Mabul Island -- Pulau Mabul is a small 20 hectares oval shaped island, ringed with sandy beaches and perched on the northwest corner of a larger 200 hectare reef. Lying 15 km to the north of Pulau Sipadan, only 15 minutes away by boat, the reef is on the edge of the continental shelf and the seabed surrounding the reef slopes out to 25m-30m deep. The island has a resident fishing community and is covered in coconut plantations. This unusual setting makes for some interesting scuba diving. Through small and mostly bottom dwellers, many of Mabul's sea creatures are unique, stunningly colourful, often rare and sometimes bizarre. The astonishing thing is that most of these creatures can be found on the house reef right in front of the resort.

The recommended flight from Kota Kinabalu to Tawau leaves at 7:00 hrs and arrives at 7:45 hrs. This is the flight most resorts favour and guests will be collected here and driven for around one hour to Semporna, where the resort boat will transfer you the 45 minutes to Mabul Island. Your diving will start in the afternoon.

Later flights are available but can cause problems with transfers and will almost certainly mean no diving on the first day.

There are direct flights from Kuala Lumpur to Tawau (07:20-10:05) and from Johor Bahru to Tawau (07:50-10:35) with Air Asia - there may be transfers available to meet these flights but you are still not guaranteed diving on the first day. Malaysia Airlines has a later flight (13:15-14:00), but this will probably mean an overnight in Semporna and pick up from your hotel at 08:00 hrs. Semporna has a couple of hotels such as the Dragon Inn and the Seafest Hotel.

Due to the dangers of flying after diving, some Mabul resorts may require you to sign a waiver. This is because some guests want to squeeze in as many dives as possible regardless of the risks. Guests who will be flying within 24 hours after departure from the resorts may be subject to diving restrictions on the last day.

Flights back from Tawau are Malaysia Airlines to Kota Kinabalu (14:40-15:25 hrs or 21:00-21:45 hrs). If you do not wish to stay overnight in Kota Kinabalu, you can fliy direct to Kuala Lumpur with Air Asia (10:30-13:15 hrs or 21:00-21:45 hrs) or back to Johor Bahru (11:10-13:45 hrs).

Note - flight times are subject to change. Please refer to the airline web sites to check for changes and for booking information.