Sipadan Island, Sabah

Widely regarded as one of the top five dive sites on earth, Sipadan rises from 600 metres of deep ocean and its walls are draped in hard and soft coral teeming with barracuda tornadoes, schools of jackfish, green and hawksbill turtles, and the occasional hammerhead shark. Only 120 permits are issued daily to protect its extraordinary ecosystems, making access a coveted prize. It outperforms #2 Perhentian Islands in biodiversity, hosting over 3,000 marine species versus the Perhentians' 2,000.