Hanging Garden
Conditions & tides
Scored by DiveConnect's site-physics model
Marine forecast via Copernicus Marine. Score is a rule-based guide from swell/wind vs. the site's exposure — always dive your own assessment.
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About this site
Hanging Gardens is a wall and reef dive site on the southern side of Sipadan Island, considered one of the island's best sites and suitable for free diving, snorkelling, and scuba diving from Open Water certification level upward.
The wall runs from a shallowest point of 5 m down to 40 m, decorated with an abundance of soft corals and sea fans in vivid colours that are best appreciated when afternoon sun strikes the reef and brings out their full vibrancy.
Marine life along the wall includes clown fish, sweetlips, and damsel fish among the soft corals, while lobsters and small sea slugs occupy the cracks and crevices of the reef. Larger animals frequently seen here include white tip sharks, reef sharks, and bumphead parrot fish, and turtles are particularly abundant — many divers regularly spot a dozen or more in a single dive.
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Hanging Gardens is conducted as a drift dive, following currents that generally travel toward South Point. Visibility reaches up to 30 m, and the site is best visited in the afternoon when sunlight strikes the coral wall and also creates striking silhouettes of turtles swimming overhead.
Marine life here
Confirmed by our research team, reported by independent divers, or observed nearby via iNaturalist — each entry is labelled with its source.
Harlequin SweetlipsPlectorhinchus chaetodonoidesReported here · unconfirmed
Graeffe's Sea CucumberPearsonothuria graeffeiReported here · unconfirmed
Blackbelt HogfishBodianus mesothoraxReported here · unconfirmed
ParrotfishParrotfishReported here · unconfirmed
SweetlipsSweetlipsReported here · unconfirmed
ClownfishClownfishReported here · unconfirmed
DamselfishDamselfishConfirmed present · 2 independent sources
NudibranchNudibranchConfirmed present · 2 independent sources
Bumphead parrotfishBumphead parrotfishReported here · unconfirmed
FrogfishFrogfishReported here · unconfirmed
Green Sea TurtleChelonia mydasObserved near here · iNaturalist
Ocellaris AnemonefishAmphiprion ocellarisObserved near here · iNaturalist
Midnight SnapperMacolor macularisObserved near here · iNaturalist
Clown TriggerfishBalistoides conspicillumObserved near here · iNaturalist
Durable tips from divers — access, hazards, marine life, facilities. For day-of conditions, use the report tool in the conditions card above.
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