Layang Layang offers what I believe is the best location
for reef diving anywhere in the world. The island itself is only 50 acres and
houses a runway, navel base and a bird sanctuary in addition to the dive centre
and hotel. The plane that took us there from Kota Kinabalu
(KK) in Sabah, Northern Borneo, was a Russian built and crewed twin engined
Antonov 38. The journey of about 300 kilometres takes around an hour and in
good weather is a pleasant flight. The plane landed on a postage stamp that was
to be our home for the next 10 days. The walk from the plane to the hotel reception
took about 45 seconds, where we were greeted in the bar by a friendly young
lady who explained how things on the island worked, and then gave us the keys
to our room. The room itself was very much like being on a cruise ship with 2
huge beds, a nice little bathroom and a little balcony that overlooked the
ocean, for those who can’t manage without TV, there was one on which requested
videos can be played. The restaurant is next to the swimming pool and
provided several meals a day, all offering a nice variety of wholesome food. The dive centre is a very friendly and
professional set-up, with plenty of equipment available for hire. Everyone who
dives at Layang Layang needs a minimum of 40 dives and is put through the
nicest of check dives before being let loose on the reef. The diving is spectacular. Sharks & turtles on
almost every dive, coral that would leave Picasso hunting for more colours,
hammerheads by the score, mantas, pigmy devil rays, tuna by the hundred,
parrotfish and trigger fish by the thousands. No dive site is more than 15 minutes away and you
are offered 3 boat dives a day and unlimited shore diving, with the occasional
night dive if you want it. If you want a diving holiday and don’t mind a bit
of a journey then this is the place for you Check out
the links to Layang on our links page Water Temp. Year-round 24-30°C Visibility: 15-65 metres Average 27 metres
