Sipadan, Malaysia

Country: Malaysia (Sabah, Borneo) Type: reef / wall / pelagic Best known for: Vertical wall diving, barracuda and jackfish tornados, sea turtles, bumphead parrotfish schools Wetpixel expeditions: No formal Wetpixel-branded expeditions

Overview

Sipadan is a volcanic oceanic island rising 600 meters from the seabed in the Celebes Sea, off the east coast of the Malaysian state of Sabah (Borneo). Its dramatic vertical walls, beginning just meters from shore, create one of the world’s most iconic wall diving experiences. The island is famous for massive schools of barracuda that form “tornado” formations, large schools of bumphead parrotfish, green and hawksbill turtles in extraordinary numbers, and reef sharks patrolling the drop-offs (^[1]).

Diving access to Sipadan is controlled by a daily permit system. Dive resorts are based on nearby islands, primarily Mabul and Kapalai. Sipadan Water Village, located on Mabul facing the Celebes Sea, has been a prominent resort since at least the late 1990s, offering water cottages built on stilts (^[2]).

Wetpixel Coverage

Sipadan was one of the earliest dive destinations featured on Wetpixel, with coverage spanning from 2003 through 2015. The archive documents both the extraordinary diving and a troubling pattern of environmental threats to the island.

Sipadan Water Village’s annual Photo Week was first covered in 2003, promoting a weeklong event scheduled for February-March 2004 that combined photography instruction with competition. The event featured equipment pros and offered participants the chance to try new photo and video gear. It was marketed as “NOT for everyone” — targeting serious photographers at a world-class destination (^[3]). The 2006 Photo Week featured pros Marty Snyderman, Mauricio Handler, and Clay Wiseman, with Wetpixel member Larry Chan (LChan) winning Best of Show (^[4]).

The Borneo from Below web series by Scubazoo produced a Sipadan episode in 2015, describing the island as topping “many diver’s bucket list” with its huge schools of jackfish, bumphead parrotfish, sharks, turtles, and the famous barracuda tornado (^[5]).

Forum discussions around Sipadan were among the most active location threads in the archive, with topics on the planned camera ban (56 replies), Sipadan/Mabul/Kapalai diving (48 replies), reef damage (47 replies), and shark finning (47 replies).

Key Photographers

• Alex Mustard — Commented on the 2006 barge disaster, provided balanced conservation perspective (articles, forum)
• Marty Snyderman — Featured pro at Sipadan Water Village Photo Week 2006 (articles)
• Mauricio Handler — Featured pro at Sipadan Water Village Photo Week 2006 (articles)
• Larry Chan (LChan) — Wetpixel member, won Best of Show at Photo Week 2006 (articles)
• Jason Isley / Scubazoo — Borneo-based production company, produced Borneo from Below series including Sipadan episode (articles)

Conservation

Sipadan’s conservation history as documented on Wetpixel is a story of repeated environmental damage to a supposedly protected site.

Resort removal and barge disaster (2006): Dive resorts had previously been pushed off the island in an effort to preserve its marine life. The irony became acute when a massive steel barge carrying thousands of tonnes of construction materials (gravel, sand, steel tubes, iron mesh, bulldozer, crane) was allowed to anchor in front of Sipadan’s legendary drop-off. Wind pushed the barge onto the reef, scraping clean “thousands of years of nature’s delicate work” between the old pier and Barracuda Point. The barge’s hull wiped corals away “like a giant knife slicing through butter,” leaving hundreds of square meters of flat limestone and killing turtles. The barge had been ferrying materials to construct a resort — without the requisite permits. The Malaysian Tourism Minister considered closing the island indefinitely to allow regeneration. Alex Mustard cautioned that while the damage was severe, it had not ruined diving on Sipadan, and stressed that continued tourism income was essential to protect the island from fishermen (^[6]).

Shark finning (2009): Wetpixel member Syam discovered local villagers catching and finning sharks on Mabul Island over Christmas 2008. Drew Wong published a call to action urging the community to write to resort operators and the Malaysian government to protect remaining sharks and enlarge the marine protected area (^[7]).

Camera ban proposal: A proposed ban on underwater cameras at Sipadan generated the most-discussed Sipadan thread in the forum (56 replies), reflecting community alarm at restrictions on a core activity at the destination.

Timeline

• 2003-07: Sipadan Water Village Photo Week promoted on Wetpixel for February-March 2004 (^[8])
• 2006-05: Barge destroys hundreds of meters of reef at Sipadan; Eric Cheng reports, Mustard provides context (^[9])
• 2006-11: Photo Week 2006 results — Larry Chan wins Best of Show (^[10])
• 2009-01: Drew Wong publishes call to action against shark finning at Sipadan/Mabul (^[11])
• 2015-08: Borneo from Below Sipadan episode published by Scubazoo (^[12])

References

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