Artificial reef
down to 18 m
Seaventures Dive Rig (Mabul)
Piles of metal rods under the Seaventures rig hide frogfish in red, yellow and black at 12–17 m.
- Open Water
- Frogfish
Sipadan & Semporna
Diving in Malaysia
18 documented dive sites, 3 of them for Open Water divers. Known for grey reef sharks, whitetip reef sharks and turtles.
- Best months
- Apr–Oct
- Water
- 26–30 °C
- Levels
- Open Water, Advanced, Technical
- Diving from
- Dive resorts, Liveaboards
- Nearest airport
- TWU
Photo: Bernard DUPONT from FRANCE, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
When to go
Pick a month: the diving season, from published sources, and the typical weather.
Pick a month
- Best
- Good
- Possible
- Closed
- Not documented yet
Sipadan & Semporna in October
Best season- Sea
- 30 °C
- at the surface
- Air
- 29 °C
- 26 °C at night
- Rain
- 270 mm
- one of the wettest months
- Wind
- 11 km/h
- on average
Typical weather, not a forecast: averages for 2021–2025 (air, rain, wind) and 2023–2025 (sea), data from Open-Meteo (ERA5 / Copernicus, Météo-France). Covers an area of roughly 10 to 25 km around the destination.
Best Apr–Oct. Sipadan island closes every November. Daily permits, max 2 dives/day.
Usually closed or not dived: Nov.
Dive sites in Sipadan & Semporna
From the easiest to the most demanding. Levels with a dashed outline are estimates we are still verifying.
Advanced Open Water required for Sipadan island permits; Mabul and Kapalai suit beginners.
Open Water friendly
usual dive down to 18 m3 sitesFor Advanced divers
usual dive down to 30 m14 sites
Barracuda Point
On Sipadan's north coast, divers can end up in the middle of a swirling vortex of chevron or blacktail barracuda.
- Advanced
- Wall
- Grey reef sharks
Reef
down to 22 m
Coral Garden
Called a haven for the underwater photographer, with dozens of green turtles at 5–10 m.
- Advanced
- Turtles
Wall
down to 40 m
Drop Off
A short stroll from the beach, the reef drops off into a 600 m underwater abyss lined with fans, corals and sponges.
- Advanced
- Trevally
Wall
down to 40 m
South Point Sipadan
One of Sipadan's more likely sites for rare hammerhead and thresher shark sightings, usually deeper than 40 m.
- Advanced
- Whale sharks
Wall
down to 40 m
Lobster Lairs Sipadan
- Advanced
- Schooling pelagics
Drift
down to 40 m
Lobster Wall (Mabul)
- Advanced
- Nudibranchs
Wreck
down to 18 m
Mandarin Valley (Kapalai)
A Kapalai coral slope down to a small boat wreck at 18 m, where mandarinfish dance at dusk.
- Advanced
- Ghost pipefish
Wall
down to 40 m
Midreef Sipadan
- Advanced
- Turtles
Wall
down to 40 m
Whitetip Avenue Sipadan
A wall dive known for numerous encounters with schools of whitetip reef sharks.
- Advanced
- Whitetip reef sharks
Reef
down to 12 m
Turtle Patch Sipadan
- Advanced
- Turtles
Wall
down to 40 m
West Ridge Sipadan
- Advanced
- Sharks
Technical and specialty dives
1 siteCave
down to 30 m
Turtle Cavern
- Technical
- Turtles
Marine life
When the big encounters happen, month by month.
| Species | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BarracudaSource: zubludiving.com |
- Peak season
- Seen
Barracuda: Dec–Oct
Also reported here, season not documented yet:
- Grey reef sharks
- Whitetip reef sharks
- Turtles
- Trevally
- Frogfish
- Ghost pipefish
- Mandarinfish
- Nudibranchs
- Seahorses
- Bumphead parrotfish
- Whale sharks
- Manta rays
- Hammerhead sharks
- Thresher sharks
- Eagle rays
- Blue-ringed octopus
- Cuttlefish
- Pygmy seahorses
- Scorpionfish
Where is Sipadan & Semporna?
- Nearest airport
- TWU
- How people dive here
- Dive resorts, Liveaboards
Sipadan & Semporna: frequently asked questions
- When is the best time to dive Sipadan & Semporna?
- The best months to dive Sipadan & Semporna are Apr–Oct. Diving usually stops in Nov. Best Apr–Oct. Sipadan island closes every November. Daily permits, max 2 dives/day.
- Is Sipadan & Semporna good for beginner divers?
- Yes, partly: 3 of the 18 dive sites we document are suited to Open Water divers, including Seaventures Dive Rig (Mabul), Cleaning Station (Kapalai) and Paradise I & II (Mabul). The others need more experience or a higher certification.
- What is the water temperature in Sipadan & Semporna?
- The water is usually between 26 °C and 30 °C over the year.
- What marine life can you see in Sipadan & Semporna?
- Divers regularly see grey reef sharks, whitetip reef sharks, turtles, barracuda (Dec–Oct), trevally and frogfish.
- How do you dive Sipadan & Semporna?
- The nearest airport is TWU. Ways to dive here: dive resorts and liveaboards.
About this page
Seasons and marine life come from the sources below. Site levels and depths marked as estimated come from our original catalogue and are being checked one by one. Conditions change: always confirm with a local dive centre.
Your next dive is somewhere out there.
Find my next dive tripPhoto credits
- Sipadan Island seen from the sea, Bernard DUPONT from FRANCE, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Barracuda Point dive site, Sipadan / Semporna, Chen Wu from Shanghai, China, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Sunlight and bubbles in deep blue water, Sarah Lee, Unsplash License, on Unsplash
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