Lankayan Island

Lankayan is a speck of sand and scrub in the Sulu Sea inside the Sugud Islands Marine Conservation Area, small enough to walk round in twenty minutes, with a single resort on it and no other habitation. Green and hawksbill turtles nest on the beaches through most of the year and the resort runs a hatchery, so seeing a nesting female or a release is close to routine rather than a matter of luck. Whale sharks pass between roughly March and May and are the other headline. The diving is muck and macro rather than wall diving: sandy slopes, artificial reef structures and two wrecks, with nudibranchs, frogfish, ghost pipefish and cuttlefish, which suits photographers more than people wanting big coral. Access is by resort boat only and packages are the only way to stay.

What you actually see

• Turtle nesting - green and hawksbill on the beaches most nights, with a hatchery.
• Whale sharks in season - passing roughly March to May.
• Macro diving - sandy slopes and wrecks with nudibranchs and frogfish.
• One resort, no village - a twenty-minute walk around the whole island.

When to go

March to October; March to May for whale sharks. Three days.

Honest expectations

There is only one resort and the package price is the entry price. Diving is macro, not dramatic reef - manage expectations. Whale sharks are seasonal and not guaranteed. The island is genuinely tiny.

Nearby

Sandakan and the Sepilok orangutan centre are on the mainland.