Dive Review of Seaventures Dive Rig in
Malaysia/Borneo

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Seaventures Dive Rig: "Better than I my wife told me", Aug, 2022, by Richard Blackburn, GA, US ( Contributor 13 reports with 7 Helpful votes). Report 12020 has 1 Helpful vote.
Photos Submitted with this Report Click on an image to see an enlarged version and captions
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	The Rig ------- This is an old decommissioned oil platform. WHen you arrive they take you for an orientation tour of the facilities. The rooms are nice, they provide unlimited fresh water for drinking at stations, tap water not for drinking. We stayed on the 4th floor so a lot of steps, but not bad at all. The food was really good and plentiful. They try to cater to the cuisine of the divers on the rig. There was always rice, a soup, salad, and fruit. Generally there was a land a sea dish to choose from. There was always a cooked vegetable and tofu dish too. They have a camera room with stations for about 10 people with plugs and counter top. Everything we needed. The Diving ---------- Day of arrival you are met by a dive master that will be with you the entire stay. They take you to a sandy bottom area and do a check out dive to assess your skills. When you get back to the rig, there is a surface interval, then they take you on an orientation dive on the house reef. House Reef -- We really enjoyed the house reef and dove it every day (including 2 night dives), except the day of departure :) The house reef is a bunch of artificial reef structures that is completely covered in corals. Some of the highlights we saw on the house reef were Flamboyant Cuttlefish, a hermit crab riding on the back of a turtle, batfish, nudis, ribbon eel, needless to say, a lot of incredible things down there to see. Sipidan -- We got lucky and were able to dive Sipidan 4 days in a row. Sipidan is a protected island and they only allow 200 divers per day to dive there. The park has divers in the water monitoring divers and if they catch you breaking the rules, you can be banned for life from diving there. Amongst the sites we dove there were Barracuda Point (strong current), South Point (strong current), and several easier sites with light current (Drop off, Coral Gardens, & West Ridge). We saw tons of large things on these dives, including barracuda, bumphead parretfish, travali, and sharks. Corals were amazing, but current kept you from seeing a lot of little things. We did see tons of anemonefish, I love watching them dart in and out. Our final dive in Sipidan we were greeted on the surface by mating turtles... As a cave diver (Tech Cave Instructor), I was looking forward to diving Turtle Tomb. Kelly, our DM, was a Full Cave Diver and was able to guide us into the cave. You must provide proof of cave training to be allowed to dive the cave. Of all the dives on this trip to SE Asia (40 total), this will be my highlight to remember. Turtle Tomb gets its name from the turtle skeletons where turtles saw in and could not find their way out and drown :( Mabul -- The house reef counts as Mabul, and our checkout dive was at Paradise II where we saw what Kelly called a "peacock wrasse" -- an amazing looking little fish with a top knot like a fishing lure. Our final dive of the trip was Lobster Wall. There was a strong current at the start of the dive so mainly looking at big things. Kapalai -- We only dove one site here, and wish we had more time to do more. We dove Mandarin Valley. It is a combination of natural and artificial reef. We saw tons on nudis, a "peacock wrasse", and a frogfish :) I could have easily done 4 or 5 dives on this one site and not gotten bored. The Jump -------- On the rig you live, dive, and can JUMP. It is an 8m fall to the water when you jump. They advise you not jump until all of your diving is done. They give you stickers for the rig when you are checking out that say Live Dive Jump. I told my wife we could only earn the stickers if we actually jumped. So after our final dive, we jumped. 8m doesn't sound far, but when you are failing that distance, it is a LONG way :) Summary ------- I love everything about this trip. I will likely return and really look forward to it. I would do fewer trips to Sipidan, and more around Kapalai & Mabul.
Websites	Seaventures Dive Rig
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	Over 1000 dives
Where else diving	USVI, FL, GA, TN, AL, MO, Japan, CA, Mexico (Yucatan), Bahamas, Bonaire, Roatan, Baja California, Bali, Komodo, Sipidan
Closest Airport	Tawau	Getting There	We flew Malaysian Airlines from Singapore
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, windy, rainy, cloudy, dry	Seas	calm, choppy, currents, no currents
Water Temp	84-85°F / 29-29°C	Wetsuit Thickness
Water Visibility	30-100 Ft/ 9-30 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	no
Enforced diving restrictions	You dove with a guide unless you were on the house reef. Night dives on the house reef needed to end by 19:30
Liveaboard?	yes	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	1 or 2	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	> 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish	N/A
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	[None]

Report currently has 1 Helpful vote

Subscriber's Comments

By Richard P Tucker in CA, US at Mar 06, 2023 12:05 EST

Thanks for the review! We've booked a trip for the fall.

By report author: Richard Blackburn in GA, US at Mar 06, 2023 15:48 EST

Looking forward to your report

By Richard P Tucker in CA, US at Dec 16, 2023 18:32 EST

We had a great time at SeaVentures! Thanks again.

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Dive Review of Seaventures Dive Rig in Malaysia/Borneo

Seaventures Dive Rig: "Better than I my wife told me", Aug, 2022,

Photos Submitted with this Report

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Subscriber's Comments

Dive Review of Seaventures Dive Rig in
Malaysia/Borneo