Borneo Dream Travel & Tours

I recently took my PADI Open Water Dive Course with Borneo Dream in Kota Kinabalu, and it was one of the best experiences ever. From making a booking to actually completing the course, the entire process was smooth, professional, and enjoyable!

I signed up for the course solo and was supposed to take the course with 3 other students. However, because they didn't complete the e-learning on time, they had to start the course at a later date (do note that it is a MUST to complete the e-learning and exam, they are very strict with this, as they should be), and thus it ended up being a private course with just me and the dive instructor, Basir.

Bas was an awesome teacher and he went above and beyond to ensure that I felt comfortable and confident throughout the course, answering every question I had patiently. He also took his time to make sure that I have mastered each skill, and added fun elements to the dives to make sure that I am enjoying myself.

The boat provided by Borneo Dream was not big, but very well-equipped and well-maintained. Everything we needed for the dive was prepared beforehand and I got to use the same equipment for all 3 days. Bas also taught me all the proper ways of assembling and disassembling my diving kit, as well as proper maintenance habits.

Each day, we had lunch in one of the island and there was a huge variety of options to choose from. Do note that drinks are not included in the package, so either bring some cash if you want to buy drinks, or fill up your water bottle on the boat and bring it down with you. There are also shower stalls at the island for you to wash off the salt water so that you feel more comfortable.

As someone who was diving for the first time, I felt nervous and unsure about taking part in the course, especially since I was doing it solo. I am so grateful that I chose Borneo Dream. The instructors went out of the way to make sure that I am comfortable and well taken care of.

If you are considering taking the PADI Open Water Dive Course in Kota Kinabalu, I strongly recommend Borneo Dream. The instructors here take safety very seriously, and make sure that you are well-equipped with the right skills for you to fully enjoy your dive. You can be sure that you are in safe hands as you pick up this new sport and join the diving community.

Our experience with Borneo Dream Travel was amazing. We booked our snorkeling tour quite last minute and decided to go with Borneo Dream Travel based on their reviews. We booked through the website and gotten a prompt confirmation and reply. No regrets :) We even had the whole boat and guide to ourselves. Our guide, Esther was very friendly, bubbly and guided us professionally throughout the whole three snokerling sessions. She taught us a lot about the marine life too. Esther, definitely needs a big bonus as reward :) We snokerled at Pulau Sapi and two different areas at Pulau Gaya. We saw cuttlefish, sargent major, bat fish, clown fish, big neon, blue spotted puffer fish, baby lobster, remora fish, sword fish, red breasted wrasse, different types of coral (as high as a few meters), Indian starfish, yellowback fish, angel fish and many more. The best part of our trip was spotting the green turtle and shark. We were indeed very lucky. We had a good time and enjoyed the simple lunch provided too. Everything about the trip was so memorable and amazing. We will definitely go with Borneo Dream Travel for our next diving trip in Sabah. Keep up with the good work :)

We've just got back from our day scuba diving with Borneo dream. The trip was booked through our hotel, Alvin our instructor was great. It was my girlfriends first time scuba diving he thoughly explained everything in good detail to ease her nerves. We enjoyed the experience and highly recommend

We did a day of diving with Borneo dream. The the trip was organized well. Communication beforehand was easy through their website and whatsapp. The equipment was in good condition and the three dive sites we went to were flourishing and lively. Our dive guide, Zoey, was fun and engaging. I definitely recommend diving here.

Our Snorkel Guide, Amir, was very helpful and directed us to the exotic sea creatures as much as possible. We went to 3 different snorkeling sites, the first being, Mamutik Island, where he pointed to us the Hawksbill Turtle swimming in the sea, as well as the shark. Our second site was Manukan Island, where he pointed out where another turtle was hiding beneath the sand. Our last site was turtle patch, where he was concerned of our safety due to the high presence of jellyfish around the area and directed us back to the boat. Huge kudos to Borneo Dream Travel and Tours for making the trip a wonderful and memorable one for first-timers snorkellers!!

Thoroughly enjoyed the PADI discover scuba diving off off Gaya Island.

Our instructor was Amir, who looked after us right from our meeting point beside the jetty. We always felt safe under his instruction. Not only was he very professional, but he was also very personable and funny! Our captain for the day as also a gentleman and very helpful.

As our 2nd day diving ever we got more comfortable under the water, and seen some amazing sea creatures.

Definitely recommend diving with Borneo Dream. We would definitely dive with them again, and if we had the time in KK we would have gotten our license with them.

Just finished our Padi Open Water Dive Course with Borneo Dream Travel & Tours! It was a great 3 day course. Our instructor was Amir and he made the course super comfortable and easy to understand. It was tough waking up early each of those 3 days but he constantly made us laugh and we had alot of fun. The confined dives were just off the beach. And we had a chance to visit different parts of the Tunku Abdul Rahman park islands for each of our open water dives. Lunch was provided and it was yummy! Bring some extra cash if you would like to drink something other than water.

My husband and I recently went guided snorkeling trip 2 times with Borneo dream within 1 week. Our experiences were wonderful. From meet up point to the finish of the trip, it was so smooth. Our first time snorkeling guide was Bas and second snorkeling guide was DiDi. Both of them are very knowledgeable and very attentive. We felt very safe all the time. We saw turtles, reef sharks, a schools of barracudas, many different fishes and colorful reefs both times, thanks to BAs and DiDi. They both have great eyes for finding fish, green turtles and Hawksbill. DiDi did an excellent job as photographer with the GoPro 11. I would definitely recommend my friends to choose Borneo dream for snorkeling when they come to Sabah.

I recently spent a day with Borneo Dream and had an excellent time! The staff were very fun, great instructors and made the trip very enjoyable. We spent a few hours in the morning refreshing scuba techinques and had two dives, the second of which was great and we saw two turtles and many beautiful fish. Basir was especailly wonderful - he is a great guy and could not have made this trip more fun!I highly recommend this scuba experience and hope to do it again!

We liked everything there. We had three dives with Borneo dream, dives were all easy and relaxing and there were amazingly beautiful coral gardens in the diving spots. Trips are well organised including tasty lunch. Our diving guide was very helpful and humorous.

We had an awesome day snorkeling, led by Esther. She was always on the lookout and pointed out a lot out for us. They also took some pictures and emailed a summary of what we saw. It was a beautiful day with a good group of both snorkelers and divers on the boat!

After having back and bike packed around Borneo many times I decided to bring some relatives around and decided to book and organise some tours through Borneo Dream Travel & Tours.
The communication and different possibilities according to our needs were always great and we finally managed to fill our 4 days in Sabah with day tours at Klias River, Snorkelling and a 2D/1N in Kinabatangan.
All tours were excellent and the description did completely matched the services provided.
I would like to highlight our snorkelling tour because our guide Sabri and the rest of the crew was excellent. We travelled with a kid with Hyperactivity and Attendtion Deficit Disorder who managed to complete all three snorlkelling sites (excellent by the way) thanks to the patience and collaboration of the whole crew .
Kinabatangan arrangements in terms of accommodation/food and kids attention was also really excellent.

I recently completed my PADI Open Water Dive Course with Borneo Dream in Kota Kinabalu, and I can confidently say that it was an absolutely amazing experience. From start to finish, the entire process was smooth, professional, and enjoyable.

My instructors, Amir and Esther, were the epitome of patience and knowledge. They went above and beyond to ensure that I felt comfortable and confident throughout the course, while also making sure I was having fun. They were able to answer all of my questions and provide helpful tips to improve my diving skills.

The boats and equipment provided by Borneo Dream were top-notch. Everything was clean, well-maintained, and reliable. It made the whole experience that much more enjoyable knowing that I was using high-quality equipment.

Each day, we had lunch in a beautiful location with a wide variety of delicious options to choose from. The team made sure that there was something for everyone, catering to different tastes and dietary preferences.

As someone who was nervous and unsure about taking part in the course, I am so grateful that I chose Borneo Dream. I have talked with friends who completed their PADI course elsewhere, and after hearing about my experience, they all agreed that Borneo Dream provided a truly comprehensive and unique learning opportunity.

If you are considering taking the PADI Open Water Dive Course in Kota Kinabalu, I wholeheartedly recommend Borneo Dream. With Amir and Esther as your instructors, you will be in the best of hands, and you will leave with memories and skills that will last a lifetime.

We had a great time doing our PADI advanced course with Basir. We were staying at Gaya Island resort and the boat picked us up and dropped us back off at the jetty. We also had a tasty lunch stop by the beach both days. Basir was a fab instructor - he explained things clearly and had answers for all of our questions. We learned a lot over the 5 dives and feel much more confident divers now, and saw some great sea life including turtles, needlefish, spotted rays and cuttlefish. The qualification was already uploaded to our PADI profiles by the time we got off the boat. Would definitely recommend to anyone thinking of diving near Kota Kinabalu

Sabri and all the team were truely awesome! We had 3 fantastic days of Open Water Dives and saw an incredible amount of marine life… turtles, cuttlefish, baby stingrays…. You name it! So relaxed and fun loving - no better team to dive with!

We had an amazing experience getting our Open Water Certification with Borneo Dream. Amir, our instructor, was amazingly knowledgeable, nice, friendly, and helpful. When we began our course, I had a lot of trouble getting comfortable going underwater while breathing through a regulator. I even wanted to quit. Amir wouldn't let me. He didn't force me to continue, but he found a way to convince me in a very patient way. We ended up going on some really special dives and seeing some very cool marine life and coral.

Since then, I have gone on to get my advanced open water, swam with thresher sharks, went on night dives and deep dives, and so much more. I think Scuba Diving will be a lifelong hobby of mine, and it is all thanks to the knowledge and patience of Amir. Thank you!

I was bored in KK and decided very last minute that I wanted to do some diving around TAR park. At first I reached out to Scuba Junkie but it was already past their opening hours. Walked in to Borneo Divers but they don't take solo divers. I found Borneo Dream through a local boatman J. It was already 8pm when I booked through the link online and surprisingly my booking for the next day was confirmed almost immediately. They gave instructions and confirmed equipment rental via email so all I had to do was turn up the next day at the jetty.

Dive instructors Sabri and Esther were super. It felt like diving with friends who know their stuff - relaxed and friendly but professional. Sabri knew I like nudis and have never seen an orang-utan crab so he tried really hard to look for those. On our last dive we found a long fishing line lying on the coral and we tried to remove as much of it as we could. Glad to see responsible diving being practised.

I overheard Esther teaching an Open Water Junior course and thought she was very thorough at explaining the theory and practical. Not like some cincai instructors where the students end up with bad skills.

Overall I was very impressed by my experience with the Borneo Dream team. I've heard so much about other dive operators but Borneo Dream was the one that was able to step up when I needed them and delivered a smooth-sailing experience.

Big thanks to Borneo Dream, especially to our professional coach/sea guide Bas. He is sooooo kind and reliable The day was definitely the highlight of the whole travel in Malaysia for us. The elderly can enjoy the snorkeling as well.

I did my first ever scuba dive as part of the discover dive course. It was such a great experience! Our guide, Basir, was friendly, fun, knowledgeable, and most importantly, he kept us safe. We did two dives, and saw a reef shark, stingray, and octopus. I would’ve missed them if not for Basir’s careful eye!

From booking to the certificate at the end, the whole process was smooth, professional, and with good communication. I would highly recommend Borneo Dream to anyone looking to dive in KK!

Amazing AOW experience with Amir!
Pros:
- Friendly and patient instructor
- 1:2 class
- All boat divings
- Warm water
Cons:
- No diving center to wash and change equipment
- No night dive option
- Visibility ok but not amazing