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 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. 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!

Courtesy of Sabah Tourism and Tourism Malaysia.