Day 2
Friday, May 11 2007

Started a bit late. Prepared our beach gear and met Crystal, the friendly owner/manager of the lodge, on our way out. We decided to walk from the lodge to Wisma (Plaza) Sabah to pay our white water rafting fee for tomorrow. The city is very walkable, it's about 3kms from end to end.


Walk early though as the sun is harsher here than in Manila, Malaysia is closer to the equator that's why. If you have a map, walking is a breeze and you won't get lost. After meeting with Misliana of Borneo Ultimate Sports Adventure Tours (BUSAT) who was very nice from the start (back in MNL when we were still making a lot of inquiries) and she also gave us a huge discount, we headed to Jesselton Point Ferry Terminal, a 10 minute walk from the building scorching hot though, slather lots of sunblock.


The WISMA SABAH building


At the terminal, there were several locals milling around, coaxing tourists to try this and this island. We discussed and decided to check out what's inside the building. There were several
shops, a waiting area and several tour operators inside. We opted for the first one nearest the

door. We paid Rm74 for two, including the RM6/pax terminal fee for three islands. We thought it's cheaper that way as they charge RM17/island, excl. tariff. And you have to pay RM10 each for entrance on the first island. Remember to keep your entrance ticket so you don't have to pay for the other islands you'll gonna visit later.






Inside the Jesselton Point Ferry terminal, shops upstairs, a waiting area for passengers and several tour operators.


Manukan Island. We reached the first island after 10 minutes in the boat and confirmed with the boat man the time he's gonna pick us up. It seemed that we were the only ones who are visiting more than one island. He told us he'll be back after two hours.

There was a walkway from the drop off point until the entrance to the island park. Under the walkway are thousands of fish, about three or four different species.

We opted for a table near the life guard as there were few people and swimmers on this side. There was a net which divide the schools of fish and the actual swimming area. It's prohibited to swim in their designated area of habitat. Swam a bit, despite the broken goggles we still enjoyed the serenity of the place. You go there to relax and unwind, you don't want noise definitely and it seems that tourists there know and respect that.
Manukan Island with a lone swimmer.


Approximately, 30 mins before the agreed pick up, we rushed to see if we can grab a bite before heading off to the 2nd island. We found 2 al fresco restaurants, one serving set meals: satay, fruits, veggies, etc and farther down, a buffet charging RM60. We ended up buying from the cooperative a beef and chicken dish and rice for RM5. You can bring your own food though if you don't want to spend money on food.


Sapi Island. After our quick lunch, we were picked up and headed towards Sapi Island. It's smaller than the first but there are more people swimming. We got down to business right away and swam our hearts out. Here, we also decided to rent snorkeling masks which I was so afraid to use for fear of contracting tb and other disease jeje. I just used the mask without the mouth gear. We saw more sergeant fish and a lone cleaner wrasse, a very pesky one which decided to hang out with us the whole time. This time the boat man stayed in the island and waited for us. After 2 more hours, we headed towards Mamutik.



Mamutik Island. The smallest of the three but has the most diverse species of fish. We were able to swam and fed them using leftover bread from other people's feeding. We were the last ones to leave and took good picture of the island and ourselves of course.


Dô and Tin at Mamutik Island, Malaysia.