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Hotels, dive operators, gear, and how to get here are on the Sipadan location page.
Overview
A submerged limestone cavern on Sipadan's west wall, entered at around 18m and opening into a labyrinth of tunnels that runs roughly 200m back into the island. The cavern floor is layered with the bones of green and hawksbill turtles — and reportedly a dolphin — that swam in disoriented and never found their way out. Jacques Cousteau popularized the site in his documentary 'Borneo: The Ghost of the Sea Turtle.' Cave certification and a local guide are required for penetration; the outer reef wall is a strong open-water dive on its own, with schooling jacks, bumphead parrotfish, and resident reef sharks patrolling the drop-off.
Briefing note
Cave/cavern certification and a guide who knows the system are mandatory for penetration past the entrance — the interior is a maze of narrow connecting tunnels with dead ends and silt-out risk. Sabah Parks permit cap of 176 divers/day applies to all Sipadan sites; book through a licensed Mabul/Kapalai operator weeks in advance.
What you'll see
5 species curated- year-roundGreen sea turtle
- year-roundHawksbill turtle
- year-roundWhitetip reef shark
- year-roundBumphead parrotfish
- year-roundSchooling jacks
Sightings evidence
1 record on file- high confidenceGreen sea turtle
- Last confirmed
- May 2026
- Recent records
- 130 within 10 km
Sources & methodology
How we summarise this
We aggregate confirmed occurrence records from GBIF and OBIS within a fixed radius of each dive site. Occurrence records confirm presence and reveal seasonality clustering, but they DO NOT measure per-dive probability — there is no eligible-effort denominator. We deliberately do not publish a numeric '% chance of sighting' from this data.
Sources
- Global Biodiversity Information Facility — GBIF Secretariat
- Ocean Biodiversity Information System — IOC-UNESCO
- iNaturalist — California Academy of Sciences & National Geographic Society
- OBIS-SEAMAP — Duke University Marine Geospatial Ecology Lab / OBIS
- IUCN Red List of Threatened Species — International Union for Conservation of Nature
- WoRMS — World Register of Marine Species — Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ)
- FishBase — FishBase Consortium
- Atlas of Living Australia — CSIRO / GBIF Australia
- REEF Volunteer Fish Survey — Reef Environmental Education Foundation
Conditions
| Month | Water | Visibility | Current |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 27–29 °C | 15–25 m | none |
| Feb | 27–29 °C | 15–25 m | none |
| Mar | 28–30 °C | 20–30 m | none |
| Apr | 28–30 °C | 20–30 m | none |
| May | 28–30 °C | 25–35 m | none |
| Jun | 28–30 °C | 25–35 m | none |
| Jul | 28–30 °C | 25–35 m | none |
| Aug | 28–30 °C | 25–35 m | none |
| Sep | 28–30 °C | 20–30 m | none |
| Oct | 28–30 °C | 20–30 m | none |
| Nov | 27–29 °C | 15–25 m | none |
| Dec | 27–29 °C | 15–25 m | none |
Season calendar
Peak season highlighted · current month outlined
Next step
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