Sutera Harbour Resort recently entered Kota Kinabalu’s scuba diving market when they were awarded a PADI Dive Resort rating.
PADI, the Professional Association of Diving Instructors, is the world’s largest scuba diving certification body. They also certify locations where divers can obtain various levels of diving instruction.
According to PADI, PADI Dive Resort certified operations, are dive operations that specifically cater to vacationing scuba divers and snorkelers, providing introductory scuba diving experience programs, guided scuba diving tours, snorkeling excursions and scuba equipment rentals.
Sabah is renowned for PADI Dive Resorts on islands like Mabul, Layang Layang and Pom Pom islands, and PADI IDC Dive Centres around Kota Kinabalu and on nearby Gaya island, but Sutera Harbour Dive Resort is the first 5 star resort to achieve this rating.
In Sutera Harbour Dive Resort, guests who want to experience diving now have another choice – aside from operators SeaQuest and Downbelow who are already established in the Sutera Harbour Marina – with confined water training in one of the resort’s 7 pools and open water boat dives just 10 minutes away in the TAR Park.
Although dive spots like Sipadan and Layang Layang are Sabah’s more famous diving destinations, the Tunku Abdul Rahman Park, 10 minutes by boat from Kota Kinabalu, offers plenty of excitement for macro enthusiasts.
Surprises like blacktip reef sharks, turtles, manta rays and, during February and March, sometimes even whale sharks, keep divers of all caliber coming back for more.
Sutera Harbour Dive Resort complements Sutera Harbour Resort’s 2 hotels – The Pacific Sutera and The Magellan Sutera – and the Sutera Harbour Golf Club and Sutera Harbour Marina, who between them offer a multitude of restaurants and recreational activities.