Mabul & Kapalai · Malaysia · Artificial reef · Muck & macro
Seaventures Jetty
Frogfish in red, yellow and black under the platform legs
Photo: Bernard DUPONT from FRANCE · CC BY-SA 2.0
Mabul's converted platform stands about 500 metres off the north shore, and the dive is the patch of seabed underneath it: 12 to 17 metres among big metal legs and piles of metal rods. It looks like a wasteland until you slow down and start searching, which is when the frogfish, morays, ghostpipefish and nudibranchs turn up.
Also known as Seaventures Rig, Seaventure Platform.
Where it is and how deep
4.2537° N, 118.6332° EPublished position for this site.
The dive
This is a dive under a building. Ugly, big metal legs support what is now converted into accommodation, and the structure shelters the water beneath it: surface conditions are almost always flat calm and there is little current. The profile does not limit you either, varying between 12 and around 17 metres, so a dive here is governed by your air and your patience rather than by depth.
What is on the bottom looks like nothing at first: piles of metal rods and debris, a post-apocalyptic landscape rather than a reef. That is the point of the site. Search it properly and you will find a whole batch of frogfish in varying hues of red, yellow and black, huge moray eels, ghostpipefish and nudibranchs galore where you were sure there was nothing at all.
Visibility is around 5 to 8 metres, in line with Mabul's other true muck sites, so plan a dive that stays close to the structure and works a small area properly rather than swimming for the horizon. There is no reason to hurry: with flat water above you and little current, this is a dive spent hanging over one pile of rods until it gives something up.
Marine life and season
- Frogfish
- Nudibranchs
- Macro critters
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Good | Good | Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Good | Good |
Season follows Mabul & Kapalai: Diveable year-round with little seasonal variation; muck subjects are present in all months.
Know before you go
- The bottom is scattered metal rods and structural debris; keep clear of the piles and avoid pushing hands into gaps while searching for critters.
Photos from Seaventures Jetty
Bernard DUPONT from FRANCE · CC BY-SA 2.0
Bernard DUPONT from FRANCE · CC BY-SA 2.0
Bernard DUPONT from FRANCE · CC BY-SA 2.0
Dive videos
DIVING ON SEAVENTURES DIVE RIG | House Reef nearby Mabul Island and Sipadan Island Malaysia · The Round the World Guys on YouTube
MABUL ISLAND DIVING IN SABAH | Seaventures Dive Rig in Sipadan Malaysia · The Round the World Guys on YouTube
Questions divers ask
How deep is the Seaventures Jetty dive?+
The site varies in depth between 12 and around 17 metres. With little current and a flat calm surface under the platform, it is a straightforward dive at Open Water level.
What can you see at Seaventures Jetty?+
Frogfish in red, yellow and black hues, huge moray eels, ghostpipefish and plenty of nudibranchs, mostly among the piles of metal rods and structure on the bottom.
Sources
- Diving Sites - Mabul Island — Dive The World
- Mabul — Wikivoyage
- Semporna — Wikivoyage
- Mabul Island — Divezone
Photo credits
- A white-streaked grouper rests beside the curved steel pontoon of a floating jetty encrusted with sponges and coral by Bernard DUPONT from FRANCE, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- A large yellow elephant ear sponge growing on the jetty's underwater structure with small fish swimming past by Bernard DUPONT from FRANCE, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- A giant moray eel emerges from a crevice among colorful soft corals and sponges on the jetty pilings by Bernard DUPONT from FRANCE, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- An orange-spotted nudibranch crawls across coral rubble encrusting the Seaventures Jetty reef by Bernard DUPONT from FRANCE, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
In The Logbook
- Frogfish: species, behaviour and where to diveMacro & muck · 12 min read
- The best muck diving in the worldMacro & muck · 6 min read
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