Sabah Tourism Mataking Island page for destination, dive centre, clear ocean, and dive-site context.
Mataking reef, cleaning-station, and wall dive with rich macro life.
Mataking reef, cleaning-station, and wall dive with rich macro life.
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Use a Mataking or Semporna operator for boat access, current checks, and routing between the shallow coral garden and wall.
Magic Rock is a Mataking-area reef and wall dive in Sabah's Semporna region, built around a shallow coral garden, a named rock, cleaning stations, a sandy slope, and deeper wall terrain. The site is strong for macro hunters and photographers, with frogfish, blennies, ribbon eels, seahorses, ghost pipefish, shrimps, crabs, nudibranchs, cuttlefish, octopus, and reef fish all possible when divers slow down and search carefully. It can be approachable in calm conditions, but current can make the deeper wall and cleaning-station route better suited to experienced divers.
Conservative baseline from public research. No community dives logged yet.
Depth range, seasonality, and planning context.
Reported Depth
5m - 28m
Depth Note
Site profiles describe coral shallows and a named rock around 15 m, with a listed maximum depth around 28 m for ordinary dives and deeper wall terrain beyond the main recreational route.
Best Season
Mataking can be dived much of the year, with calmer and clearer days usually chosen by local operators around wind, rain, and current forecasts.
Typical Conditions
Expect warm tropical water, bright coral shallows, sand slope, macro life, and potentially stronger current around the wall or exposed sections.
Hazards, restrictions, and access requirements.
Key Hazards
Safety Notes
Check current before descending, stay with the guide on the wall and cleaning stations, keep excellent buoyancy over coral, and avoid handling macro animals for photos.
Access Restrictions
Access is by Mataking or Semporna dive boat and may depend on resort logistics, boat schedule, diver certification, weather, and current.
Legal Notes
Follow Sabah marine rules, operator briefings, no-touch reef etiquette, and any resort or local conservation controls around Mataking.
Community notes to help plan your visit.
Scuba Diving
A strong scuba site for macro photography, coral garden cruising, and wall-style profiles, with diver level set by current on the day.
Freediving
Freediving is not the standard plan because the site is boat-based and current-sensitive.
Snorkeling
Snorkeling may be possible over shallow coral sections in calm conditions, but the named rock, cleaning stations, and wall are scuba-focused.
Species commonly reported at this site, with direct links into their wildlife guides.
Community dive logs and visit reports for this site.
Average conditions based on logged dives & visits.
Planning answers for access, conditions, timing, and site logistics.
Last Updated
Research Sources
Sabah Tourism Mataking Island page for destination, dive centre, clear ocean, and dive-site context.
Mataking dive overview identifying Magic Rock as a Mataking site suited to experienced divers when current is strong.
Mataking operator page listing Magic Rock and describing cleaning stations, marine life, and current caveat.
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