Scuba diving at Borneo

We went to Malaysia in Mars 1996, where we landed in the main capital Kuala Lumpur. After sightseeing and shopping we went further on to the island Labuan which is situated north off the big island Borneo. Labuan has many shipwrecks, which is reachable for day diving trips. The visibility is not more than 10-15 meters and the current is strong. The shipwrecks that we dived on were Australian wreck and American wreck. Australian wreck was a cargo ship that now lies on the side at 29 meter. Be careful so you do not get stuck in the nets, which are covering the whole side off the wreck. We saw a lot off stonefishes and octopuses. The American wreck is also on 29 meters but it is divided in two halves. So it is easy to dive in to. At this wreck we saw some white tip sharks.

Next stop was Kota Kinabalu, there you dive in a national park. They have day trips and between the dives you can rest in the sun on the beaches on the beautiful islands. In the sea there are so many fishes, lobsters, turtles and nude brands it is very beautiful.

After a long flight from Kota Kinabalu and a long bus ride and a short boat trip we finally reached Sipadan island at Borneo's east coast. You can easily walk around the island in 30 minutes. There are three diving companies, we stayed with Borneo Divers. They have the best location at Sipadan, just 20 meter out from the beach there is a 800 meters drop off. There is a big cave at 25 meters depth which is called Turtle cave, because off all the skeletons from turtles. All the dives at Sipadan is drift dives, except at the drop off, because off the strong current around the island. At all the dives you see lots off sharks, big turtles, moray eels, lobsters and lots off other different fishes. We had the luck to make one dive with a big shoal off 300 barracudas and jack fiches. You also have the possibility to see big mantas, but we did not. There are three boat dives per day and the diving center is open 24 hours per day, so when you feel for it, you can make a dive all around the clock. The diving is marvelous, it is absolutely the best diving site that we have been at. We clearly recommend Sipadan if you want top diving.