"...Mabul Island is nudibranch heaven which makes it an ideal destination for macro-photography..."
Prices From
£1765
Full Board
Resort Information
Located on the southern tip of Mabul Island overlooking Sipadan, Smart Divers Resort is a cluster of 40 beach chalets all of which have attached toilets, hot showers and air conditioning. The resort also has a swimming pool, restaurant/bar area, beach volleyball, fishing excursions and a small shop. Water bungalows are a recent addition to the resort.
Photos
Diving
The dive sites of Sipadan are easily accessible (1 out of 3 daily dives are usually taken at Sipadan). However, Mabul, in contrast offers a completely different style of diving. Whilst Sipadan is the top of an underwater mountain, Mabul is a continuation of the Borneo landmass. Therefore it has more gently sloping walls, bottoming out at 30m. Attractions are of a smaller variety such as lobster, crocodile fish, moray and garden eels. The silty shallows around Mabul lend themselves to excellent 'muck diving' (a phrase coined in Papua New Guinea) offering divers who are looking for something unusual the chance to observe some bizarre (and often undocumented) marine life doing bizarre things!
A typical dive day includes three daily dives at either Sipadan, Mabul or Kapalai Island as well as unlimited beach diving at Mabul Island. During breakfast guests are assigned to dive boats and given the day's dive schedule. Restrictions enforced on Sipadan by the local government have led to the numbers of divers from other surrounding islands being reduced. Therefore, only one dive per day is allowed around Sipadan for those staying on Mabul and is done on a rotation basis.
Diving is included in the itinerary price with three boat dives per day, plus unlimited beach diving with tanks, weights, belts and air.
Itinerary
Standard Itinerary
Day 1. (Departs Mon–Thurs) Fly from London Heathrow to Kuala Lumpur.
Day 2. Arrive Kuala Lumpur and connect with your onward flight to Kota Kinabalu in Malaysian Borneo. On arrival you will connect with your flight to Tawau where you will be met and taken by coach and boat to Mabul Island for a seven night stay.
Day 3 to 8. Six days diving the spectacular sites around Sipadan and the chance to dive the sites around Mabul and Kapalai.
Day 9. Transfer by boat and coach to Tawau where you will join your flight to Kota Kinabalu. On arrival connect with your flight to London via Kuala Lumpur.
Day 10. Arrive London Heathrow.
Note: The above itinerary is a guide only. Explorers tailor-make holidays to suit your requirements.