DIVE SIPADAN MALASIA AT KAPALAI DIVE RESORT

Includes:

• Return transfer from Tawau Airport to Semporna Jetty
• Return transfer by boat from Semporna Jetty to Kapalai resort
• 7 Night’s accommodation on a sharing basis
• Fresh Buffet Meals – breakfast/lunch/dinner
• Afternoon snacks – served at the restaurant daily
• Tea/Coffee, cold water and cordial – served throughout the day at the restaurant
• Snorkelling around the resort
• Unlimited Diving:
  • 3 guided boat dives daily (except on arrival & departure day) Including 2 days diving at Sipadan Island
  • Tank, weight and weight belt
  • Unlimited house reef dive in front of KAPALAI Dive Centre
  • Night dives in front of KAPALAI Dive Centre
  • (Unlimited dive and Night dives are unguided & must be accompanied by buddy)
  • Sipadan Marine Park permit fee

Excludes:

• Flights & Airport Taxes (Approx. R 24 500 JNB – Tawau Return)
• Jetty Fee (Approx. R 50)
• Tourism Tax (Approx. R 300)
• Snorkelling and dive equipment rental
• Additional Sightseeing not specified
• Drinks and meals not specified
• Personal travel, baggage and diving insurance

non diver

7 Night’s Non Diver Package From: R 27 950

Package price is subject to a 6% Sipadan Sales and Service Tax. This is dependent on the travel dates to Sipadan, please enquire if this will be the case based on your exact travel dates

Get a feel for this beautiful resort here

 Please note the following

• • Prices are subject to change in the event of price increases, airfares, exchange rate fluctuations and availability.
  • The exact price can only be confirmed at the time of final invoicing and final payment due date. If you would like to secure your price to avoid any fluctuations we will provide you with a final invoice  (calculated at the exchange rate at time) and payment will need to me made in FULL within 24 hours of receipt of the invoice.
  • The tour package has been quoted on a sharing basis and an additional single supplement fee will be charged for singles

Diving Highlights and Bucket List Dive Sites:

Sites and schedule will be arranged at the discretion of the resort management. You will be diving a combination of sites in and around the islands of Mabul, Kapalai and Sipadan. The diving in Sipadan Island is limited due to it being a strictly controlled marine park. However, Kapalai Resort has confirmed that you will have 2 days diving at the beautiful Sipadan Island. We have listed a few of the highlights below from the various islands.

Barracuda point (Sipadan Island)

One of the top 5 dive sites of the world. There is usually a huge shoal of thousands of barracudas which often make a tornado. You can also see bumphead parrotfish, dozens of turtles and reef sharks patrolling the area. The site is composed by a steep wall going down to 22 m. After a drift you finish your dive in the shallow in the coral garden. Barracuda Point is sometimes classified as a Drift dive. This location is a Reef and is great place for spotting and diving with Sharks.

Cleaning Station (Kapalai Island)

This drift drive is ideal for beginners and yet still satisfying for the experienced scuba diver. You can cruise along in the mild current checking out various colourful nudibranchs, as well as the resident turtles hanging around a wooden boat wreck. Inspect the sand too for the large holes inhabited by jawfish. These are a more common sight around Kapalai than they are in many other places.

Hanging Gardens (Sipadan Island)

This is a beautiful wall with a great variety of colourful hard and soft coral, barrel sponges and sea fans. Along the wall you can discover a whole range of damselfish, chromis, sweetlips on black coral, clownfish, lobsters hiding in the cracks and tiny sea slugs. It is not uncommon to see dozens of turtle and reef sharks in a single dive.

Lobster Rock (Kapalai Island)

Diving at Lobster Rock normally means an easy cruise along the reef enjoying the colourful landscape of soft and hard corals. There is a lot to see among the hard corals, such as nudibranchs and small pipefish. Lobsters are fairly frequent, especially at night. Turtles abound all around these reefs so you may see 3 or 4 on each dive.

Eel Garden (Mabul Island)

This site is popular for its garden eels rising out of the seabed. Besides just eels, this site is also the home to multi-hued Frogfish, Giant Mantis Shrimp, Blue Ribbon Eels, Batfish, Blue-ringed Octopus, Green Turtle, Hawksbill Turtle and more. With its depth of 5-25 meters, the visibility of this dive site is good and the currents are light.

Mid Reef (Sipadan Island)

Descend down the vertical wall then just drift along with the current with dozens of large green turtles. Find soft corals, navy knotted sea fans and orange gorgonian fans that hang from the ledges. Pygmy and whip gobies are in abundance here. Cardinalfish and harlequin sweetlips move furtively under the many overhangs. Midreef can have quite strong currents, with an added tendency to push you upwards too. The trade-off though is that the adverse conditions bring with them higher densities of fish life such as moorish idols, redtooth triggerfish, unicornfish and bannerfish. The 6 metre hard coral flats that top the reef make an ideal safety stop. Table and porites corals dominate here, and these form the staple diet for packs of bumphead parrotfish, sometimes 40 or so strong.

Crocodile Avenue (Mabul Island)

This is the best dive site for macro diving. Expect to see Seahorses, Crocodilefish, Ghost Pipefish, Snake Eels and a host of other macro critters. This dive site is also more suited to advanced level divers.

Chalets are equipped with bathrooms with shower and bathtub, basic toiletries, coffee and tea making facilities and 220 volts electrical points. From the windows of the elegant and spacious rooms, one can spend endless hours looking at the sea as if it has a life on its own just dancing to its never-ending tune just a couple of feet below.

Language

Bahasa Melayu is the national language, but English is widely spoken.

Time zone

Climate

Average temperatures range from 27 to 31°C year round with a low of 23°C.

Water temperature

The sea is excellent for swimming all year round as the water temperature is very warm and ideal for relaxing and swimming for the whole day.

Power supply

In Malaysia the supply voltage is 240V.  You may request an adapter from the front desk upon check in.

Departure Tax

At the time of writing, departure tax is included in the ticket price for both domestic and international flights.

dining

Breakfast   07:00 am to 10:30 am

Lunch          12:30 pm to 14:00 pm

Dinner         19:00 pm to 20:30 pm

Inoculations

Kapalai is free from flies & mosquitos as it is located in the middle of the sea

Staying in contact

There is no Wifi at the resort. It is possible to get a micro SIM card in Malaysia for your phone. The service providers are Maxis, Digi and Celcom. The connection cannot be guaranteed but Kapalai does have a Maxis tower nearby the resort.

What payment method is accepted

Credit cards are accepted with preference for Mastercard or Visa.

What to bring

• Proof of dive insurance and dive certification card.

• Passport valid from 6 months from the time of entry into Malaysia.

• One full empty page in your passport.

• Hat and polarised sunglasses.

• Light casual clothing.

• Any toiletries you may need such as razors, tampons, toothpaste, medications, etc.

• reefsafe sunscreen.

• Rechargeable batteries.

What NOT to bring

• No outside food or drinks are permitted at the resort

• Any single use plastics, including duty free bags and water bottles.

diving

• Nitrox is not provided
• Certification must be presented as well as a log book and dive insurance
• Safety: Every diver needs to be equipped with a diving computer, SMB and drop line which is to be deployed at the end of each drift dive after completing the safety stop
• Alcohol Consumption: If alcohol is consumed in between dives by an individual then they will be required to refrain from diving for the remainder of the day
• Flying After Diving: A minimum surface interval of 18 hours must be allowed prior to flying or going to altitude
• Decompression Chamber: The nearest decompression chamber is in Semporna – which is a 40 minute boat ride from Kapalai