Uncle Chang Sipadan Mabul Dive Lodge Semporna

We booked through borneo climb and dive, who placed us with Uncle Changs diving company. I do not dive but my partner does and Sipadan was a must do activity when visiting Borneo (I came for the Oragutans) I believe snorkelling is a rare offer with most dive companies to Sipadan - so I was super lucky to find the opportunity. We also just did not have the time to stay on a dive lodge, and it would have been a waste of ALOT of money for me as I don’t dive. This experience was INCREDIBLE. We saw everything we expected and more. I was snorkelling with dozens of turtles, fish the same size as me, amongst beautiful coral. The majority of the staff were friendly, Ali in particular stands out, and certainly everyone was very safety concious and professional. Highly recommend Uncle Changs and Borneo climb and dive!

It was bad... very bad. We booked a 3 dives trip to Sipadan with this ressort in early September 2023. Firstly, the dive Master never checked on our equipment neither check on our tanks. We got our equipment mixed up and tank only fill up at 140 bars. Its often a tactic used to shorten the dives. The first dive went ok. It was beautiful. The second dive, i was mixed with a chinese and a spanish divers. The chinese girl was supposed to be advanced diver, but our dive master never checked on their level. She was obviously not as she coudlnt even check her pressure gauge by herself. We started the dive against a very strong current. Obiously too strong to be handled. The chinese girl was clearly struggling. Not a single time the dive leader perfomed a backward check on the group. After 3 minutes, 2 divers were more than 10 meters away from the dive leader. After 5 minutes, we lost the chinese girl and the spanish guy. They made an emergency ascend as the girl was exhausted, and the dive leader didnt even noticed as he was way to far. The guy just lost 2 divers in a strong current dive, around 30 meters depth, on a 600 meter wall... I personnally had to reach him to make him realized he just lost 2 divers wihtout noticing. So we surfaced. The dive leader didnt even controled his divers at the surface and the spanish diver had to care for the chinese girl who was obviously trauma. The diver leader talked to nobody and went back on the boat, isolated himself at the back to smoke cigarettes and didnt performed any debreif or check up. Also, he could have just go back in the water with myself and the other relaible spanish diver as only 8 minutes were lost and diving again was possible. So no replacement dive. We basically paid 500 euros my girlfriend and i for 2 dives on Sipadan for me, and another dive on another spot, also a snorkelling trip for my girlfriend. At the end, i had one correct dive in Sipadan, 2nd dive on sipadan cancelled including dramatic security issues, and another crap dive on the last spot. My girlfriend could only spend 8 minutes snorkelling on site. Conclusion... expensive non worhty dive trip, huge and dangerous security issues in diving, ridiculous snorkelling experience as the ship stayed away from the shore or didnt even dropped the snorkellers on a proper spot (which was definitly possible) and the worse customer service ever encountered... for 500 euros... We tryed to ask for a refound or a free trip the next day, but all staff keep avoiding us at the ressort. Report will be sent to Padi controllers. You ve been warned.

Took the AOW course and dove 2 days of Sipadan with Uncle Chang's. The course and dives were ok despite some leaky gear and our instructor/divemaster's disinterest in engaging with us before/after dives (maybe it's a cultural thing?), but the worst was the wait for everything and the lack of response. Their time estimates were always off, we were told to meet at the boat at 7:45, 8am only to depart at 9, 9:30am. Food was decent with limited coffee and tea on dives. COMMUNICATION WAS PRACTICALLY NON-EXISTENT. Jamilah and Roihan who manages the operations kept ignoring my messages. We had to send numerous follow-ups for a single response. As an avid traveler, I've honestly never dealt with a worst company in terms of customer service and communications. Booking with them was incredibly stressful as we weren't sure if our course and dives were confirmed up until the week before our trip. Unfortunately, we were stuck with this company because we paid a large deposit but had to postpone the trip due to COVID and they refused to refund the deposit. Even after the completion of the course, we had to wait almost 2 weeks plus many follow-ups with Jamilah for our status to update in PADI. Word of advice, DO NOT PAY A DEPOSIT or better yet save yourself the headache and stress and just book with other dive shops in Semporna like Borneo Speedy Dive or Scuba Junkie. There's a reason why Uncle Chang is rated terribly compared to everyone else.

Took the AOW course and dove 2 days of Sipadan with Uncle Chang's. The course and dives were ok, but there was too much waiting. Their time estimates were very off, we were told to meet at the boat at 7:45, 8am only to depart at 9, 9:30am. Food was decent. Communication was practically non-existent. Jamilah and Roihan (who I believe manages the operations) kept ignoring my messages. We had to send numerous follow-ups for a single response. I've honestly never dealt with a worst company in terms of customer service and communications. Practically had to beg for responses because unfortunately, we were stuck with this company because we paid a large deposit and had to postpone the trip due to COVID and they wouldn't refund the deposit. Even after the completion of the course, we had to wait almost 2 weeks + many follow-ups with Jamilah for our status to update in PADI. Word of advice, DO NOT PAY A DEPOSIT or better yet save yourself the headache and stress and just book with other dive shops in Sempora like Borneo Speedy Dive or Scuba Junkie. There's a reason why Uncle Chang is rated terribly compared to everyone else.