Joanne Cotterill

Wreck Diving Along The West Coast of Sabah, Borneo

Sabah, Borneo is a popular destination  for scuba diving. Alongside diving world famous Sipadan there are a series of World War 2 wrecks along the west coast of Sabah accessible for recreational and technical diving.

Many divers visit Sabah, Borneo to go diving world famous Sipadan. Home to stunning drop-offs, Turtles on every dive and dived by Jacques Cousteau it’s not a surprise it’s a popular scuba diving destination. What many divers do not realise is that there are a range of World War 2 (WW2) wrecks offering some memorable diving experiences along the west coast of Sabah. And all are accessible via diving day trips from Kota Kinabalu (the capital city of Sabah).

Whilst there are believed to be many wrecks in the South China Sea (from World War 2), there are currently four WW2 wrecks identified off the west coast of Sabah which are also suitable for scuba diving. All of the wrecks are Japanese cargo ships – meaning they are large (~150m – 200m) and have historic ‘treasures’ that were being transported at the time they went down. Due to the length of time they have been sunk (~65 years) they are all covered in stunning soft coral gardens, hard corals, teeming with fish life and home to an amazing range of tropical water marine life. Find schooling Barracuda, Nurse Sharks, large Groupers and large shoals of Yellow Snappers and Fusiliers.

Three of the wrecks are located in Usukan Bay (Rice Bowl Wreck, Upside-Down Wreck and the Usukan Wreck) which is located 30 nautical miles north west from Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. The fourth wreck, the Gaya Wreck, is located ~ 20 minutes west of Pulau Gaya (outside Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park near Kota Kinabalu, Sabah). The wrecks offer both non-penetration diving (i.e. swimming over and around the wreck) and limited penetration diving, within the "light zone". The rest of this article provides an overview of the wrecks to be dived along the west coast of Sabah.

The Rice Bowl Wreck - So-called because a cache of rice bowls was found in the bow when it was first dived, this is a relatively long vessel (~150m) lying in a North Easterly direction in 40m at its deepest and 26m at its shallowest. The depth of this wreck makes it suitable for minimum PADI Advanced Open Water Divers and is best dived recreationally using nitrox (EANx30). The superstructure is punctured in many places, making some exploration possible and interesting, and the metalwork is robust. The soft coral garden is memorable. During the ‘Dry Season’ you can often enjoy stunning visibility on the wreck of 30m+.

The Upside-Down Wreck - The name gives away the orientation of this ship, which lies in the same direction and at similar depth to the Rice Bowl wreck. This wreck has good swim-throughs, though a torch is essential and is good for exploring as well as a training ground for Wreck Diver specialty.

The Usukan Wreck - This is the deepest of the three Usukan Bay wrecks at 35m – 45m and consequently only available to technical divers (divers certified for decompression diving). It is a good wreck for diving on rebreathers or diving twin-tanks / Trimix. The wreck is interesting and has a spectacular whip coral coverage that can give it a frosted appearance in a certain light.

You can watch a video of rebreather divers on the Rice Bowl Wreck, as part of a scuba diving trip with Borneo Dream from Kota Kinabalu.

The Gaya Wreck - The large Gaya wreck is a deep wreck and sits upright in 36m - 50m of water. The wreck is generally intact and there are lots of interesting exploration and wreck penetration opportunities for technical divers with suitable experience and training (rebreather divers of twin-tank divers). Whilst the identify of the wreck has not been confirmed, it is believed to be the Nittetsu Maru. On October 14th 1944, Submarine Dace (SS-247) sank two Japanese merchant tankers, the Eikyo Maru and Nittetsu Maru, and damaged merchant ore carrier Taizen Maru off North Borneo, 06°05'N, 115°55'E". The description of this wreck matches that of the Nittetsu Maru. Post action reports state the Dace sunk the Nittetsu Maru (a cargo ship of 5,993 tons), the Eikyo Maru (an oil tanker of 6,948 tons) and heavily damages the cargo ship Taizen Maru (5,396 tons).

Wreck diving is a popular form of scuba diving amongst leisure divers. Diving along, or inside, a shipwreck is attractive to divers for several reasons. Shipwrecks have a history to them which provides a different perspective when diving along one. Wrecks also quickly become an artificial reef, which creates a habitat for many types of marine life – they are normally surrounded by fish and home to critters. Scuba diving along a wreck also presents new skill challenges for scuba divers. 

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