Malaysia Destinations | Places of Interest in Malaysia

Sabah > Mabul Island

Mabul Island first became popular due to its close proximity to Sipadan Island. However, in the last few years it has gained its own 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 200-hectare reef. The reef is on the edge of the continental shelf and the seabed surrounding the reef slopes out to 25m – 30m deep. There are two resorts on Mabul Island- Sipadan Water Village and Sipadan-Mabul Resort and one other resort on a nearby refurbished oil rig called Sea Ventures Dive Resort. Mabul is arguably one of the richest single destinations for exotic small marine life anywhere in the world. Open any book on tropical fish and invertebrate marine life and you'll see practically everything you're going to see in Mabul.

Flamboyant cuttlefish, blue-ringed octopus, mimic octopus and bobtail squids are just a few of the numerous types of cephalapods to be found on Mabul’s reef. The sight of harlequin shrimp feeding on sea stars and

boxer crabs waving their tiny anemone pom-poms are just a small example of the endless species of crustaceans. Many types of gobies can be found including the spike-fin goby, black sail-fin goby and metallic shrimp goby. Frogfish are everywhere giant, painted and clown frogfish are all regularly seen. Moray eels and snake eels of many types can be seen along with almost the whole scorpionfish family. It would be quicker to list the species not found at Mabul crazy critters are in abundance at this magical macro site!

How to get there

There are many daily flights available direct from Kuala Lumpur via Malaysia Airlines and AirAsia. To save your money, we strongly recommend you to take AirAsia flight. AirAsia operates 7 daily direct flights to Terminal 2, Kota Kinabalu Old

Airport from the LCC ( Low Cost Carrier ) Terminal, Sepang. Booking may be made through www.airasia.com or walking into AirAsia’s sales offices which are located at KL Sentral and Airport. Alternatively, you are welcome to contact the Nationwide Call Centre at 1300-88-99-33 ( within Malaysia ) or ( +6 ) 03-78849000 ( outside Malaysia ).

From KK to Tawau, you are advised to book yourself on any of the following domestic Malaysia Airlines or Air Asia flights again. Then take a 2 hour ride to Sempona, and Sipadan Island is located just off the coast of Sempona, approximately 45 minutes from the mainland.

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