Get ready for my honest review from my time on the Seaventures Dive Rig in Sabah, Borneo.
YUP. You read that correctly. I stayed on the first-ever decommissioned oil rig that’s been turned into a scuba diving rig. Back in early June, my husband and I flew to Sabah, Borneo to dive the famous Sipadan Island.
After doing our research about the islands, dive centers, and dive sites, we decided to book our stay with Seaventures Dive Rig. Seaventures is a mix between a dive resort and a liveaboard. Most people come for 3-7 nights and the price includes all of your food, accommodation, and dives.
If you’re thinking about taking a similar trip (maybe you’ve been inspired by my daily vlog series or dive log and Sipadan island guide), this guide will help you understand what you can expect from Seaventures and their crew.
Honest Seaventures Dive Rig Review (Everything You Need to Know)
The goal of our diving trip to Borneo was to be able to dive Sipadan as many times as possible. Because there are a limited number of passes to Sipadan each day (only 254 passes), the number of days you stay directly correlates with the number of times you’ll get to Sipadan.
We booked the 5N6D package because it guarantees two trips to Sipadan Island. If you’d like to do more days at Sipadan, make sure to let the dive crew know. We told them we’d like a third day and they were able to make it happen on our last day! We ended up doing 3 days at Sipadan.
How to dive at Sipadan with Seaventures
From our experience, Seaventures Dive Rig is one of the best places to stay if you want to dive at Sipadan Island – but you’ll need to book a stay of at least 3 nights to guarantee a Sipadan day.
Sipadan has strict rules for scuba diving to protect the environment. Those rules are:
- There are only 254 permits each day, divided between all the dive operators
- 450RM fee for a one-day Sipadan permit ($90USD), which is not included in the package
- You’re only allowed to do 2 dives per day at Sipadan
- Each diver must be at least an Advanced Open Water Diver to dive at Sipadan
With all of those rules in place, is diving at Sipadan worth it? Absolutely. Read my full diving guide to Sipadan (with dive logs!).
How long should you stay at Seaventures?
How long should you stay at the Seaventures Dive Rig? Personally, when you’re traveling all the way there, make it worth it by staying for at least five nights. Their five-night package guarantees two days at Sipadan and plenty of time to dive the surrounding islands. It also allowed us a day to dive at Si Amil island.
Most people that we met on the rig were staying anywhere from 3-7 nights. If I went back I would stay for 7 nights. Leaving the rig was very hard!
What does your Seaventures stay include?
Since it’s a cross between a liveaboard and a dive resort, everything is booked like a package. Your Seaventures Dive Package includes:
- Boat transfers to and from Semporna
- Accommodation in a private room with en-suite bathroom
- Full board with a delicious buffet for breakfast, lunch, and dinner
- A magical cake fridge that refilled with exciting treats at all hours of the day
- Tea, coffee, juice, Milo available at all times
- Three daily boat dives to nearby dive sites like Mabul, Kapalai or Sipadan if you have a permit
- Unlimited house reef dives under the rig
- What does your stay *not* include:
- Nitrox – you can get nitrox for an additional fee
- Gear – you’ll have to rent any gear that you didn’t bring
- Alcohol – they have happy hour on the rig every day from 4-7pm
Where is Seaventures Dive Rig?
The Seaventures Dive Rig is in the Celebes Sea, about 45 minutes by boat from Semporna. It’s located on the southeastern coast of Sabah in Malaysian Borneo.
The dive rig is off the island of Mabul, which has several dive shops and resorts. It’s also just 20km from Sipadan Island and close to the tiny island of Kapalai which also has a dive resort.
How to get to the Seaventures Dive Rig
You’ll likely be flying to Sahab from somewhere else in Asia. We booked our flights from Krabi to Sabah with a layover in Kuala Lumpur. Our flights took us directly to Tawau Airport (TWU), which is about one hour from Semporna.
Once landing in Tawau, the Seaventures Team will pick you up from the airport for a 1.5-2 hour drive to Semporna. If you arrive too late in the day, you’ll need to spend one night in Semporna (so plan accordingly!)
You can also fly into Kota Kinabalu International Airport (KKIA) which is the international gateway to Sabah. From Kota Kinabalu, you can take a domestic flight to Tawau or you can take a bus directly from KK to Semporna.
We took an overnight bus from Semporna to KK which was extremely affordable ($27 for two people) and easy. You can book with easybook.com.
Once in Semporna, you’ll have around an hour to get a bite to eat or pick up some snacks before it’s time for the 40-minute boat ride to the rig.
Keep in mind that they only do 2-3 transfers from Semporna to the rig per day. If you arrive too late at night, you’ll need to stay one night in Semporna. We decided to stay one night in Kuala Lumpur instead and take an early flight to Tawau.
Arriving on the Rig
Arriving on the rig for the first time is a pretty incredible experience. They have a lift that takes you from the boat, up to the deck and it’ll be all smiles and excitement on that first lift ride. (I’ll be honest, riding the lift never got old!) Once on deck, you’ll be welcomed with juice and a brief explanation of how things work.
We then immediately got served lunch and after lunch, we got a tour of the rig. You have the wet deck area, which is where you’ll gear up, wash your gear after your dives, analyze your tanks, and store all of your diving equipment.
Then there’s the dining area (with the infamous cake fridge!) and the main office where you can get help with anything you need during your stay. The stairs take you up to the reading room, games room, and massage room.
Past there you have all of the rooms on the rig. There are 41 guest rooms in total.
Out the back, you have the sun deck with hammocks and sun loungers.
On your initial tour, you’ll also learn the procedures and rules of the rig. One thing that really stood out to me during our time with Seaventures is their focus on safety. They take extra precautions to make sure that you are diving safely.
How to dive at Sipadan with Seaventures
From our experience, Seaventures Dive Rig is one of the best places to stay if you want to dive at Sipadan Island – but you’ll need to book a stay of at least 3 nights to guarantee a Sipadan day.
Sipadan has strict rules for scuba diving to protect the environment. Those rules are:
- There are only 254 permits each day, divided between all the dive operators
- 450RM fee for a one-day Sipadan permit ($90USD), which is not included in the package
- You’re only allowed to do 2 dives per day at Sipadan
- Each diver must be at least an Advanced Open Water Diver to dive at Sipadan
With all of those rules in place, is diving at Sipadan worth it? Absolutely.
Meals
All of your meals are included in your stay with Seaventures. If you have any dietary requirements (like being vegan or vegetarian), make sure to let them know in advance. They were happy to accommodate our vegan diet by providing us with different tofu dishes at each of the meals.
On days you go to Sipadan or Si Amil, you’ll eat a picnic breakfast on the island. At Sipadan, there are picnic tables and at Si Amil, you’ll get to sit on a picturesque white sand beach. After your second dive at Sipadan, you’ll get another snack and coffee before your third dive.
I was worried about ‘snacks’ but shouldn’t have been! They are always feeding you and I can promise that you’ll never find yourself hungry. We bought snacks to bring on board but didn’t eat most of them.
They also have unlimited tea, milo, coffee, water, and juice on board. My favorite afternoon activity was a cup of coffee while I raided the cake fridge. Each evening they also do a happy hour for a few drinks, if you want to enjoy a sunset beer with your new diving friends.
Activities on board
You’ll never run out of things to do with Seaventures!
During your stay you’ll do 3 boat dives a day. This will be around Sipadan, Mabul and Kapalai. You can also book night dives, trips to Si Amil, and do unlimited house reef dives. We ended up doing 3 house reef dives (one check dive and two with our dive buddies) and absolutely loved it. I wish we’d had time to squeeze in one more.
Besides diving, you can fill your time with endless other activities. The games room has a pool table and table tennis, the reading room is full of board and card games, and the rig crew offers daily trips to Mabul Island. We walked around Mabul one evening during our stay.
There’s also the famous ‘rig jump’ from the sundeck. I’ll be honest, I wasn’t brave enough to attempt it! But other people definitely were.
The rooms at Seaventures
I was blown away by the rooms on the Seaventures Dive Rig, and it’s one of the main reasons we decided to book them over accommodation on Mabul (we were looking at Scuba Junkies). The rooms on the rig are luxurious.
Our room was small but cozy. There’s a wardrobe for your clothes, a small table and towel rack, and a porthole window. The bed was extremely comfortable and the best part was the hot showers. I actually couldn’t believe that we had hot showers on the diving rig! We also had air conditioning – which was amazing for the hot days.
So even though Seaventures cost a bit more than other options on Mabul, the rooms looked nicer than anything you could get on Mabul for a similar price. We didn’t see anything affordable on Mabul with A/C and hot showers! What a luxury.
Rental equipment
We rented most of our equipment from Seaventures during our stay. If you’ve dived a lot, you know that not all rental equipment is created equal… For that reason, I wanted to give an honest review of our equipment rental.
Seaventures had long and short 3mm wetsuits that were in great condition. We also rented BCD’s, they only had jacket-style but they were fairly new. I also loved the regulators that they had. They were a huge improvement on what we were using in Thailand.
Best of all, if you had any issues with your gear, they would happily swap it out to make sure that you were happy with the equipment you were using. The team helps you get all your gear sized up, but it’s up to you to set up your equipment and break it down after your dives. Oftentimes you’ll grab your kit and move it directly onto your next tank.
I switched out my regs after our first dive and my husband switched out his BCD after a couple of dives. However, we were both happy with the equipment after those initial changes.
What should I pack for Seaventures?
You don’t need to pack a lot! I’ve been traveling around Southeast Asia for five months with nothing but my Northface carry-on. Here’s what I recommend having for your trip to Seaventures:
- Reef-Safe sunscreen
- Underwater camera (I used a GoPro at Sipadan but just switched to the Osmo Action)
- Swimsuits to wear under your wetsuit
- Quick dry towel
- Lightweight clothes to wear around the rig
- Sweater or light jacket (it can get chilly after being underwater all day)
- Your dive gear (I have my own fins, mask/snorkel, wetsuit and boots)
- Your diving certification and log book
- Kindle for reading on the deck
- Slip-on shoes
- Dry bag for taking anything on the dive boat
- Toiletries
- Resuable water bottle (I love that this one comes with a straw lid for smoothies or iced coffee)
Is Seaventures Dive Rig worth it?
With a high price tag, you’ll always be wondering if an experience like Seaventures is worth the price. I hope this Seaventures Dive Rig Review has helped you know what you’re getting! If you’ve ever done a liveaboard, you’ll know that they don’t come cheap! Seaventures should be treated much like a liveaboard. Your accommodation, dives and meals will all be included in the price.
That being said, it was 100% worth it for us. Sipadan was some of the best diving we’ve ever done and that was made possible by the team at Seaventures. They helped us get out to Si Amil for a day and spend 3 days at Sipadan. The unlimited house reef dives were so fun, the dive leaders were all safe and experienced.
We dove with Wan and would definitely want to dive with him again. He was determined to help us spot every fish on our bucket list (yes, we travel with a fish bucket list! Who doesn’t?!)
Staying on the world’s first Diving Rig was a once in a lifetime experience that I would highly recommend to anyone who loves diving!
