For those who have not scuba dived here, the Miri diving sites are well scattered just outside the resort city of Miri in Sarawak and are a little different from most other places.

Miri is also not well known for diving; it is now being promoted by the Sarawak Tourism Board and Tourism Malaysia as one of the must-dive areas in Sarawak, Malaysia, alongside Sabah and the East Coast Islands.

While Malaysia has an abundance of beautiful dive sites, the dive sites in Miri are absolutely not to be missed for any adventure and leisure diver.

Miri’s dive sites has some of the world’s healthiest hard and soft corals according to research, and were recently discovered in the last five years or so, making this dive destination a desirable and unique one to visit.

Various diving photos in Miri.

There are 37 dive sites in Miri, and the following are the most popular for beginner and advanced divers.

This shallow reef of just 20 to 40 feet is carpeted with soft corals such as leather corals, elephant’s ear and dead man’s fingers. Giant anemones and clownfish are all over the reef. The schooling yellowtail fusiliers and angelfishes also characterise this reef.

One of the most interesting reefs with a depth range of 10 – 16 meters, with hard and soft corals, anemones and their symbolic clownfish, bubble corals, anchor corals, colourful dendronepthya soft corals, feather stars, giant clams, nudibranchs and schooling yellowtails.

The largest reef in Miri is some 800m in length and has a depth range of 8-18m. Divers will certainly be left awed by the many large boulders, huge and undamaged table corals of Miri. Leopard Sharks, large Marble Rays, and a variety of strikingly contrasting marine life can be seen here.

This unique 16-meter deep reef provides an excellent environment for an amazing variety of gorgonian sea fans, sea whips and schooling batfish.

Large hard corals make up this richly inhabited 11-16 meter deep reef, populated with anemones, clownfish, and nudibranchs.

This reef is named after our respectful instructor, Mr Voo Heng Kong, and is covered with sea whips swaying among the hard coral and sea fans. Average diving depth is around 17 metres, where divers will find schools of jacks, small barracudas, anemones, clownfish and many more species of marine life.

An exciting drop-off reef (20-40 meters) with a vertical wall. Schooling jacks, barracudas, napoleon Wrasses, yellowtail fusiliers and large groupers are always present, and sharks and trumpet fish are occasionally seen here.

A picturesque reef covered with gorgonian trees and sea fans. Batfishes are common among the long swaying sea whips – a photographer’s heaven.

Giant groupers inhabit this reef at a depth of 15-18 meters. Spiny lobsters are also present together with yellowtail fusiliers and other schooling fishes.

A World War II-era Japanese warship wreck just off Lutong. The 100-meter ship sits upright with the top deck just 10 meters below the surface. Most of the hull is covered with cave corals. A large moray eel has made its home here, and trevally, jacks and barracudas are frequently seen.

A small 30-meter cargo ship sits on an 18-meter sand bottom. The whole wreck is teeming with life; jacks, yellow grunts, batfish and barracudas circle the wreck while giant groupers swim in or out of the cargo holds.

Miri Dive Sites.

Miri Diving Information

Miri has long been known for its national parks and caves, and now its beautiful undersea landscape and marine life are attracting scuba divers, following the discovery of untouched coral reefs in recent years.

In general, the reefs in Miri are patch reefs, with depths ranging from 7 to 30 meters and average visibility of 10 to 30 meters. This largely depends on diving conditions, including currents and season, and is weather permitting.Miri Marine Life

Among what you can see while diving in Miri are mostly healthy corals like Gorgonians, sea-whips, anemones, sponges and crinoids. Marine life includes many reef fish such as angelfish, butterflyfish, and fusiliers, as well as larger species such as groupers, stingrays, triggerfish, parrotfish, and wrasses. For nudis, a total of 40 or more species of nudibranchs have already been sighted to date.

Miri Diving Style
The only style of diving you can do in Miri is boat diving. There are no islands in the vicinity of any of the dive sites. Your surface intervals are conducted on the boat, especially during the route to your next dive site. Most of the dive locations have next to no currents, and the water temperature averages around 30 degrees Celsius, so that you can use a 3mm wetsuit with no problem.

You can also read my other article on Diving in Miri, as I did my last dive there in 2014, 2015 and 2018.

The next time you plan a diving trip in Sarawak and want something totally different compared to the usual busy dive centres, you can check out Coco Dive.

The dive company specialises in all Miri dive sites and is highly recommended by many who have been here.