The internationally famous island of Sipadan lies five degrees north of the equator in the Sulawesi Sea (Celebes Sea). Lying 35krn south of Semporna on Sabah's mainland, like many tropical islands it is thickly forested and surrounded by sandy beaches. Sipadan is an oceanic island and was formed by living corals growing on top of an extinct undersea volcano, which rises 600m from the seabed.

The geographic position of Sipadan puts it in the centre of the richest marine habitat in the world, the heart of the Indo‑Pacific basin. More than 3000 species of fish and hundreds of coral species have been classified in this richest of ecosystems. Sipadan is well known for its unusually large numbers of green and hawksbill turtles which gather there to mate and nest and it is not unusual for a diver to see more then 20 turtles on each dive. Another unique feature to divers visiting Sipadan is the turtle tomb, an underwater limestone cave with a labyrinth of tunnels and chambers that contain many skeletal remains of turtles that became disoriented and then drowned.

The residential schooling barracuda and big‑eye trevally are one of th highlights on every divers wish‑list which often gather in thousands formin spectacular tornado ‑ like formations. With the possibility of seeing pelagic such as mantas, eagle rays, scalloped hammerhead sharks and whal sharks, each dive at Sipadan is a highly anticipated event.

Its not only the big fish that amaze divers coming to Sipadan, the macro life is equally mesmerizing. Garden eels, leaf scorpionfish, mantis shrimps, fire gobies and various pipefish are guaranteed at various dive sites. The diversity and abundance of marine life found at Sipadan gives it its reputation of being one of the ten best dive locations in the world. There are now six resorts (Abdillah Sipadan Paradise, Borneo Diver & Sea Sports, Borneo Sea Adventure, Pulau Bajau's, Pulau Sipadan Resort and Sipadan Dive Centre) on Sipadan and the number of guests staying at each resort has been restricted to protect the reef and marine life.