This Decommissioned Oil Rig Is Now a Tropical Diving Xanadu

Complete with beds, restaurants and a roving “Sea Gypsy Band”

By The Editors
February 8, 2016 9:00 am

We’ve given you the hotel in an ex-military fortress.

The home on Whiskey Island, where they used to bootleg moonshine during the Prohibition.

Today in immersive historical travel: the Seaventures Dive Rig, a decommissioned oil rig that a group of hopeful hoteliers recently repurposed into a luxury scuba diving destination.

The rig, built in Panama and used in the oil and gas industry until 1985, is located off the coast of Sipadan in Malaysia and attracts thousands of visitors each year who want to scuba dive amongst the area’s tropical fish, giant clams, hawksbill turtles, sharks and barracudas.

Divers can get into the drink via a boat or the rig itself, and there are lots of underwater areas to explore, including Mabul Island, Kapalai and the reef that’s been growing and populating under the rig itself for almost 20 years.

Although the resort still “maintains the allure and spirit of a working rig,” guests stay in comfortable quarters, dine on acclaimed cuisine and are entertained by the Sea Gypsy Band — a group comprising members of the rig’s dive-training crew.

Word on the street is they do a mean version of “Under The Sea.”

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