Sipadan Island

Off the coast of Sabah lies an underwater paradise made famous by Jacques Yves Cousteau who described Sipadan as an “untouched piece of art”. Here you can snorkel and dive with huge shoals of reef fish, large numbers of turtles and the odd shark or two. For competent divers, the ultimate experience is the Turtle Cavern, a vast underwater cave littered with the skeletons of countless turtles. Although there is no accommodation on Sipadan, the nearby islands of Mabul and Kapalai have good resort facilities, a profusion of ‘macro’ species and are only a 15-minute boat ride from Sipadan.