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Last updated on March 8, 2024
Kapalai is a small resort island in Borneo’s Semporna region. The resort features dozens of bungalows on stilts around a small sandbar surrounded by a reef inhabited by green turtles and tropical fish. This snorkeling spot can be a disappointment due to its high number of visitors and degraded seabed, especially if you visit on day trips.
Kapalai Island lies around 15 miles/25 kilometers south of Semporna. There are two ways to visit this spot:
If you’re staying at the Sipadan Kapalai Dive Resort, you can enter the water from your bungalow or one of the hotel’s many pontoons. If you’re taking part in a boat trip, you’ll be dropped off by your captain at the edge of the authorized snorkeling area (where there are often dozens of other boats).
Kapalai Island is surrounded by an extensive reef, but the area authorized for day visitors is very small (snorkeling zone 1 on the map).
Visitors are forbidden to go beyond a buoy line which prevents them from getting closer to the shore and the hotel. The minimum depth in this area is 6 feet/2 meters.
If you stay at the Sipadan Kapalai Dive Resort, you’ll be much freer to come and go on the reef flat and between the different parts of the reef. The part of the reef between the day visitors’ area and the bungalows is the most recommended (snorkeling zone 2 on the map).
Due to the very high number of visitors at this location, the coral has almost completely disappeared, except in areas where the depth exceeds 10 to 13 feet/3 to 4 meters, where small colonies of massive coral, digitate coral and soft coral remain.
A few crinoids, colorful tunicates, and bivalves are attached to the reef, where blue starfish can also be seen.
Despite its almost absence of coral, Kapalai is home to some very interesting sea life. Butterflyfish, trumpetfish, emperor, wrasse and Moorish Idol are easy to spot.
Bluespotted hind hides against finger corals, with which they blend perfectly. Large schools of blue triggerfish pass through the blue at the foot of the reef.
Kapalai is also a recommended location for spotting Green turtles. They often rest on the slopes, but rarely venture to the surface due to the large number of people in the water.
If you take part in a tour, it may be difficult to enjoy your snorkeling session because of the hordes of snorkelers in the water, whose behavior is not always appropriate (collisions, flipper strikes, agitation in the water…).
If you don’t spend much time in the Semporna region, you’ll be better off in less-visited spots like Mataking and Timba Timba, with their unspoiled reefs.
This spot is the house reef of the Sipadan Kapalai Dive Resort. Day tours include lunch, often taken on the pontoons of the nearby Mabul resort.
These snorkeling spots are accessible to beginners and kids. You will enter the water gradually from a beach, or in a less than 3ft. deep area. The sea is generally calm, shallow, with almost no waves or currents. These spots are usually located in marked and/or monitored swimming areas. It is not necessary to swim long distances to discover the sea life. This level only apply when the spot experiences optimal sea and/or weather conditions. It is not applicable if the sea and/or weather conditions deteriorate, in particular in the presence of rough sea, rain, strong wind, unusual current, large tides, waves and/or swell. You can find more details about the definition of our snorkeling levels on our snorkeling safety page.
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Snorkeling spots are part of a wild environment and their aspect can be significantly altered by weather, seasons, sea conditions, human impact and climate events (storms, hurricanes, seawater-warming episodes…). The consequences can be an alteration of the seabed (coral bleaching, coral destruction, and invasive seagrass), a poor underwater visibility, or a decrease of the sea life present in the area. Snorkeling Report makes every effort to ensure that all the information displayed on this website is accurate and up-to-date, but no guarantee is given that the underwater visibility and seabed aspect will be exactly as described on this page the day you will snorkel the spot. If you recently snorkeled this area and noticed some changes compared to the information contained on this page, please contact us.
The data contained in this website is for general information purposes only, and is not legal advice. It is intended to provide snorkelers with the information that will enable them to engage in safe and enjoyable snorkeling, and it is not meant as a substitute for swim level, physical condition, experience, or local knowledge. Remember that all marine activities, including snorkeling, are potentially dangerous, and that you enter the water at your own risk. You must take an individual weather, sea conditions and hazards assessment before entering the water. If snorkeling conditions are degraded, postpone your snorkeling or select an alternate site. Know and obey local laws and regulations, including regulated areas, protected species, wildlife interaction and dive flag laws.
