Travel to Sipadan Options

[cor]

Hi all, i'll soon be travelling to Sipadan and am wondering if anyone has been there recently.

I am using a travel agent that says I can get to Sipadan Water Village in 1 day, starting in Kuala Lumpur. There is a direct flight from KL to Tawau which arrives in Tawau at 16:50. All information you read about Sipadan mentions a nights stay in Kota because of the ferry times to Sipadan.

I am not convinced you can get to Sipadan in 1 day this way. I'll be calling the watervillage on monday but maybe some of you have done a similar trip.

Anyone?

Thanks,

Cor

[kthan]

the last time i went (2 years back), it took 2 hrs overland to reach Semporna from Tawau. From Semporna, it is a 45 min speedboat ride. So if the agent can arrange for transport all the way, I don't see why not.
Eric

[bobeson]

My wife and I went to Sipadan last May, and we were unable
to get a direct flight from KL to Tawau - we arrived in Kota Kinabalu
at about midnight, checked into some fancy overpriced hotel for
five hours, then caught the early morning flight to Tawau. It was
most unpleasant. The overland shuttle from Tawau to Semporna
was a little less than an hour for us, and about 45 minutes by boat
to Sipadan

If there is now a direct flight from KL to Tawau that is great - it will
make Sipadan a much more pleasant place to visit. We decided
that the difficulty of traveling to Sipadan was not warranted by the
quality of the diving, and that Manado offered a better variety of
diving opportunities and was much more easily accessed,
with direct flights from Singapore, and was therefore a much better
destination for us than Sipadan. You might consider this as well.
I think Sipadan is over-rated.

[3@5]

here's the time table for some fligths from kl to tawau:
Airasia Sdn Bhd
AK 320 Kuala Lum Intl. (KUL), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 09:50
Tawau (TWU), Tawau, Malaysia 12:35
Non-stop
733 2h45min Daily

Malaysia Airlines
MH 2662 Kuala Lum Intl. (KUL), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 12:45
Tawau (TWU), Tawau, Malaysia 16:50
1 stop(s)
734 4h05min Daily 1 stop (kota kinabalu)

there are other combinations with a stopover in KK usually. unless you have to depart KL after 1230p there is no need to overnight in KK.

i use the following site when i need to know both availability and timetable of flights:
www.amadeus.net

it does not provide pricing though, but i have found it to be very useful over time to plan complex itins.

/paul

[Ychng]

When I went to Sipadan a few months ago (late December), I left from Penang, so I had to stay a night in Tawau. However, there were in excess of 10 people who arrived from KL via Air Asia that same day.

The flight gets in a 9 or 10 am or so to Tawau airport, which incidentally is midway between Tawau and Semporna. All the resort vans are already waiting for you at the airport. Then, a 30-40 min ride to Semporna, on to the boat, and a 30 min journey via speedboat to Sipadan. You'll be there by noon on the same day you leave KL, if you get your flight in early in the morning.

msg me for more info if you need. I was at Borneo Divers at Sipadan, and SWV in Mabul. SWV has an awesome resort, and you can't beat the dropoff and night dives at Borneo Divers Sipadan.

Yeang

[craig]

When we go, we skip KL and go direct to KK. We go straight through from home (Texas) to LA, Taipei, KK, Tawau, Semporna, and SWV without any sleepovers. I don't know if you can go straight though from KL but the busride from Tawau to Semporna is closer to 1 hour. When we return, we travel from KK to KL apparently because we get better travel times departing to Taipei. We usually spend several nights in KK before returning (and that's where I am now).

[Luko]

Went there last february and coupled Sipadan/Mabul with Borneo divers (which I highly recommend). Tawau airport to Semporna takes a little more than an hour with a minivan then there's some lost time gathering pax -from half to a full hour- the speedboat transfer then takes some 40mn.

I wouldn't say Sipadan is a remote destination, thanks to many MH or AirAsia flights going daily to Tawau and fair connections : very easy to get there around 11Am if you get on the first planes landing in Tawau, lots of connecting flights from KL/KK/Tawau too but as night falls quite early 6h30 your transfer schedule should be very tight with the plane landing Tawau at 6h50... maybe a matter of an hour, but I don't think there are any transfers boat at night.

Anyway i didn't bother staying in KK as I planned other land activities in Borneo around KK or in Sarawak.

As for bobeson remark, I think a Mabul/Sipadan combo can easily compete with a Lembeh/Bunaken set. While Lembeh certainly provides more critters than Mabul, Sipadan is way above Bunaken IMHO.

[craig]

I would rather travel to Mabul than Manado personally but Air Malaysia offers a KK to Manado flight now I'm told. Lembeh and Mabul/Kapalai can be compared but have some significant differences and Sipadan wide angle can be very, very good. I'd also personally rather stay at Sipadan Water Village than KBR, but the Murex Lembeh Resort is very nice. Both places are excellent. I love the density of "freak show" critters in Lembeh but you really don't do wide angle, reef dives and muck dives in the same day in Lembeh like you do at SWV.