After the jungle camp we travelled by bus to Semporna, the port town in the far South East of Borneo and the jumping off point to the world class dive site, the Sipadan Islands.
We stayed one night at the Dragon Inn, close to the port for $22 incl b/fast- it was built on stilts over the water and looked pretty fancy. The rooms were very spacious and the bathroom was outside over the water. All seemed great until we were attacked by rats during the night. They squeezed under the door and were snacking on our food that we were going to take out diving with us. We rolled up a towel and placed it under the door to block the gap. We heard the rats scratching at the door all night, so not a lot of sleep was had. The next morning we removed the towel from under the door and it resembled swiss cheese! The rats had chewed through the towel - it was shredded! Man desperate rats - what would they have done if they'd got in and found no food (we'd locked it in a cupboard)? They might have started chewing on us!
Resort on Mabul Is. Stopping off at Sipadan Is for lunch. Sipadan Is.
We booked our 3 days of diving with Uncle Changs (7 dives, incl equipment and lunch/bottled water - $260 AUD each - major deal!) and opted to stay in a long house with a local family on Mabul Is (60 RM pp/pn, incl b/fast and dinner). Sipadan Is itself is actually closed to overnight stays now - so we only visited during our lunch break in between dives.
Longhouse accom. Beautiful sunset view from the longhouse.
Our divemaster was Lydia, from Switzerland and she was fantastic. It was just Sean and I on all our dives, so we had her to ourselves. She pointed out so much micro life underwater - nudebrachs and tiny lion fish, and there were loads of other fish and sea life such as Hawkesbill and Green turtles, Napolean wrasse, giant trevally, schools of fusilers, crocodile fish, angel fish, unicorn fish, clown fish, trigger fish, puffer fish, giant moray eels, more huge turtles, white tip sharks, bat fish, scorpion fish, parrot fish etc. Max depth for any dive was 31 mts, with most averaging about 27 mts. The wall dives with a soft current and so much sea life was like window shopping - we just floated by all these wonderful sights as the current gently drifted us along the wall. All in all this was THE best diving we have done since we were certified in the Red Sea, Egypt. Absolutely loved this dive location.
We bumped into our English mates (from Sepilok) on the diving - 1 girl just celebrated her 100th dive and the other couple just got certified - awesome. We planned to catch up again in Semporna after our diving.
Back at Semporna we stayed at City Inn for 50RM w/AC, private bath and TV. The others were at Lees guesthouse, which is also where Lydia and her boyfriend (another DM) lived. We watched their dive videos - very nice and all taken by MPEG with a digital camera (in a waterproof housing) and then stitched together and put to music. We should do that at some point.
Gayana Island Resort
Next day we took a cab to Tawau and a hopped a short flight back to Kota Kinabalu and went by ferry to Gaya Is and stayed our last 2 nights at Gayana Is Resort. A beautiful setting with bungalows on stilts over the water giving an almost 360 degree view - like those ultra fancy places in Tahiti - but for just $25 per night!!
Arriving by ferry at Gayana. Sean on our deck. Lou & Sean at Gayana Is. Resort.
Lou at Hornbill Beach. Reception at Gayana Is. Resort chalets over the water.
Gaya Is is untouched rainforest and the resort is nestled into the side of the hill that dominates the Island. We had a massage, snorkled, swam, ate and relaxed. We also hiked up over the top of the ridge and down to Hornbill Beach - about 2 hrs in the jungle. We had the beach to ourselves and then took a little boat back to Gayana Resort. A great relaxing way to end our 2 week holiday in Borneo.
We loved Borneo and will definitely return. Such a beautiful place with so much to see and do and it's cheap. Our whole trip incl air from Aust., accom, food, activities, diving was just $3000 AUD for the both of us!
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