Sipadan

Sipadan Island (Pulau Sipadan in Malay) lies off the coast off Malaysian Borneo. It is a small island and home to a half dozen resorts that cater almost exclusively to scuba divers.

Do

• Diving: Sipadan claims to be the world's best dive site. While this is an exaggeration, the diving here is certainly world class. Sipadan used to have resorts but to save the environment they are now closed. To dive on Sipadan you have to stay on some of the nearby resorts. From the main beach of the original resort, it is a mere 20m wade over the reef to be reach the top of the reef wall dropping 600m. Turtles and white tipped reef sharks will be seen on almost every dive and hammerhead and leopard sharks can also be seen.

Sleep

Due to the wear on the islands nature, the resorts present was forced to close. Diving is still permitted and possible by day-trips from nearby town Semporna.

Stay Safe

The islands were previously disputed between Malaysia and the Philippines, leading to instability and a highly publicized case of 20 tourists being kidnapped by Abu Sayyaf rebels in 2000. However, an International Court of Justice decision sided with Malaysia, and the area is now regularly patrolled by the Malaysian navy.

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