Category Archives: Island & Beach

Sabah Nemo

Underwater Photography

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I completed and passed my PADI Open Water Diver course in early April. I didn’t blog about it coz I didn’t have any photos. The one-time-use water-proof camera works only up to 15 Metres deep, but our dive could go up to 18M and I also wanted to keep my hand free during the training.

Sabah has some of the most beautiful underwater spots in the world. Being a Sabahan, it is such a sin not to appreciate and photograph it. Besides, there are less people doing underwater photography in KK. Underwater Photography is extremely challenging. After I took the Digital Underwater Photography specialty course last month, I agree that the underwater photographers really deserve a few thousands dollars for a good photo, it is not as easy as you think.

My Underwater Photography training took only 1 day near Gaya Island base station. In the morning, we were doing shore diving, taking photos in shallower water. Below is the photo of clown fishes, which are the cousin species of Nemo. The coral looked like white noodles being surrounded by “Ikan Bilis”, yummy… There is one female clown fish in each group. If it dies, the biggest male clown fish in the group will “turn into” female and take over her place. Amazing huh?

The diving experience would be far more interesting if I knew what I looked at. When comes to underwater world, I am really MCC (blur) and can’t even tell the difference between seahorse and pipefish. I am so glad to have Richard as my “Sifu” (instructor). You will be dearly impressed by his underwater photos at his Downbelow web site. He is also very nice and positive.

The camera that I used for this course was Canon Powershot A640 IS (rented) with the underwater housing. It is not as good (expensive) as a professional SLR camera but can do a reasonable good job with proper setting (and with plastic casing a lot more lighter than the aluminum casing for SLR). The light loses its red and orange colors under deeper water, so we need to set the white balance in your camera to compensate the colors. Otherwise your photos will look overly blue or green.

Then we moved on to boat diving at Extenstion Reef (12M-18M deep) off Gaya Island in the afternoon. To do well in underwater photography, an excellent skill in buoyancy (sink & float level) control is a must. I knew my buoyancy control really sucked when it came to 2 most important techniques: (1) Fin pivot method (keep upper half of the body floated a few inches above the sea floor), and (2) Hovering (hold-on at a fixed spot motionless, without sinking and floating). See the photo at the right below, do you believe that it is an animal, not a plant?

With poor control in buoyancy, I would have problem to keep my body (and camera) still to take photo without touching the sea floor. Touching the bottom would damage the fragile corals or stir the sandy bottom, then photography becomes “photo-bombing.” Richard demo the correct photo-taking approach in the water and showed me some interesting subjects for photo-shooting.

Another challenge is the backscatters (reflection from the tiny particles). Under low light, I was tempted to use camera flash to light up the subject. However, if the water is not clear, the small particles would reflect the light, making many those small and blur white dots in my photos. If you don’t know what I mean, try to take picture under very misty or dusty environment.

The last highlight in our dive is the big cuttlefish (see photo below) that can change colors to communicate with others. It was hiding under a big “umbrella” coral. Richard had to hold my legs to let me photograph it in upside down position. So funny… if he didn’t do that, I would bump into the hundred-year-old coral and crushed it.

Now I can call myself an Underwater Photographer. Haha… may be not that soon. Looking at my photos here, most can see that they are not good enough. The course only teaches me the right methods to photograph. I really need a lot of practices to master the skills. If possible, I will try to dive regularly. Hai… need to “raise fund” to get my underwater camera first. The compact camera and housing kit will coast RM2,000, and plus additional RM1,000+ if I also get an external strobe/ flash (for better colors and lighting). Sigh… RM3,000+ will be a long way…

Photos taken in Gaya Island, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo

Kapalai Island

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Everything seemed so perfect when I first met Kapalai Island. I don’t what words to use to describe this beautiful and dreamy destination, so it doesn’t sound like an advertisement, which always lies. May be I will just let my photos speak. By boat, Kapalai Island is about 40 minutes away from Semporna town. It is near to Mabul and Sipadan Islands, the world-class diving sites of Sabah.

200 years ago, Kapalai Island was once a “true” island before it was eroded by the sea. What leaves today is only a stretch of sand bar, which will disappear during high tide, thereby giving it another name “magic island.” I enjoy every moment of staying there.

Below is a “summary” of why I love Kapalai so much:

1. Crystal clear water

The sea water is so clean that you can see the bottom clearly even it is deeper than 10 feet. From my photos, you will see some “dark spots” in the water. Those are the corals and sea weed, the sign of rich underwater life. I better explain this coz some foreigners, who never go to sea, would think it is “dirty” stuff. Since this place is so far away from main land, it is also far from air and noise pollution.


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2. Fishes everywhere, some look delicious

Just look down from the boardwalk. But probably what would amaze you the most are large number of starfishes around the resort. They are so plentiful that they have become a feature here, making the water looks like the sky in the sea.


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Below is a 1-min video of snorkeling in Kapalai:

And you also don’t need to dive deep to see stingray, tiger fish, angel fish… At night you will see them wandering under the light of the jetty and chalets. I even saw a sea turtle passing by.


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3. Meal time

Food is plentiful too, in buffet style. Unlike the restaurants in town, in here seaview is the music, sea breeze is the air-con, sunset is the candle.


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Personally I like the opening in the dining hall, where you can see the fishes below.


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4. Spacious chalet

Very big room, as big as a house, even for 3 guests. You can open all the windows, so you can see the sea when you are on the bed.


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There is a small group of soldiers stationed on the island. They are not there for vacation, but to protect the tourists. I saw them only in late night. Well, it is not that our place is not safe. Consider in any part of the world, there are always politic extremists from other countries, who look for easy target. The presence of armed force nearby will be an added security though we would never use them. At least I could sleep soundly.


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You even can see sea turtles grazing seagrass just next to your chalet, as shown in video below:

5. Water Sport

Don’t you want to jump into its sea water at this point? Yes, you can do snorkeling, swimming, diving and kayaking all day long if you like to. They also have a dive centre on the island. I dived in the Mandarin Valley, about 17 Metres in depth and near to the resort. I saw flamboyant cuttlefish, eel, tiger fish, stone fish and many other macro sea life that I can’t name. Too bad I don’t have an underwater camera, otherwise can show you more. Tell me if you got any good bargain / suggestion for such camera.


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Click Here to see more photos of Kapalai Island >>

Overall, it is a 5-star experience and I wish to stay longer. Just check out my photos for more.

Sorry for not updating my blog for nearly 2 months. I was extremely busy on a project. I’m sorry that I couldn’t respond to the poke, hug, water bomb… from the Facebook. But if you drop me an e-mail, I will definitely reply.

Photos taken in Kapalai Island, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo

Mimpian Jadi Resort, Tuaran

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At first I wanted to go to Pantai Dalit (Dalit Beach). Somehow I lost and found this Mimpian Jadi Resort on the highway from Tuaran to Sulaiman. To reach there, you need to drive through a narrow gravel road for more than 5 minutes. You will see lot of mangrove forest, swampy land, rivers next to the road. To me, it is kind of fun.

It was Monday and so quiet that I saw no guest. The resort is built near to a sandy white beach. I also would like to try out the Polarising filter for my camera. This filter acts like a sunglass that can block excessive sunlight comes into our camera, so the picture is more color-rich and not being washed out by the hash light. The outcome is quite good. That’s why the picture below is color-saturated.

I also snapped a photo of their guest houses. The shadows of the coconut trees paint a very interesting pattern on the greenish grass. The “tropical” feel is so lovely.

Then I go to their beach to take more photo. I used Photoshop to make the grass greener. I like its simplicity and sense of harmony.

The photo below is a “unique” collection to me. Actually it is a drain next to the resort, with thick layer of algae floats on the water. The sunlight shined through the tree leaves and lotus, forming a interesting mix of shadows on the green surface. Cool huh?

I walked nearly 1 km away from the resort to see this small “lake”. During low tide, the water was trapped here, together with some organic stuffs such as soil and leaves, so it got darker color. Note the beautiful long strentch of sandy white sand which separates it from the blue sea.

They have a few interesting statues in the garden. This is the first time I came to Mimpian Jadi Resort. If you expect a lot of privacy with your loved one, here is quite a cool place. I think they also have a golf field so you can play both types of golf. I remember one of my friends said the mating, no sorry… I mean match-making companies run their programme here.

Nobody was on the beach. I could even swim nakedly. But I found the sea waves were quite strong and scary. From a far distance, it looks like thousands of white snakes crawling. I took a video clip. You can check it out.

Photos taken in Tuaran, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo

Sunset Cruise

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When I was a kid, I thought only rich people could afford to have a party on a big boat. So cruising with a big boat is one of my small dreams. As sunset cruise becomes increasingly popular, nowadays it is not that hard to make my dream comes true. Last year I organised a sunset cruise party for a group. Since we had nearly 70 pax, we got a deep discount. Usually the market rate is about RM120 (USD30+) per person.


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Let me briefly introduce SeaStar (note: I don’t work for them), the boat for our sunset cruise. SeaStar can accommodate up to 100 people and it has 4 levels, let’s call them, from top to bottom, (1) top deck, (2) upper deck, (3) lower deck and (4) basement. Below is an overview of different sections of the boat. Don’t worry if the photos below are too small, you can check out the photo gallery for bigger pictures and more description.


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1. Top deck. Highest spot but small space, mainly for sunbathe.
2. Upper deck, area near to captain’s chamber.
3. Front of lower deck. Open space. The Best view is here.
4. You can play Titanic here, but don’t jump into the sea.
5. Basement is a mini-hall. Kids love to look outside through the small round windows.
6. Air-cond dining room of lower deck.
7. Rear of lower deck is buffet area, where food is served.
8. Shelter area of upper deck. Get karaoke and TV set.

My advice to ladies is – don’t wear skirt and high heel shoes. These will make climbing steep ladder difficult. And if your skirt is too short, the guy below you will get free eye candy. Due to monsoon season, the weather was quite bad that day and it rained until 3pm. Luckily the sun came out after 4:30pm, 1 hour before we started the cruise. Even though the sky was cloudy, I was still happy that trip was not totally screwed up. The Mount Kinabalu also showed her face after the rain.

The sunset cruise ran from 5:30pm to 8:30pm. The 4 main highlight are:
1) Cruise around the islands. Feel the refreshing sea breeze.
2) Stop on Manukan Island. Take a walk and enjoy the sunset at the beach for 40 minutes.
3) Dinner Buffet. We had fried rice, chicken wing, seafood, fruits, etc. Free flow of juice.
4) KK City Night View. Seeing the night view from island and also up-close.

I personally love activity no.4, the city night view is magnificent. Coz of high tide, our boat could sail very close to the shore. We cruised along the shore of KK city, up to WaterFront. Our boat was so near to WaterFront that we could see the Murut traditional dance performance inside (see picture below).


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Overall, it is an unforgettable experience. Some companies even have their annual dinner onboard. To me, it is far more interesting than having the dinner in a hotel. On the boat, you don’t sit around a fixed table. You can move around and talk to everyone. If you have spouse, you can have a romantic time watching sunset and city night. If you have children, they will really love it. If you don’t want to socialise, you can sit at a corner and enjoy the sea view alone.

FYI, after heavy renovation and construction, the new KK Ferry Terminal is now called Jesselton Point. I admire the design based on historic theme of British colony time, it looks more beautiful, meaningful and classy. I would say it is a welcomed change. They also expand the jetty to turn it into a recreational area, where you can take a leisure walk and watch sunset. You can see more photos of Jesselton Point in my photo gallery. Happy? Forgot to tell you what is the MOST impressive change. The price of jetty fee has increased from RM1 to RM6, an increase of 500%!


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Photos taken in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia

Tanjung Lipat Beach – Part 2 of 2

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This is a follow-up post of my last blog about a mysterious animal I discovered in Tanjung Lipat Beach. It is wrong to think that we need to travel a thousand miles overseas to see something cool. Sometimes we can find something special that is so near to our home.

My blog about this animal has created a great fear among the locals. Many readers express their concern whether this animal is a man-eater and whether it is safe for their children to swim at Tanjung Lipat, etc. Ok, Ok, let’s cut the crap. There are TWO different animals live in this burrow. One is a BLIND shrimp, another one is Goby fish. They share the same burrow and play a supporting role to each other. The Goby fish is a “watch dog”. The blind shrimp always uses the antenna to sense the movement of this fish to detect danger. If the fish retreats to the hole, the shrimp will follow. In return, the Goby fish can live in the safe burrow without paying any rent.


Picture 1. The Goby fish comes up and watch around first.
Picture 2. If the fish stays outside long enough, the shrimp will come out.

I know this because Discovery Channel lists both of them as one of the Most Extreme partners. But I didn’t expect I would see them in Tanjung Lipat. At first I noticed the antenna in the hole, so I sat next to the hole and waited for it to come up. Then I was surprised to see a fish (no antenna) came up first. I found more than 5 burrows like this in Tanjung Lipat.


Picture 3. The blind shrimp always keeps an antenna on the fish body.
Picture 4. The Goby fish is very cooperative and give way to the shrimp to work.

Please click the photos below to zoom-in for larger photos. You won’t find many super-clear photos of them in other web sites. This kind of cross-species partnership is a miracle in the nature.


Picture 5. The shrimp is busy digging burrow.
Picture 6. If you look at the larger picture, you can find second shrimp in the burrow!

I might be the first in Sabah (even Malaysia) posts their photos. So a touching moment. They really can’t live without each other.


Picture 7. “I Love You” The shrimp gives the Goby fish a hug?
Picture 8. “We are the best partner!”

Lastly, it is my pleasure to present you the love story of them via a 1-minute video clip. Please Click the picture below to start the show:

Tanjung Lipat Beach – Part 1 of 2

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Besides robbery, I don’t know what else Tanjung Lipat is famous for. Nobody would think it worths our time to explore it. I passby that beach very often. Whenever I saw that long stretch of rocky shore, which only exposed during low tide, I always wonder what I could find there.

Curiosity always wins. During a morning low tide last week, I parked my car at the roadside and climbed down to the beach. I stepped on a very wet and slippery rock, so I fell quite badly. My arm was so painful that it remained sour until evening. Well, I still carried on, carefully.

The first creature I noticed was the small bugs (about 1 cm) running away from the rock surface, when I came near. I don’t know what they are. I guess there are millions of them along Tanjung Lipat. They got many legs and a pair of antenna, and they run very fast. Haha… they look like a hybrid of cockroach and millipede.

I walked on the beach slowly toward the rock field. The rocks occupy a big area, but just look small from the road. All the rocks and stones are covered with thick layer of algae and mossy stuffs. Their surfaces are very slippery that you would twist your ankle accidentally if you don’t watch your steps.

It took me about 30 minutes to walk to the end of the rock field. On the way, I saw some small fishes, shrimps and crabs moved in lightning speed among the rocks, to escape from my view. Hmmm… nothing interesting… But very soon I found something under the rock. Sea cucumbers! I didn’t expect I can see them in a beach near KK city. They don’t seem to have eyes, but they can sense the change of light. I took upclose pictures of them, so you can see their “tentacle mouths”.

There were a few other people on the beach too. A fisherman happily let me took a picture of his harvest (see photo below). Most fishes are smaller than my palm. There was also a guy collecting some seashells to decorate his fish tank.

Before I concluded there was nothing special there, I found something what I could call the Discovery of the Day. I found a few small burrows in the water. At first I thought it was the burrow of the octopus, like the one I found in Sawangan Beach in Kuala Penyu. I will let you to guess again.

Let me give you 3 hints:
1) This animal got antenna.
2) It is rated as one of the Most Extreme animals by Discovery TV Channel.
3) Partners

Still can’t get the answer? Click Here for answer, really cool and exciting. 🙂

Tanjung Aru Beach

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Many locals have lot of memory at Tanjung Aru Beach. You may find many lovers start their romance there (later they may proceed to other beach to “do” their romance, probably that’s where I came from).

A lot of changes have taken place. When I was a kid, Tanjung Aru Beach was a favourite swimming spot for many. Now very few do that, coz of the dirty water flowing to the sea from the smelly longkang (drain) nearby. In the past, I collected seashells from here, but today I find more garbage.

Besides ourselves, I am not sure who should keep the beach clean. But if we want to advertise Tanjung Aru Beach as a tourism spot, we should work harder. There are many rubbish, such as plastic bags, bottle, wood, leaves, left on the beach for many weeks and nobody cleaned them on daily basis.

Even the playground facilities in the Phillip Park worn out and rusted, not safe for the kids to play. If anything unhappy happens, who shall responsible?

Many think of changing the world but few think of changing ourselves. We also need to do our part to keep this place clean. There are dozens of dustbin around, but many still throw the junk to the sand. I think the cleanliness campaign to “educate” our people is a waste of money. Since primary school, all were already educated not to dump waste everywhere. More effort should be taken to punish those litter bugs. Littering is plainly a self-interest act, as most of them won’t throw rubbish into their house.

Dedicated to Sabah people? Give me a break please.

Sawangan Beach, Kuala Penyu

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Sawangan Beach (Pantai Sawangan) of Kuala Penyu let me see something that is not found in popular beaches. This is because the habitant of those wildlife was not disturbed by the human.


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For example, I remember in the past, sea life such as sea stars and big seashells were easily found everywhere on the beach of Manukan Island, anyone can tell me if it is still possible today? Nowadays I only see sand on the beach. That is. Less wildlife but more garbage. Frankly, the islands of Tunku Abdul Rahman Park are less fun to travel now, compared to many years ago, (well… if you still can recall how their old faces).


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I am glad that Sawangan Beach still remains a clean place. The unique feature about this beach is – there are a few long stretches of “rock + stone carpet”, extending 1 KM from the shore to the sea. During low tide, the area between the shore and the rock traps a large volume of sea water. The mix of sandy, rocky, seaweed, flooded and dry area… allows ANY kind of sea creature to find a suitable spot here as its home. You would see otter, crabs and sea birds busy searching for food there.


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The water is shallow so I could walk on it. Sea cucumber, anemone, seaweed, fishes, coral, shells… are everywhere. If you give me a big basket, I can collect a full basket of sea cucumbers within hour.