Mabul Island

Mabul Island from aerial view.

Mabul Island which is located about 15 minutes by speedboat from the famous Sipadan Island, Mabul has gained its own recognition as one of the best muck-diving (a term ysed to describe limited visibility dives at shallow sites with usually sandy bottoms) sites in the world.

Mabul is small oval sharped island fringed 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 25-30m deep.

Mabul is renowned for its amazing array of macrolife, making it an underwater photographer's dream location to capture some of the rarest ecological species on film. Flamboyant cuttlefish, blue-ringed octopus, spike-fin gobies, frogfish and moray eels are just some of the spectacular critters you will encounter beneath the waters of Mabul.

ni Sealantis Dive Centre. you can dive under the platform which the depth is average 15m. bole la kalau nak tengok Lion fish, Bat fish, small Baracudda and school of small fishes

Boy following mother with basket


Banjau Laut sleep in the boats at night but I noticed some of them will go to the beach in the morning. Seronok kot tido dalam bot, rasa macam kena buai

They do their normal cores in the boats such as cooking

Barber service also provided on the boat

Banjau Laut going out to the sea to catch fish early in the morning

Liz Barton and Fazlee with the local. Most of them living in the houses on the land that has been designated to them. Kira macam duduk dalam kandang sebelah hotel-hotel mewah. Most of them have converted to Islam. Alhamdulillah

This bird I saw at Uncle Chang which I cannot identify it's species.

Fishermen trying to sell some of their daily catch. In Mabul, you can buy Yellow Fin Tuna for RM5 for 1kg, at Samporna the will be double but when it's reach Kl......

Doing his early morning business

Kids playing some games. They don't even have any PSP, X-Box or internet but I can feel that they have a seehappy life.

Swing from the coconut tree

into the sea...

Ustaz Noor Bit with kids. He's from Bukit Merah, Perak and has been transfered to Sampoerna to teach for more than 3 years

After I took this photo, they asked me for some cash. I only gave them some chocolates or sweets that I bought from Sampoerna. Don't want to encourage them to a begger.

They boy on the left has color hair

Some kids playing at the beach. You can see the expensive hotel as the back

Very interesting kids. They just had their afternoon sand bath.

Uncle Chang Sipadan Mabul Dive Lodge. I'm recommend this place if your are looking for a cheap/budget place to stay at Mabul. For RM50 (diver), you will get a decent and clean room with 3 good meals. The meals will be repeatition but still it is good meal. Hot/cold water and bread is available 24 hour in case you still hungry.

The guests resting while waiting for the boat to bring them back to the main land(Sampoerna)

This is a normal routine for the guests to do whenever other guests leaving the lodge. They know each other since it's a small lodge. The guests will hangout and chatting among them when they have nothing else to do. Other than scuba diving, snorkeling, swimming, walk around the island (it will take you around 20 minutes to walk around the island), enjoying the sea breeze and scenery, there nothing much you can do . The place and the guests will make you feel comfortable with each other.

View of the modern Banjau Laut houses from Uncle Chang

Tan 'Taiko' is my dive buddy for our Open Water coursefrom the left: Sundrik my instructor, Noor Bit, Tan and me. I did my Open Water course at Mabul and I did 3 dives at Sipadan Island after i got my license. Sipadan basically is a wall dive where the corals located on the walls beside you. The drop off is around 60-80m deep. It's really a underwater heaven and voted one of the best dive site in the world.

Every nite there will be a live band performance by Uncle Chang's staffs. Can't expect much but it was really entertaining.

Some of the dives enjoying themselves. Uncle Chang himself will come to Mabul with few crates of beer and he will entertained the guests with free beer. Too bad there no free Coke or 100 plus

My simple room at Uncle Chang. They will supply the electric from 6 or 7pm until 7am. Can't expect much when you only pay RM50 for a room and 3 meals a day.

Lion fish under Uncle Chang Lodge. Took this shot in day time during low tide.

Sea urchin also can be found under the lodge

It's really sad after you spend 6 wonderful days at Mabul and finally you have to leave. We spend one night at Sampoerna and another night at Tawau before we fly off to KL.

One day I know I will come back again to dive all the 12 dive sites at Sipadan Island.