Island hopping trip to Semporna

Our Borneo adventure continues! After our River Kinabatangan Tropical Rainforest Safari, we were ready for some time in a warm ocean.... The Celebes Sea to be precise.

After a 5 hour drive, we arrived in Semporna. A town from which we would access the Tun Sakaran Marine Park and get to set foot on some of the most idyllic islands in the world. Paradise on earth!

The islands near Semporna are very beautiful. East Sabah is often recognised as some of the best snorkeling and diving in the world. The waters in East Sabah are crystal clear and packed with a rich array of beautiful sea life. All of us had such an amazing two days island hopping.

In this blog, we will help you plan your own adventure island hopping Semporna. What do you do on an island hopping trip? How do you arrange a trip? How much does it cost? And what are the important things you need to know about island hopping Semporna?

If you are visiting Semporna you can arrange island hopping day trips both in advance or whilst you are there. We would advise booking in advance especially in the high season.

We used a tour company called Sabahtravel.com and booked a 3 night island hopping tour which effectively means you have two days out at sea. These day trips tend to depart in the morning around 8am – 9am and return in the afternoon around 4pm – 5pm. These island hopping trips generally visit 3 – 5 islands or snorkelling spots. Most island hopping trips will include lunch, drinking water, life jackets and snorkelling equipment. The islands we visited over two days were:

• Sibuan island – small island with beautiful sandbar and clear shallow waters.

• Mantabuan island – small island, flat, lovely beach, surrounded by shallow turquoise waters.

• Mataking island – Beautiful island out to the east. Long sand bar, clear waters and lots of marine life here. Shipwreck dive site.

• Pom Pom island – small beautiful island with a couple of resorts.

• Timba Timba island – small thin island with long sandbar surrounded by clear shallow waters.

• Bohey Dulang island – hilly island with stunning viewpoint of curved bay and marine park. Not allowed to swim or snorkel at this site.

The town of Semporna itself is not really a tourist attraction. It’s quite run down and dirty and simply caters for all the visitors who come here for the islands.

Most accommodation here is basic, clean and comfortable. If you are looking for 5 star resorts, this is not the town for you. Our tour company allocated us accommodation as part of the package. It was a 3 star hotel called Casa Casa conveniently located a short walk away from the jetty where the boats pick you up. If you want to see the inside of our hotel so you can get a sense of what to expect from accommodation in Semporna, then have a look at our You Tube video below.

You can of course book accommodation separately from the island hopping tours. There are plenty of options available to suit your budget. Have a look at Booking.com or Agoda which is typically what we would use. One other option is to choose a resort on one of the islands and that way you can take a boat straight from there to other islands. If you are a keen diver, we would recommend Mabul Island, not too far from Sipadan Island which is world famous for its dive sites. There are lots of dive centres with their own accommodation on Mabul Island.

This will vary depending on what type of trip you book, if you share or go private and which dive sites you visit. For a shared boat trip: Island hopping Semporna normally costs in the range of RM120 – RM200 per person (roughly £24)) and normally includes equipment rental (snorkel, mask, fins and a life jacket) and lunch. For a private trip in Semporna expect to pay around RM600 – RM800 depending on the company and tour (roughly £120 – £160). There are also jetty fees and national park fees if you dive Sipadan Island. These may be included in the price or may be charged as an additional fee.

We paid in advance for our trip and it included everything. We shared a boat with another couple but given we are a family of 7, we nearly filled it up and it felt like a private boat! Our trip cost around £900 which included accommodation and the two island hopping day trips. There was no breakfast or dinner included with the hotel. Everything was provided on the day trips.

We were really well looked after by Seabunny Scubacations. The staff were excellent from start to finish. They all spoke English, were friendly and made us feel safe and welcome for the whole trip. And the lunch was very tasty! We would highly recommend them to anyone looking to book their diving trip here. So overall for 7 of us, the trip cost £128 each and given how amazing our trip was, we would say it was good value for money.