Seahorse Sipadan Scuba Lodge — Hotel in Sabah

This hotel is highly overpriced at the current rates! If you're in a hurry: go straight to booking elsewhere. If you have a minute: read on.

Service is very bad: we tried to find someone working at the hotel on multiple occasions but the reception is rarely operated and other staff members are either away or do not speak English.

Rooms are clean but the electricity is switched off in rhe morning, making the packing on check-out day a treasure hunt since there is barely any natural light im the room. This brings us to the next point: windows are towards the restaurant and diveshop area, so you will try to keep them closed and shut the blinds, even thoughthe view probably isn't so bad. Makes the room a very dark and sad place to spend the evening and morning.

Bathroom had only cold water, which is standard on Mabul. However, the soapy water you produce while showering flows directly into the ocean, only filtered by the wooden tiles on the floor.

Food is pretty good but don't expect any service around it or a lot of choice. You will have to clear your own plate and bring it to a stack where they collect used plates to be cleaned.

Overall, by far not worth the price. Do not stay here for longer than a night if you like something you want to feel at least a little comfortable in.

Personally, I would recommend staying on a different island, as Mabul overall wasn't a great experience except for the diving...outside of Mabul. I found the island to be over the top dirty and ugly, with the beaches and views blocked by houses, even though the center of the island is completely empty. Other Malaysian Islands offer far better value for money and diving is similarly good (e.g.: Redang,...

We "choose" to do Sipadan dive with them because they were the only one to still have permits to dive there in the all island, now I understand why.... ||+ wet suit with big holes and broken zip ||+ no M size (how can it be possible ..?)||+ tank air leaking||+ safety regulator not working (they still ask us to check it under the sea, even if it was obvious it didnt work, so we had to go back to the boat and change it)||+ manometer not working ||+ we dived at the entrance of a cave but didnt enter because he didnt bring light (other dive center were inside with light)||+ no mask spare on the boat||+ no dive master presentation (only the main one dare to introduce himself)||+ we ask few times for deep dive as we were AOW, but they didnt take it in count. other group saw hammershark at 30m so I ask if we could maybe try deeper but they say it s only possible in the morning (??!)||+ after lunch the second DM decided he was too tired to dive, so we had group the 2 teams (OW and AOW)...||||Im pretty sure we dived in a rush and they didnt wanted to do so much because when we came back they have another dive waiting for them ||||last but not least, everything from the toilet in the "resort" is going directly to the sea (pee, poo, whatever. ..) Good luck for the jetty snorklers !||||there are so many dive center, if you can, just stay away from them !||||PS if you find my shirt there, please contact me. It was drying in the boat while i was doing my last dive. It mysterioulsy disapear then... Nobody seemed to care...

AVOID THEM We "choose" to do Sipadan dive with them because they were the only one to still have permits to dive there in the all island, now I understand why.... wet suit with big holes and broken zip no M size (how can it be possible ..?) tank air leaking safety regulator not working (they still ask us to check it under the sea, even if it was obvious it didnt work, so we had to go back to the boat and change it) manometer not working we dived at the entrance of a cave but didnt enter because he didnt bring light (other dive center were inside with light) no mask spare on the boat no dive master presentation (only the main one dare to introduce himself) we ask few times for deep dive as we were AOW, but they didnt take it in count. other group saw hammershark at 30m so I ask if we could maybe try deeper but they say it s only possible in the morning (??!) after lunch the second DM decided he was too tired to dive, so we had group the 2 teams (OW and AOW)...

Im pretty sure we dived in a rush and they didnt wanted to do so much because when we came back they have another dive waiting for them

last but not least, everything from the toilet in the "resort" is going directly to the sea (pee, poo, whatever. ..) Good luck for the jetty snorklers !

there are so many dive center, if you can, just stay away from them !

PS if you find my shirt there, please contact me. It was drying in the boat while i was doing my last dive. It mysterioulsy disapear then... Nobody seemed to care...