Dive Review of Seaventures Dive Rig in
Malaysia/Sipadan, Mabul, Kapalai

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Seaventures Dive Rig, Dec, 2009, by Jennifer Widom, CA, USA ( Contributor 12 reports with 4 Helpful votes). Report 5323.
No photos available at this time
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	(Same review submitted to tripadvisor) Our family of four divers stayed on the Seaventures Dive Rig for six nights in late December, 2009. We were happy with every aspect of our stay. Because our stay was at the start of the rainy season, the rig wasn't nearly full -- there were no more than about 15 divers each day. On the good side, because the rig can obtain Sipadan permits for at most 11 divers each day, and some of the other guests were doing courses or reserved much later than we did, we were able to go to Sipadan every day of our stay except one. (We requested one day of Mabul & Kapalai diving; we might even have gotten Sipadan that day had we wanted.) On the down side, the visibility was considerably lower than what one can expect in the peak season. Nevertheless, over our stay we saw everything we could have hoped for: prevalent sharks and turtles, schools of barracudas, jacks, and bumphead parrotfish, frogfish, leaffish, mandarin fish, pygmy seahorses, the list goes on and on. Sipadan deserves its reputation for superb sealife, while the "muck diving" at Mabul, Kapalai, and under the rig is a lot of fun, especially for photographers. With the tradeoff between visibility and Sipadan availability, it's hard to say whether we would have preferred a high-season visit. The dive operation is a fairly well-oiled machine (no pun intended). We had the head divemaster, Mando, for our orientation dive under the rig and for most of our boat dives. His sense of humor was excellent, adding a dose of fun to every briefing, boat ride, and dive. He was relatively loose: briefings were brief; he showed the way and pointed out lots of interesting stuff, but he didn't keep close track of divers -- buddies were free to separate from the group if they wished. That all worked well for us, but divers wanting closer supervision might be slightly disconcerted. Each day included either three dives at Sipadan starting at 6:00am and returning to the rig before noon (it's about a 20-minute boat ride; boats are very comfortable), or an 8:00am start with two morning and one early-afternoon dive at nearby Kapalai & Mabul. Independent diving under the rig was permitted until 8:00pm, and it was possible to buy additional Mabul or Kapalai boat dives for a very reasonable $25 per diver. (For example, we bought an extra boat dive to Mabul one day at 5:30pm when the mandarin fish come out.) The divemasters are also willing to join for under-the-rig dives if asked, for example we twice had a divemaster come along to show us some extra-special creatures. While we did not do any courses on the rig, there were several people doing them, and reports are that the instruction is excellent. One small warning: the crew weren't always super-careful about tank swaps. A few times we discovered non-refilled tanks before a dive, and one time a BC was loose enough that a tank came out. In terms of accommodations, don't expect the rig to be five-star, by a long shot. They do a pretty good job with upkeep, and the rooms are clean, but it really is a renovated old oil rig, and it's tough to keep things in good shape on the water. The huge area with the dive deck, eating, and socializing zones is very nicely set up (the many "gardens" of potted plants are an especially clever touch), and a it's a wonderful place to simply hang around. There are various other public rooms but we never used them. The basic double guest rooms are just that: small and basic. However, for only about $20/day extra we booked one of the two "family suites" (a misnomer since they also sleep two). It was amazing: about eight times the size of the basic rooms, with carpeting, a king-size bed, leather couches and glass coffee table, etc. We highly recommend going for it. The food was plentiful, mostly Malay style, lots of fresh seafood, and very good. The staff on the rig were friendly and competent. The elevator that brings you down to the water to board a boat or dive under the rig is truly unique. Overall, we very much enjoyed the atmosphere and functioning of the rig. We can't compare the rig to the more expensive options on Mabul or Kapalai, or the cheaper option of staying in Semporna (a bit of a dumpy town) and enduring the longer boat rides each day. But if we went back, we would most certainly stay on the rig again. One suggestion (based on our positive experience and hearsay): Book as early as possible, and make sure to express well in advance your desire for Sipadan permits.
Websites	Seaventures Dive Rig
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	501-1000 dives
Where else diving	worldwide
Closest Airport		Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, windy, rainy, cloudy, dry	Seas	choppy
Water Temp	80-81°F / 27-27°C	Wetsuit Thickness
Water Visibility	25-60 Ft/ 8-18 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	On group dives: time limit, safety stop
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	Lots	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	> 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter	N/A	Boat Facilities	N/A
Overall rating for UWP's	N/A	Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	[None]

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Dive Review of Seaventures Dive Rig in Malaysia/Sipadan, Mabul, Kapalai

Seaventures Dive Rig, Dec, 2009,

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):

Dive Review of Seaventures Dive Rig in
Malaysia/Sipadan, Mabul, Kapalai