Your best chance of spotting hammerhead sharks here. They school in large numbers between the month of March and July, mesmerising divers with their form and gracefulness through the water. Beyond these months they tend to descent into deeper waters. In fact, many kinds of pelagics call Layang Layang home.
Layang Layang, known as 'Swallows Reef' is situated 300km north-west of Kota Kinabalu. This island is man-made and was constructed for the Malaysian Navy and later developed for the only dive resort, Layang Layang Island Resort. The island location offers absolute isolation, luckily there is an airship with regular flights from Kota Kinabalu visiting Layang Layang. The extreme location of Layang Layang, the pristine reefs, excellent visibility, steep walls down to 2,000m and regular sightings of pelagic has given Layang Layang a much deserved reputation of being one of the top ten dive locations in the world.
The diving here is Characterised by walls that descent as low as 2,000m although most divers do not venture beyond 30m depth. Hammerheads are visible in almost all dive sites as they swim proximity to the atoll. Buoyancy control is your key to enjoying the diving here.
With resident schools of barracuda and big-eye Trevally and frequently seen green and hawksbill turtles, the reef has something to offer everyone.
The coral are plentiful and healthy with sea fans stretching to more than 3m across that filter plankton from the passing currents. The 20m deep lagoon has some great macro creatures to be found including sea horses, cuttlefish and pipefish but it is the pelagics visiting the outer walls that truly excite divers. Schools of scalloped hammerhead sharks, grey reef sharks, leopard sharks and the occasional threshers and silvertip sharks can all be seen.
Stingray are also regular visitors including manta rays, pygmy devil rays, marbled rays and eagle rays. rare sightings such as whale sharks, orcas and melon headed whales have all been seen over the last few years. Sinner and bottlenose dolphins frequently follow the the dive boats to each location and divers are sometimes rewarded with snorkeling and diving with
these amazing creatures with its pristine reef, diverse fish life and visiting pelagic marine life.
Layang Layang has also generated some excitement in recent years with the numerous appearances of short-finned pilot whales. Measuring about 7m in length, with a bulbous forehead, these whales are docile and usually feed on squid and schooling fish. Pilot whales are normally found in groups of tens or even hundreds, providing a spectacle unrivalled by any other diving experience. Layang Layang has rightly gained world wide recognition.
