Diving Pulau Sipadan

South Point

This is a good place to get a bit deeper in the morning as long as you don't mind a thin layer of narcosis-on-toast for breakfast. South Point is one of the most likely sites for the more rare sharks such as hammerheads and thresher sharks, both of which tend to stay at depths here of 40+ metres.

On this Sipadan dive you will descend down to a ledge and then fin out gently into the blue, scanning the waters for a glimpse of action. If you are lucky enough to encounter hammerhead sharks or threshers you will be the toast of the resort and the object of envy.

Then, often you'll hear them coming nearer, long before you see them. The noise comes through the water like a riot in a school dining room, the enormous bumphead parrotfish grinding and munching the corals for the algae. At 85 kg and easily more than 1 metre long, the fish have humped and scarred heads, small eyes, and jutting teeth-like fused beaks. They excrete white exhaust plumes of pulverised coral sand, like a locomotive train. Watch as they take pizza-sized bites out of the table corals and then march on by.

The wonder of Pulau Sipadan is that visitors get used to countless turtles, white-tips, bump-headed parrotfish and massive schools of other fish, that the crossbar is always raised, and South Point is often the site for the crowning glory.

South Point Reef Basics: Coral heads and steep wall
Depth: 20- >40m
Visibility: 20 - 30m
Currents: Can be strong
Surface conditions: Can be choppy
Water temperature: 27 - 30°C
Experience level: Advanced only
Number of dive sites: 1
Diving season: All year round
Distance: 14 km (30 minutes) south from Mabul and 12 km (23 mins) southwest from Kapalai
Access: Mabul and Kapalai dive resorts

• Sipadan Island travel information

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