Church Reef is connected to the coral reef of Sibuan Island and located on the north-western side of Tun Sakaran Marine Park. There is a back reef as well as a wide reef top, and the lagoons are sandy-bottomed and bordered with corals. The waters are clear and calm, and the place is intensely biodiverse that it is like a polestar for scuba divers.
Church Reef's rim is steep all over with its north-western portion so steep that it forms a 40-metre upright wall. This portion is dotted by hollows and recesses measuring up to one metre.
The south-western portion in front of the outer reef dips fast, some parts being even perpendicular. This creates a deep shelf with a crisscrossing system of deep lagoons. The reef is more than 10 metres deep here and during low tide is isolated by the crest of the outer reef. The outer edge of the reef’s rim measures about 7.5 km.
The coral gardens of Church Reef are ideal for scuba diving, snorkelling, muck diving, and free diving. Eagle rays, electric rays, ribbon eels, tube sponges, feather stars, pygmy seahorses, frogfish, mandarinfish, seafans, and stony corals are the more common critters that divers can expect.
The beach encircles the island and there is a small village of Sea Gypsies (sea Bajau). They survive by fishing and cultivating seaweed. It is possible to buy the purple seaweed there.
The group is probably one of the last surviving nomadic marine communities. It is interesting to watch their fast-disappearing lifestyle.
Divers can stay on the beautiful nearby private resort islands of Mataking and Pom Pom Island or in Semporna city for those more on a budget.