The island has a white sand coral beach and is a significant nesting location site for green and hawksbill turtles.

The islands are mostly separated by deep water and are all surrounded by a fringing coral reef with minimal lagoon development.

The northeast Semporna islands are part of the Sulu-Sulawesi Marine Ecoregion and have been prioritised by the WWF's [5] and the Fisheries Department of Sabah.

All the 6 northeast Semporna Islands are nesting beaches and many of the stakeholders in the area are working towards better protecting the turtles and reef environments.

The hawksbill is both less common and more territorial with individuals being regularly seen at the lobster wall, the North Tip and Magic Rocks.

Depending on the tide, the current at these locations can be strong, offering excellent drift dives with many seafans and pelagic fish.

The island lies below the monsoon belt and gets good weather all year; while there are occasional short squalls during thunderstorms, they rarely last more than an hour.

The two resorts provide a variety of PADI courses, dives & accommodation for recreational scuba divers.

[7][8] During the ambush, a couple from Taiwan was at the resort when one was shot dead by the militants and the other was kidnapped and taken to the Sulu Archipelago in the southern Philippines.