page_title: Pom Pom Island
section_title: Diving
hierarchical_section_title: Pom Pom Island / Activities / Diving
caption_attribution_description: English: Blue ribbon Eel fish on Pom Pom Island, Celebes resort, Sabah
context_page_description: Pom Pom Island is a small coral reef island in the Celebes Sea approximately 30 kilometres north east of Semporna town, Sabah, East Malaysia.
  The island is 2.3 kilometres in circumference at the high tide line with a fringing coral reef 4 kilometres long. The island is flat sand with a maximum elevation of less than 2 metres above the HT line. The reef flat is only 50–75 metres wide to the west and several hundred metres wide around most of the island. The island has a white sand coral beach and is a significant nesting location site for green and hawksbill turtles. Relatively undeveloped, the island is one of the most popular dive destinations in the Semporna district.
context_section_description: The reef is on the edge of the continental shelf and the seabed surrounding the reef slopes out to 100 to 130 m deep. There are deep, nearly vertical, walls starting at 27-30m deep located at the northern tip, eastern plateau, and lobster wall. Depending on the tide, the current at these locations can be strong, offering excellent drift dives with many seafans and pelagic fish. There are two dive resorts, (Pom Pom Resort and Celebes Beach Resort), and a marine conservation project Tropical Research and Conservation Centre (TRACC) operating on Pom Pom island.
  The island is a macro divers' paradise with many small creatures located in the shallows in front of the resorts.  The protection from the resorts and coral planting by TRACC has helped to reduce fishing and increase the numbers and diversity of fish species. The water varies from 25 to 29 degrees C, with good visibility. The island lies below the monsoon belt and gets good weather all year; while there are occasional short squalls during thunderstorms, they rarely last more than an hour.
  The two resorts provide a variety of PADI courses, dives & accommodation for recreational scuba divers. Marine science students and marine conservation volunteers are working underwater to replant the reef, based at the TRACC Expedition camp.
caption: Blue ribbon Eel
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