Roach Reef Resort, off Tawau

Roach Reefs Resort a comfortable resort situated on a private, man-made tropical reef about 25 mins by speed boat from Balung River, Tawau. Its location, right at the edge of the Borneo shelf and less then 50 mins away from Sipadan Island, makes it a paradise for divers and non divers alike.

Roach Reef has ceased operations since October 2013. We will keep this page published in the event they re-open

Roach Reefs is the outer most reefs from Tawau, built on by the sinking of 2 used steel barge in 1993. Roach Reefs Resort used to be a private retreat for for the Japanese divers, Roach Reefs Resort is now a comfortable private resort situated on a man-made tropical reef about 25 mins by speed boat from Balung River, Tawau, Sabah. Its location, right at the edge of the Borneo shelf and less then 50 mins away from Sipadan Island, makes it a paradise for divers and non divers alike. Dive a new part of the Celebes sea today.

Roach Reefs is one of the outer most reefs from Tawau, built by the sinking 2 used steel barges in 1993. Roach Reefs Resort used to be a private retreat for friends and relatives. They are now open to the world for equally private retreats. 

The Resort

The reef chalets are built in traditional architecture offering simply elegant accommodation for the guests to enjoy their holiday in paradise. Staff are friendly and helpful and will go out of their way to ensure that you have an enjoyable stay. Facilities of the resort include spacious room with ceiling fan, sea view balcony, private bathroom and toiletries with hot shower, restaurant serving Asian and Continental cuisine, international phone call service, and dive centre provides all in-water activities include scuba training and education.

The resort can hold a maximum  15 guests, which is most suitable for a private group function.

Diving

Roach reefs resort is part of the Celebes Sea, sharing similar bio-diversity as Sipadan and Mabul. Therefore, you can expect the small, weird and colourful. There are a total of 13 dive sites offering a variety of marine treasures such as: harlequin ghost pipefish, frogfish, nudibranchs, gobies, pipefish, cora, garden eels, barracudas, wrecks, mandarin fish, stonefish, crocodile fish and much more. They also organise trips to Sipadan.

Rates (in Malaysian Ringgit and per person)

Rates on request

What does it include?

- Return airport transfer to Balung jetty
- return boat transfer to resort
- twin share accommodation in our basic seaview chalet with attached bathroom. With ceiling fan, we also provide bath towel and hair dryer.
- 3 boat dives daily in the vicinity of Roach Reefs with unlimited house reef between 6am – 6pm. except on arrival and departure days.
* extra dive can be arrange to Sipadan and Mabul (pls refer to note below)
- full board in resort; we serve local cuisine in home style cooking.
- Free flow of coffee, tea, milo and cold water. Light snacks are available.

Boat Transfer
Tawau - Resort 　     0745 hours 　     1100 hours 　     1500hours 　
Resort - Tawau 　     0630 hours 　     1300 hours 　     Not applicable　

Land Transfer
ALL late arrival into Tawau after 5pm, an extra transfer service fee will be charge at RM100 per trip.

Getting here  

The gateway to Roach Reefs is the sleepy town of Tawau located in Sabah, Only 30 mins from the airport unlike Sipadan which is over double the time. Tawau is accessible by flight via Kuala Lumpur or Kota Kinabalu and Kuching, the capitals of Sabah and Sarawak respectively. Malaysia Airlines and AirAsia, the region’s low cost carrier have daily flights to Tawau.

I want to be shipwrecked at Roach Reef!