Whitetip Avenue

Whitetip Avenue is a deep terraced wall on the south-east perimeter of Sipadan, Malaysia, and the island's dedicated shark dive. The wall falls away in steep terraces covered in sea fans, and the ledges are where the island's sharks rest.

The dive asks for a deep drop early on. You descend past heavy turtle traffic to the lower terraces, then spend the first part watching whitetip reef sharks sleeping in packs along the deep ledges. Grey reef sharks patrol the blue water below 30 metres, and the profile ends with a slow diagonal swim back up.

Sharks are found here in consistent numbers even when the schooling pelagics are elsewhere on the island. Sipadan is dived on a Sabah Parks permit, and the season runs March to October.