Scuba Diving
Diving Gems in Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park
Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park is situated half an hour by boat transfer before Kota Kinabalu, the main city town of Sabah, Borneo. Although going to Divers transit through Kota Kinabalu (or 'KK' as it is termed in your area) enroute to renowned Pulau Sipadan, or even the drop-offs of Layang Layang, most of them don't understand that there's good quality diving possibilities found in Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park (TARP) which hosts > 20 different barrier reef dive sites plus some impressive muck diving possibilities the place to find a variety of creatures.
The Marine Park, named after Malaysia's first Pm, has been around since in 1974 and in those days it had been Sabah's second National Park. It hosts five islands - Pulau Gaya, Pulau Mamutik, Pulau Sapi, Pulau Manukan and Pulau Sulug. All these islands is encircled by fringing barrier reefs which are perfect for diving and scuba diving. Because the Islands shield you you are able to go diving in TARP throughout the year using the best diving conditions within the 'Dry Season' from April - October. Sabah is situated inside the Barrier Triangular - the Barrier Triangular is renowned for being the place to find probably the most diverse marine existence on the planet - this implies that there's a multitude of marine existence within the Marine Park too. Divers can easily see barrier reef seafood for example Snappers, Parrot Seafood, Fusiliers, Porcupine Seafood, Puffer Seafood, Lion Seafood, Anemone Seafood (including ‘Nemo’) right through to macro existence for example Nudibranches, Seahorses, Blue Ringed Octopus, Frog Seafood, Pipefish and much more. We frequently have either Hawksbill or Eco-friendly Turtles passing through the barrier reefs, for food or relaxation, too.
Pulau Gaya may be the biggest island in Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park. Although the majority of the island is fringed by barrier reefs, the best quality reefs (when it comes to barrier coverage, health from the corals and mixture of marine existence) are available at a small amount of locations - Soft Barrier Garden around the west coast (so known as because of the amount of colourful soft corals covering it), Policy Bay and also the reefs simply to the east of Police Bay. Police Bay is really a protected bay throughout the the west trade winds (April - October) supplying for better visibility. The reefs for the fringe of the doorway towards the bay (around the northern tip) have lovely steep sloping reef walls from 10m to 25m - 30m and frequently have large shoals of Snappers and Fusiliers.
Pulau Sulug, the farthest island from Kota Kinabalu, is among the least visited by divers (with a few local Dive Operators favoring dive sites which are simpler to go to). However, we frequently begin to see the best selection of marine existence here on its northern border reef and also the south reef. Throughout breeding seasons we have seen on the fairly consistent basis Ghost Pipefish, Frog Seafood and Seahorses. It's here that people run into the Orang Utan crab within the most abundance. It's here that people also regularly go swimming by, and thru, large shoals of Yellow Snapper.
If the didn't already wet your diving tastebuds, you will find good dive sites surrounding Pulau Sapi, Pulau Manukan and Pulau Mamutik. Edgell Patches, a barrier reef extension situated west of Sapi, is the greatest much deeper barrier reef dive site and it is so large that it may be dived over and over and you will be diving different parts of the reef. It's at Edgell Patches that rebreather diving buddies know of 2m Black Tip Sharks across the much deeper parts of the barrier reef.
Scuba Diving
Whether you be going to Kota Kinabalu, Sabah being an experienced diver, a brand new diver, attempting to learn how to dive or have a try dive you will find dive sites in Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park to suit your needs.
Discover much more about diving in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Borneo.