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This oceanic nature reserve is one of the world’s most celebrated diving sanctuaries, a volcanic pinnacle rising sheer from the seabed 600 metres below the Celebes Sea. Formed by living corals atop an extinct volcanic cone, Sipadan is the only true oceanic island in Malaysia, its walls plunging into the abyss just metres from the shoreline.

Beneath the surface, the drama is constant: barracuda tornadoes swirl in the current, green and hawksbill turtles rest in coral crevices, and grey reef sharks patrol the drop-offs alongside schools of jackfish. Above water, the island itself is a slender crescent of white sand fringed with palms, entirely uninhabited since 2004 to protect its fragile ecosystem.

Access is tightly controlled by Sabah Parks, with only 176 daily permits issued, preserving an atmosphere of untouched wilderness rarely found in modern travel. For divers, a pilgrimage to Sipadan remains one of the last great encounters with the ocean in its wildest, most unspoiled form.