Sipadan-Kapalai Dive Resort

★ 5 · susan lardner · 2009-10-02

It really is worth every penny!??  I won't repeat what everyone else has written.  Please just be aware that you may not get to dive Sipandan .. we didn't and although a little disappointed the other dives were still great. (especially the one under the oil rig!)??  I do not understand how people are chosen, but only 14 people a day get to dive there ..so just bear this in mind.? Also, we had not been diving for a couple of years and would like to have done a refresher dive...no chance! We were straight in the water! If you need a refresher, either do it before or let them know before you get there. However, the staff, the rooms, the food, the other guests .. fantastic!

★ 5 · Jayne Edmondson · 2009-09-20

We did the 5 Day 4 Night package with friends in early June and absolutely loved it. The resort is gorgeous and the staff are friendly and helpful. We went specifically for diving and got out to Sipadan twice in the 3 whole days we were there! Kapalai boats dominated Sipadan Island so I'm thinking they got the most permits!. Our other day was muck diving around Mabul and Siamil Island which was also very good especially if you like macro photography. The dive operation is excellent, very well organised and the dive staff very helpful and knowledgeable. We were very well looked after by the dive staff, they were always there to help you with your gear you never hardly have to do a thing. The boats and hire equipment were in good condition and seemed to be well maintained. The only qualms I had with the dive operation is that dive masters didn't explain enough about the dive sites in their briefings and they failed to check people's air whilst diving. Apart from that we were very happy with the whole operation and along with the boat dives there is unlimited pier dives around the resort. As for the resort itself, our over water bungalow was beautiful we had one of the larger chalets that had the view over the lagoon from the bath tub! There are many chalet's that didn't have this but all chalets had private balconies. The food was buffet style, delicious and plenty of it with a good mixture of fish, vegetarian and meat. The only thing I didn't care much for was the breakfast buffet, it was cold, so if you want hot breakfast go for the pancakes as they are freshly made while you wait. Dinner and lunch buffets were hot! Hot and cold drinks are available all day and there is a lovely bar area where you can buy alcohol. There is a small shop, library, games room and Internet (which is expensive). At the end of one of the piers is a man made beach area with sun lounges. There are steps around the resort although not near the chalet areas, down into the lagoon if you wanted to swim. If your not a diver then there isn't much else to do so this resort is really geared towards the diving community. We were sad to leave, it was paradise and would go back tomorrow if we could!

★ 2 · Caleb Shen · 2009-06-05

To preface, this is a review of the Sipadan-Kapalai dive center, not a review of the surrounding scenery (which was spectacular), which has nothing to do with the actual dive center. This is NOT a hotel or a resort. Hotel or resort implies service, pampering, etc. This is a dive center. In other words, it is a commune-like atmosphere. Meals are served three times a day and at no other times. There are only 3 kinds of services provided at the resort - 1) they change your oxygen tanks, 2) they cook three meals a day and 3) they fold your bed every day (notice I did not say clean the sheets or change the towels as that is NOT included as part of the service). Beyond those three things, there is no other service provided at this dive center. If you are not a diver, DO NOT COME HERE. If you are a beginner diver, DO NOT COME HERE. The dive masters here are diving guides. They are not diving instructors, in other words, if you require some assistance with diving because you are new, they will not know how to do this. I came with a beginner diver and I had asked the dive master to assist her with her buoyancy while under water and his reply was "How?" Sipadan is the only reason to come here. The diving there was pretty good to great. As with all dives, it can be a bit of a roll of a dice depending on luck. However, because Sipadan is the reason why people come here, it allows the dive masters to be lazy about the other days when you are not at Sipadan. Sipadan dives are limited to probably one day per stay per diver as these are determined by permits issued by the government. The other diving days you go to the some surrounding islands. On the non-Sipadan diving days, the dive masters just take you to some random spot and hover around a reef turning over rocks and hoping to spot some small fish. That's it. There's no effort at all to take to you see interesting fish. My own personal preference is to see big fish but maybe some other divers get a kick out of seeing little tiny (albeit interesting) sea life. The food was very mediocre. Not horrible, but definitely not something you'll be craving once you left. All in all, basically the dive center knows because of how great Sipadan is for diving, people will come here no matter how crappy the service is so they try to get away with as minimal as possible. The staff is courteous but not friendly. There is no effort made to engage the divers during leisure time (95% of the time the dive masters eat with one another only). As for the money, it is definitely not cheap.. but then again, because of Sipadan, you're going to pay what you're going to pay. There's no TV or air con (which I can understand that they can try for the "rustic" feel) but there are no phones either. I'm not talking about phones to dial to the outside world, but there are no phones to the front desk, which is very indicative of the attitude of the entire dive center, ie. no extra service provided. I stayed for 3 nights and was very very happy to leave. Again, go for Sipadan diving but if it weren't for that one thing, this dive center would absolutely have no one visiting it, especially given the price. The surroundings are magnificent (hence the beautiful pictures) but I would argue you can get beautifully tranquil ocean surroundings in a lot of places in the world that had better value and certainly better service.