The island is indisputably the most famous dive destination in Malaysia, with diving giants like Jacques Cousteau praising enthusiastically the wonderful diversity of its marine life. 

Sipadan was at the top of Scuba Diving magazine’s Gold List for The Top Dive Destinations of the World, a distinction it shared with two other destinations known for an equal diversity of their marine life - the Galapagos Islands and Truk in Micronesia.

Sipadan Island is located off the east coast of Sabah, Malaysia's eastern-most state which lies on the north-eastern corner of the world's third largest island - Borneo Island. Sabah and another Malaysian state, Sarawak, share Borneo with a powerful neighbour, Indonesia. In fact, Sipadan lies right on the Indonesian border and was once claimed by both Malaysia and Indonesia in a dispute which had to be solved by the World Court. 

It is this proximity which drew world attention to Sipadan in April of 2000 when twenty-one hostages including a German family of three, a French couple, and a Lebanese man were taken hostage by an extremist Philippine Muslim group, Abu Sayyaf, which is reputedly connected to Al Quaida. All were eventually released unharmed, but occasional kidnappings by the same organization continue to happen in the area. It is sobering to stand on the beach of the Borneo Divers Resort on Sipadan where the abductions took place.

A second, very up-scale resort, Sipadan Water Village, is also located on Mabul. There are eleven popular dive sites around Sipadan, another half-dozen around Mabu, and two or three at a third nearby destination, Kalapai Island, a sandbar which completes the triangle, and boasts its own dive resort, so the choice for diving in the area is extensive. 

Not all the sites are of equal appeal, however. The Kalapai Island sites, for instance, have poor visibility because of the sandy bottom, as do several around Mabul. These sites are best for shallow slow dives searching out the abundant macro life.

Barracuda Point is also home to dozens of huge Green Sea Turtles and Hawksbill Turtles which are completely unfazed by divers and which one can approach very closely. Here too, White Tip Reef Sharks are common. 

On one dive we saw seven, the big ones swimming out in the blue and the smaller ones of one to two meters close to the reef wall. Grey Reef Sharks, Scalloped Hammerheads and Leopard Sharks are also common.  On the same dive we looked out into the blue and saw a Pygmy Devil Ray swimming gracefully past.

Later, near Barracuda point we dropped in the water again to swim with a school of thousands of silvery Jackfish, or Big Eye Trevally, twisting and flashing in the aquamarine water.

My favourite was the Pyramid Butterflyfish, a common, but dramatically beautiful reef resident mostly seen on small schools of several dozen. 

Another colourful resident is the Redfin Anthias, often seem with more common orange Anthias. This beautiful little fish has a lemon yellow body with a purplish red dorsal fin, tail and body.  The abundance, colour and variety is amazing. 

I saw a school of Yellowback Fusiliers pass a pair of bright Foxface Rabbitfish dancing an elaborate courtship.