Exploring,the,Underwater,World sports Exploring the Underwater World – Scuba Diving from Kota Kina

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Sabah is part of MalaysianBorneo, located in south east Asia and is surrounded by the South China Sea onthe west coast, Sulu Sea on the East coast and the Celebes Sea on the SouthCost. Sabah is located within the Coral Triangle - the Coral Triangle is knownfor being home to some of the most diverse marine life in the world.Fortunately you don’t have to travel far in Sabah to appreciate its tropicalwaters. Kota Kinabalu, the capital city, has Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park onit’s doorstep. The marine national park is only 20 minutes by boat from KotaKinabalu, Sabah's Capital and Malaysia's youngest city. This makes it apopular choice for visitors interested in diving, snorkelling, watersports orjust chilling out on the islands beaches. The rest of this article provides anoverview of the scuba diving sites located in Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Parklocated just in front of Kota Kinabalu.The Marine Park, namedafter Malaysia's first Prime Minister, came into existence in 1974 and at thattime it was Sabah's second National Park. It is home to five islands – PulauGaya, Pulau Mamutik, Pulau Sapi, Pulau Manukan and Pulau Sulug. The threebusiest islands are Sapi, Mamutik & Manukan (each with the facilities tocater for tourists). All five islands are fringed by coral reefs and home todive sites and areas suitable for snorkeling. With over 20 different dive sitesin Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park the visiting diver, or those wanting a trydive, really are spoilt for choice. Let’s take a closer look at the reefssurrounding each of the islands and the variety of marine life you can expectto see.Sapi is the second smallestisland in the Marine Park. It is fringed by a reef on it’s east, south and westshores. Sapi House reef is probably the most popular dive site in the MarinePark for divers. It is home to a shallow coral reef, artificial reef balls anda sandy bay which is ideal for diver training. On the home reef you’ll see awide variety of coral reef fish – Damsel Fish, Fusiliers, Barracuda, ParrotFish, Wrasse, Puffer Fish, Porcupine Fish, Bat Fish – and it’s the most popularreef for visiting Hawksbill Turtles. Along the sandy bank you’ll find someinteresting marine life too including Garden Eels, Blue Spotted Rays, Gobies,Lion Fish, File Fish, Puffer Fish, Anemone Fish, Pipefish, Flounders (knownlocally as the Ikan Sebelah – or ‘side fish’), nudibranches and more. The housereef is 3m – 18m with a sloping reef. It rarely has currents making it perfectfor a check out dive or a very relaxing dive either enjoying the fish life inthe shallow reefs, muck diving along the sandy area or checking out the marinelife around the artificial reef balls.There are also some gooddive sites on the south coast of Sapi – Rons Reef and Rays Reef – both havegentle slopping reefs from 8m – 18m and can be a nice gentle drift dive whenthe tides changing. Another nice dive site on the west coast is the reefextension know as Clements Reef. Clements Reef has very pretty hard and softcorals interspersed with coral cover boulders and Barrel Sponges. It is 8m onthe top of the reef with a gentle sloping reef fringing the dive site down tobetween 18m – 25m. A nice deeper coral reef site.Mamutik, a slightly quieterisland, is home to a nice beach and two decent dive sites – the fringing reeflocated on the north and western side of the island (which has a 10m x 5m patchfull of anemones with False Clarke Anemone Fish, or Nemo’s). It also has a divesite called ‘the Pyramid’ located off the west facing side of the island – socalled due to it’s shape. The Pyramid is an interesting dive site – it may nothave the best corals in the Marine Park but it has interesting critters on it’sslops (Nudibranches, Scorpion Fish, Shrimps etc.) and typically has a largeschooling group of Barracuda at the top of the pyramid. The dive sites have thenicest conditions during the North East trade winds (November – March) whenthey are more protected from the prevailing winds. Manukan’s best dive sitesare on the west coast, facing out to the South China Sea. These are probablythe least visited coral reefs by divers – as most Dive Operators don’t make theeffort to visit reefs that are the furthest distance from Kota Kinabalu.Typically you’ll be the only divers in the water when diving the west reef.Home to a shallow reef (5m – 12m) full of large table corals with a gentlysloping sand bank from 10m – 20 dotted with coral boulders. Around these coralboulders you can often find an interesting mix of Nudibranches, Lion Fish,Shrimps, File Fish, Puffer Fish, Porcupine Fish, Moray Eels, Sea Cucumbers andmore.Gaya is the largest islandin Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park. Whilst most of the island is fringed bycoral reefs, the nicest quality reefs (in terms of coral coverage, health ofthe corals and mix of marine life can be found at a small number of locations –Soft Coral Garden on the west coast (so called due to the volume of colourfulsoft corals covering it), Policy Bay and the reefs just to the east of PoliceBay. Police Bay is a protected bay during the south west trade winds providingfor nicer visibility. The reefs towards the edge of the entrance to the bay (onthe northern tip) have lovely steep sloping reef walls from 10m to 25m – 30mand often have large shoals of Snappers and Fusiliers. Last, but by no meansleast, Sulug. Sulug has a ‘tongue shaped’ coral reef protruding from it’s northface. The reef has a flat top at 5m – 7m with steeper slopes which can reach25m. The slopes are covered in coral covered boulders and bombies. It’s on thenorthern reef slopes where you’ll find the most Orangutan crabs, a surprisingrange of Nudibranches and some of the largest Gorgonian Fans. If you’re luckyyou may also get to see a Frog Fish or a Ghost Harlequin Pipefish during themating season.Whether you be visitingKota Kinabalu, Sabah as an experienced diver, a new diver, wanting to learn todive or enjoy a try dive there are dive sites in Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Parkto meet your needs. Find out more aboutscuba diving in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Borneo.