a word, because divers usually meet black coral at 30 or 40 metres, squinting in the blue. At Mantabuan the bushes grow within easy reach of a long, relaxed dive — dense thickets that shelter longnose hawkfish, winged pearl oysters and a steady supply of nudibranchs. Photographers regularly burn a whole tank in one garden.
Mantabuan Dive Sites
- Black Coral Garden
- Stingray Alley Way
- Star Point
Stingray Alley Way does what it says — blue-spotted ribbontails parked on the sand, with the occasional bigger ray gliding through. Depths across the island are mostly gentle, which makes Mantabuan a comfortable second island on a two-island day, typically paired with Sibuan.
Like everywhere in the Tun Sakaran park, access is by day boat from Semporna — around 35 minutes — with park fees payable and no accommodation on the island itself. Contact us to fit Mantabuan into your Semporna itinerary; it slots neatly between island days at Mabul and a Sipadan permit day.