Sipadan Water Village, Mabul Island
Sipadan Water Village, with the private villas over the water connected by walkways, is beautiful! There are great views from pretty much every building, dining area, and so on. The resort is spread out nicely, which is an amazing thing, as long as you don't forget something you need at your villa and you've already walked to the dive center. The rooms are well appointed, with AC (when I was last there, not all rooms had it so make sure if this is important to you). We didn't have a bathtub (standard villa). Definitely don't plan on walking without something on your feet, as the planks of the walkways are very hot if the sun is out.
The food at SWV was usually pretty good, but not great. Be careful eating the chicken dishes, as many people encountered small bones in their food. Service was top-notch, the coffee was amazing, and they will even do a special party if you ask for it. We had a great 50th birthday for a member in our group. You can walk the island, and visit little shops. They have some kayaks available as well.
The dive operation was really great. The dive guides were very attentive the whole time, and were great at finding critters for us. The dive center has a nice setup where you get a number for your gear, locker, and such and use that number the whole time you stay there. Your gear will be on the boat for you every day. Diving from the house reef was great, and unlimited. We dove nearly every night, and even saw some Mandarinfish one night! Their dive boats are comfortable, and never crowded. Mabul island, where SWV is located, has a lot of muck diving as well as many large turtles that come around often. If you love turtles, this is the place for you! I have never seen so many turtles on a single trip. If you can, take a dive or two under the Seaventures rig right across from SWV to find lots of nudibranchs, ribbon eel, and so on.
Diving at Sipadan Island is limited, so the days you are scheduled to dive there, you've got to be on the boat by 0515, which means a very early wake-up! We were fortunate to dive there multiple times in our ten-day stay because some folks in our group gave up their spots a few times. The very first morning, we jumped in a Barracuda Point and found ourselves in a huge school of Bumphead Parrotfish. Amazing. There were huge schools of Jacks, Barracuda, and many turtles as well. We saw a many white-tip reef sharks every day.
Overall this resort is great, the diving is amazing, and the staff are extremely nice and helpful. We plan to make another trip in a couple years, and I am already looking forward to it.
