Scuba Junkie Mabul Beach Resort

We stayed for a week at Scuba Junkies and had a great time. We are a family of 3 generations and Scuba made a perfect program for the week for everybody. The staff is great. And then al the activity under water!!!!! We saw a lot of fish and turtles. Recommend a day at Sipidan - so butifull.

Before I booked, it was a bit of a struggle to get in contact with them. But finally I managed to get a contact and from there on, everything went very smooth. The resort is well organized, before and during the stay. You get extensive information on the pickup and the stay. You can book a pickup from Tawau Airport, but we came from Sepilok and booked a private transfer on our own with their sister company River Junkie. So we were more relaxed to get in time at the dive shop in Semporna. Transfer to Mabul by private boot is twice a day, in the morning and in the afternoon and is included in the booking. At arrival we got information on the resort, the dive shop, the restaurant, bar, etc. We booked a VIP AC room, which had a nice view on the dive shop, the beach and the ocean. The room was spacious, nicely decorated, basically equipment, but more than enough for our one week stay. We also had a lovely patio with comfortable chairs which were also loved by the resort cats :) There is no daily cleaning, but you can request your cleaning (basic or all) at the reception by handing in one of the cards in your room. The resort is a real dive resort, besides diving there is nothing but the bar, restaurant and a small shop. The training location for water open water training is in the front of the dive shop in a secluded area of the ocean. The restaurant was open on fixed hours, but there was always possibility to get water, tea and coffee. The food was basic but delicious and with the large tables you get easily in contact with other divers. The diving itself was also well organized. Every evening you know the planning of dive sites. We got our own gear and got a spot to keep our gear overnight. Boots were well maintained. Depending on the location we had lunch on the island or we came back to the resort. In our package we also had 3 days of Sipadan, which is well protected and even closed for recovery in November. If you are lucky, you can visit the freshly hatched turtles in the turtle hatchery on the island. The staff also needs to be mentioned. They were very friendly and helpful. Overall we had a nice stay, if you plan to go, book well in advance, it's value for money as this is a resort for divers, by divers.

Excellent staff - snorkelling guides and accommodation staff. Amazing number of fish varieties and coral. Such fun swimming with the turtles. Clean rooms and good food. Don’t forget to apply lots of ‘reef-friendly’ sunscreen and wear sun-block clothing.

It’s a bit late review from last year, it was my second time with SJ (now it is my 6th time with SJ altogether) and service is impeccable ! Good management, responsive office, big help to organise transfers, and they try to fix things if problem arise, in my case we had paid hefty premiums for Sipadan and Si Amil dives, and got a Westerner dive guide for these 2 days that was not up to the standard of their good local guides (one really screwed the dropping point for exemple). We complained and for the remaining days we got one of their best local guides and did again the same dives: it was impeccable! Night and day experiences! I strongly recommend requesting local guides, always exceptional. Resort is simple but comfy and clean. But the only SJ resort with not great food :(

Systematic diving systems and timetables and green diver policies that seek to protect marine life - turtle protection, sea-by-sea garbage, seafood-free cafeteria, and a fair working environment for staff. If you are planning a diving trip to Siffadan, book here.