Kapalai

Kapalai has no island. The dive resort sits on stilts over a sand bank in twelve metres of water, the house reef runs continuously beneath the boardwalks, and the diving is mostly within a swim of the steps. This is macro country — frogfish, ghost pipefish, blue-ring octopus, all on a flat white sand substrate that makes them easier to find than they should be.

Access is by speedboat from Semporna or by liveaboard. We schedule it as a permanent feature of the Sipadan-Mabul-Kapalai rotation, with a typical day of three Sipadan permits, one Kapalai macro dive, and a sunset jetty dive at Mabul.