Borneo’s crystal clear waters are full of amazing dive sites! Diving in this region is highly rewarding and you’re bound to see a multitude of things below the surface. Here are our recommendations for 5 beautiful dive sites in Borneo located on 4 different islands…
MABUL ISLAND
Mabul is just a short boat ride from Sipadan and is home to an absolutely incredible variety of aquatic life. You can find sites ranging from artificial reefs to wall dives, to easily accessible world-class “muck-diving”. Dives here are perfect destinations for underwater photographers. There are also two main villages on the island housing friendly locals, fishermen, and several unique dive resorts.
1. Mabul Lobster Wall
Certification required: Advanced Open Water (AOW)
Min Depth: 25 m (82 ft) Max Depth: 40 m (131 ft)
Visibility: 20 m (66 ft)
Site Type: Scenic natural reef wall
First up is Lobster Wall, which is likely Mabul’s best scuba spot. It’s a drift dive that carries you along with minimal effort. It’s a surreal dream-like experience to be whisked along the wall watching everything as you go by. This was our favorite dive, aside from Sipadan of course.
This site is loaded with many fish species including ghost pipe-fish, red lionfish, pufferfish, seahorses, and an assortment of eels. These truly amazing creatures are all hiding among the crevices and around the soft or hard coral. Don’t forget to look inside the cave, famous for its colorful lobsters!
Read next: Diving Sipadan in Borneo
2. Mabul Paradise II
Certification required: Open Water (OW)
Min Depth: 5 m (15 ft) Max Depth: 30 m ( ft)
Visibility: 5 m – 10 m (15 – 33 ft)
Site Type: Reef/Drift dive
Secondly, this is a shallow macro dive with lower visibility, but still plenty of strange creatures to discover! You’ll have a chance to see crocodile fish, cuttlefish that morph colors and hover like spaceships, beautiful peacock shrimp, bubble coral shrimp, staghorn coral, chocolate chip starfish, spotted boxfish, clown triggerfish, and green turtles.
Mabul Paradise 1 a.k.a. Froggie’s Lair is also supposed to be a phenomenal dive. We hope to dive here next time and find some frogfish in the sand or the crazy cool flamboyant cuttlefish. We seriously can’t believe things like this even exist.
MATAKING ISLAND
Located near the Malaysian/Philippine border, Mataking is a picture-perfect paradise. The creators of the TV show Survivor even filmed their first season here! It’s connected to a smaller island, Pulau Mataking Kecil, by a thin white sand bar. The north side has strong currents that attract larger pelagics, while the south side tends to have calmer waters featuring macro life.
3. Shipwreck Post
Certification required: Advanced Open Water (AOW)
Min Depth: 5 m (15 ft) Max Depth: 40 m (131 ft)
Visibility: 30 m (100 ft)
Site Type: Wreck dive
Mataking Resort sank a cargo ship in 2006 to lure many different species of fish. The boat attracts sweetlips, moray eels, jackfish, blue sea stars, and bumpheads. It’s also home to the world’s first underwater post office box! Scuba divers can post letters using a special waterproof bag and rubber stamp.
How cool is that? Additionally, it’s an awesome wreck dive for beginning wreck divers as the visibility is high and there is no penetration necessary – unless you’re feeling adventurous. Watch out for lionfish and scorpionfish – cool to look at, but not cool to touch. As we were ascending we even saw a trio of spotted eagle rays!
KAPALAI ISLAND
Kapalai is one of the premier macro dive sites in the world! Technically it isn’t even a real island anymore. It’s believed that it once was, but has since eroded down to a small sandbar. The beautiful Kapalai Resort is the only resort here, resting high on stilts above the crystal waters and underwater reef. There are many weird alien-like critters lurking beneath the waters in the artificial reefs and sunken boats. These structures were built to conserve the ecosystem and encourage new growth.
4. Kapalai House Reef
Certification required: Open Water (OW)
Min Depth: 5 m (15 ft) Max Depth: 40 m (131 ft)
Visibility: 30 m (100 ft)
Site Type: Large artificial house reef
Enjoy finding multi-colored nudibranchs, the famed blue-ringed octopus, frogfish, leaf scorpionfish, and sweetlips peaking out of the house reef. Don’t miss the mandarin fish performing their evening mating ritual around sunset.
It’s a fun dive to try new maneuvers, while you weave your way through an underwater ghost town. No advanced certification needed, so beginners should just go for it!
POM POM ISLAND
Our next island is approximately 30 km northeast of Semporna, situated on a small coral reef. The biodiversity of Pom Pom Island is rich with many rare and uncommon species. Pom Pom Island is an important nesting site for green and hawksbill turtles. You can see them on the shores here from May to September. The pristine white beaches and aquamarine waters around Pom Pom are some of the best in Sabah!
5. Mandarin Heaven
Certification required: Open Water (OW)
Min Depth: 5 m (15 ft) Max Depth: 40 m (131 ft)
Visibility: 20 m (100 ft)
Site Type: Reef slope
Last but not least, this dive is a macro-lovers dream! Make a bet with your friends about who can find the smallest, strangest sea critter. Soft coral meadows and artificial structures house banded pipefish, trumpet fish, mandarin fish, peacock groupers, and crocodile needlefish.
Many varieties of those lovable little sea slugs, nudibranchs, litter this dive site in Borneo. We also saw a crown of thorns sea star on our dive, which was something we had never seen before.
Between dives enjoy the beauty of Pom Pom and layout on the glimmering white sand, snorkel around the pier, or have fun diving off your boat!
We hope you found this list useful! If you’ve been tell us one of your favorite dive sites in Borneo below!
