Malaysia Divesites
Mataking Island
Sabah: Sarawak: Peninsular Malaysia - East Coast |
Mataking Island is 1 hour boat ride away from Sipadan Island close to the border with the Philippines. It has one upmarket resort on it and is popular as a romantic getaway. It is possible to dive Sipadan from Mataking by daytrip but many dives find that they enjoy the Mataking diving so much that they skip the long boat ride to Sipadan and stick with the local dives. The diving around Mataking Island itself is mainly macro diving although the north side of the island has some deep wall dives where pelagics are often sighted.
North Point off the north west coast is one such wall dive where strong currents are often present. There is a cleaning station at around 35 metres where manta rays, eagle rays and grey reef sharks can be seen. Hammerhead sharks have also been seen here and even whale sharks make occasional visits. In shallower water it's possible to see large green turtles.
Coral Garden, located off the east coast has pristine and colourful corals with myriads of reef fish and the occasional manta ray sighting.
The House Reef on the west side of the island can be dived from shore. Large schools of jacks are seen around the jetty. Large grouper can also be seen but this is mainly a dive for the smaller stuff like lionfish, stonefish, pipefish and ribbon eels. The house reef is an excellent night dive.
Ribbon Eel Garden to the south of the house reef is a good place to see ribbon eels and other critters including many nudibranchs.
The Ship Wreck is a fishing boat that was sunk by Mataking resort to great an underwater reef which is attracting many residents. Divers can find frogfish and leaf fish, moray eels, scorpionfish, snapper and jacks. Divers can also send their postcards home from the underwater postbox on the wreck.