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The region combining mainly waters of Sulu Sea and Celebes sea and surrounded by Borneo, Sulawesi and Philippines harbours the richest variety of marine species in the world. WWF identified this area as Sulu-Sulawesi marine ecoregion - the global center of marine biodiversity. There are many good dive sites in the region, but in my opinion the two most exciting spots are Sipadan Island (East Borneo) and North Sulawesi (including Lembeh strait and a few islands approachable from Manado). There are a few other dive spots in the world that are more scenic but nowhere else you can find such concentration of various species that are within minutes reach from the same resort.

Sipadan Island / Kapalai / Mabul

Sipadan island became wold famous after Jacques Yves-Cousteau's famous documentary. Sipadan is a small island that is actually a tip of the very tall mushroom-like pinnacle. It has fantastic drop-offs that are often under negative angle.

Turtles can be seen literally everywhere. Schools of hundreds to thousands of chevron barracudas and jacks (Bigeye trevally) are very common. I have seen huge schools of barracudas and jacks in Myanmar, Galapagos and Papua New Guinea, but nothing were like those around Sipadan. There are lots of white tip sharks, some gray reef and leopard sharks.
Besides large animals, Sipadan is also rich in macro subjects. Night dives are fantastic especially for crustaceans (you should be careful at night because of negative drop-off).
Recently the decision has been made to close all resorts on Sipadan. Currently only day visits to the island are allowed. Fortunately, there are alternative places to stay and dive. Kapalai resort and Mabul island are only about 20 minutes away and have some of the best macro dive sites I have visited.

Kapalai resort is unique: an array of spacious wooden houses with large balconies are built on wooden piles on top of the reef, mainly covered with water (only a small stripe of sand is exposed during low tide). Water is everywhere - it feels like you are on a boat but without annoying motion sickness. Even from your balcony you can observe a lot of underwater action - batfish, hunting barracudas, octopi etc. The houses are linked by long wooden bridges, connecting you to the restaurant, jetty and the dive station... Diving is good even under the houses. Mandarinfish can be seen just five meters away from the jetty.
Mabul lsland, which is 15 minutes from Kapalai, has some great dive spots as well. Altogether these three islands offer an amazing variety of marine species and can easily satisfy those who like big stuff and those macro freaks... just like me.