Mabul Scuba Diving

Froggy Lair

As with many of the sites around Mabul a keen pair of eyes and deliberate approach are necessary here if you are not to emerge saying you saw nothing. Suspended particles in the water can make for what would normally be considered poor visibility. The point is this should not matter, as you won't be staring off in the distance looking for passing sharks, rather you should be seeking out delights closer to your mask. That explains why there are mixed reviews for this Mabul scuba diving site.

On the one hand, the suspended particles, the seabed with stunted corals and rubbish fragments like old fishing nets and tyres which litter this site have led many a diver to categorise it as a poor one, with very little to offer the diver. On the other hand, diehard macro divers have come back raving about unusual finds.

Several frogfish are often spotted well camouflaged as they sit in wait ready for the fastest lethal strike in the natural world. The 2 more celebrated of these are blue in colour and about the size of a football (or if you insist a 'soccer' ball). Cowries can be seen both in the daytime as well as at night.

There are any number of species of nudibranchs in splashes of colour that are extraordinarily pretty as well as some fabulously ornate ghost pipefish. Perhaps the most sought after prize here at Froggy Lair and the one that dominates most pre-dive conversation is the holy grail of muck diving in Mabul, the flamboyant cuttlefish. This little beauty, most often seen at night, is a gem making its way along the sandy bottom moving its ornate purplish, yellow body to the delight of all wide-eyed witnesses.

Froggy Lair Reef Basics: Sandy sea bed
Depth: 10m
Visibility: 5 - 15m
Currents: None
Surface conditions: Can be choppy
Water temperature: 25 - 30°C
Experience level: Beginner - intermediate
Number of dive sites: 1
Diving season: All year round
Distance: 1 km (5 minutes) from Mabul Island pier or 5 km (10 mins) from Kapalai
Access: Mabul dive resorts or Kapalai Resort

• Mabul Island travel information

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• Sabah - Borneo  -  Malay Peninsula

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