Snokel in Mabul island

Mabul Island (Pulau Mabul ) is a small island off the south-east coast of Sabah in Malaysian Borneo. It first became popular due to its proximity to Sipadan Island. Few years back, it has gained its recognition as one of the best 'muck diving' sites in the world. 

Mabul Island is a small oval shaped island surrounded by sandy beaches and perched on the northwest corner of a larger two square kilometer reef.

Diving is the main activity on this island. It is a famous diving spot for divers, both international and local alike, and is well known as the macro diving paradise. 

Due to its geographical position, the island of Mabul is open for scuba diving all year round, with April to October offering excellent weather conditions. During the peak tourist season, book your accommodation and your Sipadan diving permit well in advance! From May to August, the turtles lay their eggs on the beaches.

Mabul is located near Pulau Sipadan

Jul 23, 13: My journey starts by the AA flight from KL to Tawau. 
Buy taxi coupon 95 Rm/ way and go directly to Semporna. It takes 1 hr 20 minutes.
Stay at Gragon Inn Floating Resort 1 nite 90 Rm/ nite incl BF, then, double check with operator for tour package early tomorrow morning.
Dinner at Sipadan res with over looking the sea.

Jul 24, 13: After BF , 8:30 am take a boat to Mabul island.
The journey takes about 1.5 hours . I get a package of 2D1N : 600 Rm/2p and extend 1 more nite: 180 Rm/ 2p tours in Mabul Budget Longhouse including 3 meals (buffet style), Free tea, coffee, mineral water, fruits, Shared bathroom , Diving trips with the experienced Dive masters from the US and Canada. 

Snorkeling trips

In Mabul we can dive and snorkel in the same place. 

First, We join snorkel site was called the Paradise II and lived up to its name

Description: Reef / drift dive

Depth: 9 metres (30 feet)

Visibility: 15 metres (50 feet)

and others join dive at The Sea Venture Oil Rig

Description: Reef

Depth: 17 metres (56 feet)

Visibility: 15 metres (50 feet)

The site was extremely interesting as many types of fish have taken residence amongst what has been discarded under water, including boats and all equipments. The site was spectacular and i saw many different species that i had never seen before including Crocodile Fish, Frog Fish, cleaner shrimp and Bearded Scorpion Fish, a huge school of fusilier fish and a lot of Lion Fish. After 1 dive, made me eager for more !

Jul 25, 13: The second dive was at Eel garden . Normal diving depth, 10-25m , a Reef. Location based around one or many rocks., I scratched because of corals or rocks, i didn't know for sure :)

Jul 26, 13: A day with high tide and big waves. It cut some columns of my floating house. We could not snorkel or dive in the morning.

After lunch , we started the trip to Water Bungalow, was a new floating resort located on the Coast of Mabul Island, overlooking the infamous Sipadan Island.

The next site in afternoon was Lobster Wall. Maybe the best dive site around Mabul Island. It was a very nice wall with many cracks where numerous lobsters love to hide.

You can swim/dive along the wall and spot many stonefish, triggerfish, ghost pipefish, clownfish and seahorses.
Around 40 m deep there is a cave full of life. Lobster Wall is classified as a Deep dive. This location is a Reef.

About the village of this island, Mabul is small enough to be explored entirely on foot. There are no roads or cars. Boats take visitors to various diving and snorkeling sites around the island.

I stayed with Mabul budget longhouse where I would highly recommend. Smart wooden bungalows with a seaview and all meals included. I loved it here. It was so socialable as you would see the same people around, maybe start chatting at breakfast, lunch, dinner or on a boat. People came here have the same hobbies and went with all kinds of stories and before we knew it and we didn’t want to leave!

We leave Mabul island at 4 pm and back to Semporna town.

Jul 27, 13: Stay in Semporna 1 nite then flight back KL.

This is an unforgettable trip for us. We have been living with the ocean. A wonderful feeling!
In the future we want to come back here again.

Sipadan island info: 

About 10 years ago, Sipadan Island used to have a couple of luxury resorts where you could stay. A couple of things happened though. The islands in this area have previously been under territorial dispute with Indonesia and Philippines and in 2001, there was a highly publicised kidnapping of tourists by Filipino pirates. Malaysian military boats now patrol the area to protect against terrorist threats but this contributed, along with the need to protect the coral reefs from tourists, closing all resorts on the Sipadan

Nowadays, to dive at Sipadan you need to stay on a nearby island such as Mabul and apply for a permit to dive there as only 120 divers allowed there per day. And what an unusual but fascinating place Mabul island is. Tiny, tiny paradise island, so tiny you can walk round the whole island in about 15 minutes. 

http://divezone.net/divesite/seaventure#content
http://www.divevietnam.com/