I felt bad for the unpleasant experience by ah_2kam. So here I would like to point out a few more things and will keep them short and simple.

- Uncle Chang is not the ONLY or the BEST choice for budget travelling/diving in Sipadan/Mabul/Kapalai area. There are a few more resort stilted ON THE WATER of mabul offering very good rate if you search hard enough and deal directly with the resort people. Uncle Chang 'look' affordable coz it breakdown all itz expenses item by item so you can choose which one that you want (but in the end the total may not be THAT attractive, ala AirAsia style).

- There are at least more than few resorts that offer transportation from tawau airport all the way to their resort on Mabul and return to Tawau that are inclusive in the package. This option is much more convenient and potentially save more $$ on overall travel expenses.

- Sipadan/Mabul/Kapalai is indeed not for divers that are not experience in dealing with strong underwater current, but the dive site that has strong underwater current (Barracuda Point) actually has quite a shallow sea bed/floor for diver to stick to the ground when the current is strong. And divers can still enjoy the view of thousand barracudas swirling in vortex formation by grasping onto the rocks on the seabed. So overall the drift diving in that site is still manageable even for newbies if they take care of the air consumption and buoyancy.

- And this lead to another opinion of mine: Sipadan/Mabul/Kapalai may not be a suitable place to take up diver course. Being a totally new diver means that the diver still have to spend a lot of attention in taking care of breathing, buoyancy, direction etc. Usually the new diver can only spare enough attention on bigger stuffs like school of fishes/pelagic etc but would miss the chance of noticing smaller stuffs like nudibranches, shrimps, crabs, colourful but elusive soft corals (yes, they are plenty in Sipadan/Mabul/Kapalai if you know where to look for them). And all these are within pretty shallow depth (less than 20m deep)

- Snorkeller can enjoy the experience almost as good as the divers if they go to some similar site as the diver goes, especially the Barracuda point (for barracuda vortex) and White Tip Avenue (school of HUGE bumphead parrotfishes), where snorkeller can view the spectacular scenes as good as divers. And oh, those place are definitely rubbish-free.

- Getting Sipadan permit is pretty much depends on the number of people on that particular resort as  it is 'quota' to each resort. So in other word, if you happen to go to the resort when there is not that many people around, chances are that you can visit Sipadan even at DAILY basis!

- My last Sipadan trip was planned with budget as priority and I managed to squeeze everything below RM2k including the flight to Tawau from LCCT, all transportation cost starts from my house to the resort on Mabul then back to my house, one night accomodation in Tawau, 4 days divings including sipadan permit for 3 days and all food & stay expenses on a stilted on the water resort on Mabul (where I can dive right below the resort FOR FREE!).

With proper reseach and planning and asking, hope you all could get the nice choices and pleasant experience!

And no, I'm not advertising anything or being sponsored to write this. Just sharing my thought here.

Cheers.