One week after returning from the northern tip of Borneo that is Sabah, I write these memoirs, of the trip to reach its peak...The final day of our sojourn in Sabah came quickly.
And like all activity-packed holidays, time flies when you're having fun. Well at least we could look back at the hike up the Gunung and say we
had fun. Not when we were actually in the midst of huffing and puffing up the mountain with the rain and all.
Hari Enam was planned to be a day of Sun, Sea and Sand before catching the flight back to Senai later in the evening. We practically had the whole day to snorkel and frolick on the various islands lying within the Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park, a surprisingly short 15min boat ride away from Jesselton Jetty. Jesselton itself was a easy 10min stroll by foot from our hotel but we got there an hour late because we all woke up at nine.
No matter, our boat was already moored at the pontoon and after the guys and girls picked up their snorkeling equiptment, we were off. I had brought along my own set of fins, mask and snorkel so I didn't have to use the horribly cartoonish Donald Duck flippers the boat company had on offer.
Our 350 Ringgit package included having the exclusive use of the boat from nine to five and doing a 2-island hop. And we arrived speedily at our first stop of the day, Pulau Manukan. Manukan seemed to be the most developed of the 5-island, mini archipelego within the Park, which includes Gaya, Sapi, Mamuntik and Sulug. The relatively clean beach was dotted with day-trippers from the mainland, and just alittle inland, there were a host of resort-styled chalets and beach-front cafes where copious amounts of alcohol were being consumed by thirsty travellers in the heat of the mid-morning sun.
We stripped down, put on our fins and jumped into the reasonably clear waters almost immediately on touchdown. The scorching sun was a welcomed fiery ball, since it had remained hidden behind clouds for most of the previous 2 days. I snorkeled for about 45mins, 50m from shore, then decided to spend the rest of the time tanning and catching up on all my SMS-es, lying on the beach, i-Pod in tow. The rest of them humored themselves by jumping off Manukan's jetty into the sea and swimming nearly the whole length of the island.
At 2pm, we made our way to Pulau Mamuntik where the visibity under-water exceeded a very impressive 10m (so close to shore). Coral cover, however, was pretty pathetic. There were none of the gorgeous Gorgonian Fans I had seen on a recent diving trip in the Andaman Sea and most of the calcified rocks were bleached. Nevertheless, we did see our fair share of Wrasses, Parrotfishes and Fusiliers. We enjoyed our time in the waters off Mamuntik, where I taught the group how to snorkel properly and skin-dive.
By 5pm, the boat was waiting to take us back to the mainland and we met up with the boatman promptly because we knew it would be quite of a rush to get back, shower, have dinner and then do souvenir shopping for the people back home. All this before catching our Air Asia flight to Johor Bahru at 2100hrs and then making the transfer by private taxi to Singapore.
Once back on KK, it was a mad scramble to have one last Sunset dinner at the pier, buy some Sabah tea from the hypermart and then get back to the Holiday to shower and pack. How the 2 guys managed to find time for some durians beats me.
On the flight, we swopped cameras and looked at each others' pictures, attempting to delete the photos of ourselves we thought were unflattering. At least the girls were.
Before long, Senai loomed as a collection of tiny bright lights below. And by a little past midnight, we were all home, safe and sound, in our own Garden City.
Labels: Travel