Sipadan Water Village Reviews & Specials - Bluewater Dive Travel
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Sipadan Water Village, Mabul Island

4.5
(2 REVIEWS)

 

Destination: SIPADAN

Semporna, Sabah, Malaysia | Full-board + 3 dives from $464/ppn

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Sipadan Water Village Quick Pitch 

Consisting of cottages stilted above the Celebes Sea, Sipadan Water Village provides the convenient water access, comfortable accommodations, and beautiful scenery desired by dive travelers.

 

Quick Information 

  • No of Rooms: 45
  • Dive Center: On-site
  • Amenities: AC, balconies, ensuite bathrooms, bar/lounge, babysitting, airport transfers, mini-mart. Nitrox (fee)
  • WiFi: Yes, free
  • Nearest International Airport: Kota Kinabalu International airport
  • Airport shuttle: Yes

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Accommodations - Resort Facilities - Package & Rates

Dive Information - Dive Center Facilities

Other Information - Underwater Gallery

 

Location 

Located on the island of Mabul, about a 35-minute boat ride from Semporna, on the east coast of Sabah.  

 

Dive Overview 

Boasting some of the best macro diving in the world, the waters surrounding Sipadan and Mabul hold a colorful kaleidoscope for divers to enjoy. Sipadan Water Village's on-site dive center offers a large range of dive options and courses, placing careful emphasis on eco-tourism.

 

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Accommodations

Types of Rooms, Amenities and Photos

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Sipadan Water Village Accommodation Overview 

Sipadan Water Village offers 45 water chalets comprising of standard, deluxe, junior, and grand deluxe options.The chalets are spacious with wide sliding doors that open onto the room's private deck. Each chalet features: 

  • Balcony offering sea or island view
  • Tea/coffee maker
  • Private bathroom and toiletries
  • Hair dryer
  • Hot/cold showers
  • Ceiling fans
  • Minibar (consumption is charged to guest's room account)
  • Settees
  • Dressing table/chair
  • Wooden wardrobe
  • Electrical light and power point (220-240V)

 

Sipadan Water Village Sipadan Water Village

Standard & Junior Chalets

Sipadan Water Village Sipadan Water Village

Deluxe & Grand Deluxe Chalets

 

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Resort Facilities

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Sipadan Water Village Sipadan Water Village

Sipadan Water Village Sipadan Water Village

 

Sipadan Water Village Features

  • Dive Centre
  • Housekeeping
  • Reception Counter / Front Office
  • Dining Hall
  • Bar Lounge
  • Mini Mart

 

Sipadan Water Village Food & Drinks 

Meals are served in buffet style featuring a mixture of local and continental cuisine.

 

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Package & Rates

Sipadan Water Village Rates

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Sipadan Water Village Rates 

Drop us an email at bookings@bluewaterdivetravel.com or call us at 310-915-6677 and we will gladly help you plan your dream dive vacation!

 

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Dive Information

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Dive Sites 

Due to the fact that the marine life found around Mabul Island varies greatly from that of Sipadan Island, a combination of the two islands for diving make a diver's diving holiday more complete. Mabul and Kapalai is heaven for studying the micro aspects of marine life and guarantees hours of fascinating fish watching with ample opportunities for photography. At world-renowned Sipadan Island, divers get a different experience as one dive amongst the giants of the sea and it's only 20 minutes away from the comforts of Sipadan Water Village.

 

 

Mabul and Kapalai 

There are about 17 dive sites in Mabul and about 13 dive sites in Kapalai. It takes less than 15 minutes to get from the resort to any of the Mabul dive sites by the dive boat and less than 15 minutes to Kapalai. Most of the diving in Mabul and Kapalai is very shallow with depths from 60 feet to as shallow as 10 feet. These places are "macro heaven on earth". On one given dive, divers may get to see as many as 25 or 30 remarkable photo subjects including squid, cuttlefish, anemone shrimp, gobies with blind cleaner shrimp, porcelain crabs, juvenile batfish, harlequin ghost pipefish, mushroom coral pipefish, mandarin fish, dragonets and many more.

 

Sipadan 

There are about 13 dive sites in Sipadan. On a good sea condition, it takes about 20 minutes from Mabul to Sipadan. Most of the diving in Sipadan is a combination of wall and drift diving. The walls are covered with hard corals, soft corals, gorgonians, sponges etc. You can see more turtles on one dive here than in a lifetime of diving anywhere else. Divers may also get to see a huge resident school of barracudas, which make beautiful circling patterns on top of the reef, in 10 or 15 feet of water at the South Point.

 

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Dive Center Information

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Sipadan Water Village Sipadan Water Village

 

Sipadan Water Village Dive Center Overview

The Dive Centre is responsible for all in-water activities and scuba training and education. The center opens from 0700hrs onwards and is equipped with lockers, showers, toilet and a common area for resting between dives with complimentary snack, hot coffee and tea. 

It carries 5 Bauer compressors for refilling tanks, over 300 aluminum 3000 psi / 80 cubic foot tanks with American style "K" valves, rental sets of scuba diving equipment that is mainly Scuba Pro.

The center equipped with custom-built fiberglass dive boats that carry 12 passengers each. Each boat goes out 3 trips daily accompanied by a boatman and a Dive Master.

All Dive Masters are specially trained in the marine ecology of Mabul Island and will not only show divers the attractions but also impart their knowledge of the marine life so that guests may return from their memorable holiday with a better understanding of the environment.

 

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Other Information

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Practical Information

  • Electricity: 220-240V
  • Time zone: UTC+8
  • Accept Credit Cards?: Yes
  • Languages: English, Chinese, Japanese, Italian & Malay

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Got Questions? Ready to Book?

Call us today at 310-915-6677 or email us bookings@bluewaterdivetravel.com

And let us book your dream vacation!

 

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Underwater Gallery

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Reviews (2)

  • Reviewer
James
Austin, TX
United States
2 Reviews
Mark as helpful 
5
4
5
4

Sipadan Water Village, with the private villas over the water connected by walkways, is beautiful! There are great views from pretty much every building, dining area, and so on. The resort is spread out nicely, which is an amazing thing, as long as you don't forget something you need at your villa and you've already walked to the dive center. The rooms are well appointed, with AC (when I was last there, not all rooms had it so make sure if this is important to you). We didn't have a bathtub (standard villa). Definitely don't plan on walking without something on your feet, as the planks of the walkways are very hot if the sun is out.

The food at SWV was usually pretty good, but not great. Be careful eating the chicken dishes, as many people encountered small bones in their food. Service was top-notch, the coffee was amazing, and they will even do a special party if you ask for it. We had a great 50th birthday for a member in our group. You can walk the island, and visit little shops. They have some kayaks available as well.

The dive operation was really great. The dive guides were very attentive the whole time, and were great at finding critters for us. The dive center has a nice setup where you get a number for your gear, locker, and such and use that number the whole time you stay there. Your gear will be on the boat for you every day. Diving from the house reef was great, and unlimited. We dove nearly every night, and even saw some Mandarinfish one night! Their dive boats are comfortable, and never crowded. Mabul island, where SWV is located, has a lot of muck diving as well as many large turtles that come around often. If you love turtles, this is the place for you! I have never seen so many turtles on a single trip. If you can, take a dive or two under the Seaventures rig right across from SWV to find lots of nudibranchs, ribbon eel, and so on.

Diving at Sipadan Island is limited, so the days you are scheduled to dive there, you've got to be on the boat by 0515, which means a very early wake-up! We were fortunate to dive there multiple times in our ten-day stay because some folks in our group gave up their spots a few times. The very first morning, we jumped in a Barracuda Point and found ourselves in a huge school of Bumphead Parrotfish. Amazing. There were huge schools of Jacks, Barracuda, and many turtles as well. We saw a many white-tip reef sharks every day.

Overall this resort is great, the diving is amazing, and the staff are extremely nice and helpful. We plan to make another trip in a couple years, and I am already looking forward to it.

Visited on 10/2011 - Submitted on 02/28/2014
  • Top Reviewer
LauraTaylor
26 Reviews
Mark as helpful 
5
5
4
4

The setting for the Sipadan Water Village or SWV as they are known, is all over-water. The nicely appointed bungalows, reception, dive center and restaurant are connected by a series of boardwalks and all enjoy a refreshing ambiance and cooling breeze. The most outstanding quality we encountered was the professional and friendly hospitality of their well-trained staff who are very attuned to the needs of the guests, from the transport, concierge, reception, restaurant and dive centre.

Our over-water bungalow was large, with a huge sea-facing deck, and offered AC, which we did not need. The only downside was the long walk to the dive center, especially when carrying a big camera. Wifi was only available at Reception, which was the center node also housing the bar and jars of fresh baked cookies. The restaurant was nearby and we had a water-side table for most meals. Meals were served buffet style, with eggs cooked to order at breakfast. Plenty of fresh fruit and salads and multiple tasty protein choices including vegetarian, shellfish and crab.

On arrival at the resort, Manny from the dive team provided an orientation and offered a check out dive on their house reef. We were tired from diving Sipadan that morning, so unfortunately missed that dive. But we were given a thorough tour and explanation of dive and gear organisation for our dives the next day. The dive center has a coffee and snack station, also providing water fillls and fresh towels for the boat each day. We set up our gear ready for the early start to Sipadan.

Our dive guide the next morning was Manny again, and with only 4 divers and a guide it was a fast and comfortable trip to Sipadan and nice to dive with such a small group and competent guide. The surface interval between dives was spent at the island where sheltered picnic tables, and shower and restrooms facilities are available. Depending on the dive schedule, we either had breakfast or lunch provided by the resort on the island. We were lucky to have 3 dives at Sipadan that day because our fellow divers had booked prior to the change to the current maximum of 2 dives per day, so it was a long day before returning to the resort, having seen the resident schools of jacks and bump headed parrot fish, and plenty of turtles. The barracuda were elusive, seeming to avoid the crowds, as there are 257 permits for divers every day.

The next day we did local dives around Mabul and Kapalai, with the Kapalai house reef being a trip favourite. We had a different guide who was a great spotter of frog fish and nudis.

We left SWV very satisfied with the whole experience and would not hesitate to recommend it for your stay in Mabul.

Visited on 04/2023 - Submitted on 06/14/2023

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