Sibuan Island

Sibuan Island (or Pulau Sibuan) is also known as Battleship Island (in Chinese) because of its long and narrow shape. Its “bow” is the long strip of white sandy beach pointing to the north, and the dense trees behind looks like the bridge of a ship. Covering an area of approximately 15.13 hectares, Sibuan is a sand cays island built entirely from the eroded remains of coral reef. This site is also one of the most beautiful dive sites in Malaysia.

The island is flat, with northern long tip extends almost 100 meters out to the sea, which is quite shallow during low tide. The tourists can walk to far end and look like standing in the ocean. Sibuan becomes famous when many tourists listed it as one of the most beautiful islands of Malaysia. Sibuan is fabulous but it’s lack of unique features. White sandy beach, coconut trees and crystal clear water are lovely, but these are common traits of a tropical island.

Accessible: Take a flight to the coastal city of Tawau. There are daily flights operated by Malaysia Airlines and AirAsia from Kuala Lumpur (and Kota Kinabalu) to Tawau. From Tawau Airport you can either get a taxi (around RM100+) or a bus/minivan to the village of Semporna, a 1,5 hour trip through endless palm oil plantations. At Semporna harbor boats to the neighboring tropical islands depart. The speedboat ride to Sibuan takes about 40 minutes.

Good to know: There are no resorts on the islands, and also no public facilities. A few sea gypsies live on the island; unfortunately clearly noticeable by the rubble they often leave behind on the island.