Usukan Bay lies in the South China Sea off Kota Belud in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo, and its eight sites cover reefs, pinnacles, walls, drift dives, and wrecks within Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park. All sites are accessed by boat. Water temperature sits in the high twenties from January to April, then rises to thirty degrees and holds there through November before dipping slightly in December. The Rice Bowl Wreck, formed from the remains of Japanese merchant tankers sunk in the nineteen-forties, is the area's signature advanced dive, reaching depths of forty metres. Alongside wreck diving, the bay is noted for macro life including pygmy seahorses, hairy frogfish, and robust ghost pipefish, with whitetip reef sharks and whale sharks also recorded across the sites.
Monthly water temperature across Usukan Bay's sites, from satellite sea-surface data corrected for depth. The band shows the site-to-site spread.
Water temperature is at its coolest from February to March, sitting in the mid-to-high twenties, before climbing to around thirty degrees by May and staying there through most of the year. Sabah diving is available year-round, though conditions are generally most settled between March and October.
9 operators
Water temperature around Usukan Bay ranges from about 27°C in February to 30°C in May, based on satellite sea-temperature data for its dive sites.
With water around 27–30°C, a rash guard or 3mm shorty works in Usukan Bay year-round.
Fin maps 8 sites in Usukan Bay (8 scuba diving sites).
Across Usukan Bay's dive sites, March and October are most often reported as the best months to visit.
