Mabul Island (Pulau Mabul in Malay) is a small island off the south-east coast of Sabah in Malaysian Borneo. The island is known as one of the best muck diving destinations in the world.
The island is covered in palm trees and fringed with fine beaches. It is a famous diving spot for divers, both international and local alike, and is well known as the macro diving paradise.
It is located near Pulau Sipadan.
Mabul possesses beautiful sandy beaches lined with coconut palm trees. However, the indiscriminate throwing of litter by the local fishermen does much to detract from this beauty, particularly on the island's west side.
Scuba diving - While its famous neighbour Sipadan is a home to large pelagic species, Mabul is the place to find the smaller macro species. Scorpionfishes, frogfishes, nudibranchs, crocodilefishes, various crustaceans and many other interesting and rare forms of marine life can be found here. Most dive sites are quite shallow - 12-18 m - with a maximum depth of around 30 m in a few places. Visibility is around 5-8 m at the real muck sites like Froggy Lair, Paradise Reef, and Seaventure Platform, reaching around 15 m at the seaward site Lobster Wall. Turtles can also be seen in places, although by far not as many as at Sipadan.
NOTE: Most of the dive shops, if not all of them, are operated by the home stay and resorts. They don't like divers to live but dive with other operators. They may not allow you to dive with them if you're not staying with them.
Snorkeling - A few sites close to shore are suitable for snorkeling, primarily around Paradise Reef as well as Lobster Wall.
Besides small shops in resorts and lodges there are no shops on the island.
There are no restaurants, but resorts and lodges provide their guests all meals.
Resorts and lodges provide drinks to their guests. Other than that there are no choices on Mabul.
Take a boat back to Semporna.