Sipadan · Malaysia · Wall · Drift
South Point
The deep corner, where rare hammerheads pass at 40 m and beyond
Photo: Bernard DUPONT from FRANCE · CC BY-SA 2.0
South Point is Sipadan's deep, exposed corner: a wall of untouched coral falling into open water, dived between 25 and 40 m in current strong enough that it is run as a drift. Divers come for what passes outside the reef — hammerheads and threshers at 40 m and beyond — with whitetips, turtles and bumphead parrotfish holding on the wall itself.
Where it is and how deep
4.1033° N, 118.6341° EApproximate position — the dashed circle shows where the site lies; your operator's briefing has the mooring.
The dive
This is the deep end of the island. You drop onto the wall and go down to about 25 m, where coral covers the rock and the reef keeps falling away below you into open water. Current is normally strong and the dive runs as a drift along the corner, so the plan is to get depth and position sorted immediately and then let the water do the work. At this profile the dive is short, so gas and no-decompression time are the limits that end it, not the scenery.
The pelagic pass is what people book South Point for. From a ledge on the wall you fin gently out into the blue and scan the water, and the sightings that make the site — hammerheads or threshers — come at 40 m and deeper, most often early in the morning. They are rare rather than routine. If nothing shows out there, the wall itself carries plenty: countless turtles, whitetip reef sharks and massive schools of fish moving along the coral.
Enormous bumphead parrotfish grind and munch at the corals in groups, and you will normally hear them working before you pick them out against the face. The wall is covered in untouched coral for most of its dived length, so the swim back along it is worth slowing down for. The dive ends as the corner shallows and the current loosens its grip, with the ascent made in contact with the wall.
Marine life and season
- Hammerheads
- Thresher sharks
- Reef sharks
- Sea turtles
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fair | Fair | Prime | Prime | Prime | Good | Good | Fair | Good | Good | Good | Fair |
Season follows Sipadan: Diving runs all year; March to May brings the calmest seas and clearest water, while wind and rain can cloud it from December to February and in August.
Know before you go
- Strong current on an exposed corner can carry divers off the wall into open water; stay in contact with the reef, drift with it, and surface with a marker rather than swimming back.
- The shark sightings sit at 40 m and deeper, which is exactly where divers get pulled past their plan — agree a hard depth limit before the dive and hold it whatever passes below.
Photos from South Point
Bernard DUPONT from FRANCE · CC BY-SA 2.0
Dive videos
Scuba Diving at Sipadan Island in Malaysia | South point was the best dive location to see sharks! · Engin Yuvaktaş on YouTube
Questions divers ask
What sharks are seen at South Point?+
Whitetip reef sharks patrol the wall on most dives. Hammerheads and threshers are what divers go deep for here, but they are rare, and they are seen at 40 m and beyond, usually early in the morning.
How deep is South Point?+
The dived profile runs from about 25 m down to 40 m along the wall, which continues below that into open water. It is rated as a deep dive for advanced divers, and the depth keeps bottom times short.
Sources
- South Point Dive Site – Map & Review — Divezone
- Diving Sites Malaysia - Sipadan Island — Dive The World
- Sipadan — Wikipedia
Photo credits
- A giant manta ray glides over the reef at South Point. by Bernard DUPONT from FRANCE, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- A bright pink cluster of soft tree coral on the reef wall at South Point. by Bernard DUPONT from FRANCE, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
In The Logbook
- The best wall dives in the worldWalls & drop-offs · 11 min read
- Malapascua thresher sharks: Monad or Kimud?Big animals · 11 min read
- When and where to dive with hammerheadsBig animals · 16 min read
More dive sites in Sipadan
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Twenty or more grey reef sharks off the ridge on a single dive
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