Oil Rig Remade as Scuba Hotel

If BP does this and offers everyone a free stay, we’ll be ready to declare “all is forgiven”: An old underwater oil rig in the Pacific has been remade into a hotel, standing amid a gorgeous coral reef teeming with tropical fish and sea turtles. The Seaventures Dive Resort sits in the Celebes Sea, an area in the Pacific Ocean circled by Borneo—not exactly the easiest trip, requiring a flight to Kuala Lumpur, another flight to the Malaysian Borneo city of Tawau, an hourlong road trip and overnight in the port city of Semporna, and then an hourlong boat ride out to the rig. Near the rig is Sipadan Island, a national park, which offers just 120 permits a day for scuba diving in its pristine waters. Coral reefs begin just a few feet below the water’s surface before falling away to 180-foot cliffs. Barracuda and sharks swim by. The hotel appears to be the only converted rig of its kind in the world.