We visited Sipadan Island, in Malaysia (off Malaysian Borneo), over Diwali 2017 with Lacadives. We stayed on Mabul Island, which was beautiful, particularly the evenings, which boasted red and blue sunsets. The main attraction (and the highlight) of our trip was Sipadan National Park. Access to the park is usually limited to one visit per week, but we were lucky to have dived in the park on two out of the five diving days that we were there. Having Sumer and Mitali from Lacadives accompany the trip was a tremendous learning experience – Sumer helped us perfect our buoyancy, and Mitali could name pretty much any fish that we encountered, and also had a story about her personal experiences with each. 

The range of marine life in the area was stunning – it ranged from common lion fish to white tip reef sharks, schools of barracuda creating vortices, bumphead parrotfish and crocodile fish! Other than Sumer (who is a professional underwater photographer) and Mitali who works in film, the rest of the group was very diverse. We had a software engineer who moonlights as a dive master, a rescue diver who helped with a panic situation, an architect, a psychologist and the two of us, who are twins, and students. 

We have dived with Lacadives before, in Bali, where we received our PADI Open Water certification. This was our second trip with Lacadives, and it was the perfect vacation – great diving, beautiful location, and really lovely fellow divers. We can’t wait to dive with Lacadives again!

Arjun and Nisha Mishra, Lacadives guests
Photography by Sumer Verma