The story of an island boy and a friendly male dugong (named Nicky) in Mantanani was once featured in Discovery Channel. Besides their touching friendship, viewers are also impressed by the beautiful scene of the island. Due to the mysterious and human-like appearance of dugong, the people call it “mermaid”. Mantanani consists of three islands, namely, Mantanani Kecil, Mantanani Besar and Lungisan.
Two years ago, I had a 2-day-1-night trip in Mari-Mari Dive Lodge on Mantanani Kecil Island. Earlier this month, I decided to have a day trip to Mantanani Besar Island this time. FYI, as of this writing, the accommodation (Mari-Mari Dive Lodge) of Mantanani Kecil is destroyed by storm and will be open in later date.
Above: jetty at Abai Village
There are a few tour operators such as Mari-Mari Backpackers Lodge on Mantanani Besar. You need to book the tour with them for day / overnight trip on Mantanani, they will arrange the land transport and boat transfer for you. First, a tour bus will bring you to jetty of Kg. Abai (Abai Village) in Kota Belud in the morning (now boat transfer from Kota Kinabalu is also available daily). The land transfer takes about 1.5 hours. A day trip to Mantanani costs about RM300 (about USD90), which includes return transport, lunch and 2 snorkeling (with gears).
Then you will take a boat at jetty to transfer to Mantanani. The boat ride takes about an hour, depend on the sea condition. It’ll take longer time if the sea is rough during bad weather. I know it’ll be a good day when I see the face of Mt. Kinabalu is clear of mist.
Everyone on the boat is in happy mood and we enjoy the ride and breeze. The ride took less than 1 hour.
Probably most are first-time visitors. I heard lot of WOW and WAH when they saw the crystal blue sea of Mantanani Besar. Many stood up and took photos like crazy and they couldn’t wait to get out of the boat to take a dip. The visibility is so good that we can see the corals deep in the water. You can watch the 2-min video below:
Unlike the yellow sand we see in other beaches, the sand on this island is white and as fine as powder.
The place we have our tea break is “Sayang-Sayang” (means Lovely), which is an area next to Mari-Mari Backpackers Lodge of Mantanani Besar Island.
Frankly, I don’t mind resting in this little hut and watch the sea all day long. You may watch the 40-sec video below to see the surrounding:
You can see Mt. Kinabalu and mainland from this side. What’s better than having blue sky, peaceful sea and our iconic mountain in one open view?
Above: Sayang-Sayang, the place we have our break and lunch.
Above: toilets nearby Sayang-Sayang
Above: a friendly cat
Above: a cattle asks for a share of our lunch. It’s from a nearby village of islanders. It doesn’t swim all the way here from mainland.
Above: The Mari-Mari Backpackers Lodge of Mantanani Besar looks really nice. Too bad I was on a day trip. There are about 10 of them and each house can host 4 guests. The starting price is about RM80/night per person. They will build more houses like this at Sayang-Sayang soon.
Above: reception counter of Mari-Mari Backpackers Lodge
Above: Cafe of Mari-Mari Backpackers Lodge. We collected our snorkeling mask, fin and life jacket behind this cafe.
Our day trip includes 2 snorkeling. You may go for Diving Package instead, which costs RM500 (about USD150) and includes 2 discovery scuba diving (no diver license required) in water of 3 to 7 Meters in depth.
Our first snorkeling site is near Magic Rock, an area near Mantanani Kecil Island. Though our snorkeling sites are far from shore, the depth is only 2 to 3 Meters only. The sea there is quite choppy and we were being tossed around by rough waves. At first I was having fun, then I started to feel dizzy after 10 minutes. All of us got seasick and felt very uncomfortable.
After returning to island for a lunch break, our boatman took us to second snorkeling site near the sand bars. This time the sea is calmer, but the water is quite cool and the current is strong too. Instead of fighting with the current, I just stay relax and let myself flow with the current and I was sent to a warmer zone. Then I felt something stinging me like mosquito. I look carefully and find that I’m in a swarm of translucent jelly bug! Their stings are very light so no worry. I saw a few tiny flashing jellyfishes, so cool..
Above: I wonder what is on that sand bar. Too bad we didn’t explore it. There might be tons of seashells and corals on it?
Frankly speaking, I’m a bit disappointed with what I see during snorkeling. Even though I still see quite a number of fishes, many corals are dead and the rest don’t look healthy, probably damaged by blast fishing (fish bombing). If you go for snorkeling, the corals at Rocky Point and Magic Rock near Mantanani Kecil Island are still in great shape.
Anyway, Mantanani is still a beautiful island.
More Photos
You may check out my photo album if you want to see more nice pictures:
Related Post
Mantanani Kecil (Mari-Mari Dive Lodge)
Fishing at Mantanani Island
Budget accommodation on Mantanani Island
Photos taken in Kota Belud, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo
Yayy, finally you post on Mantanani Island. I’ve been looking forward to it because I’ve heard a lot about this beautiful island. Too bad it is in danger of overfishing now. I think enforcement officers should be closely monitored so that there’s no case of ‘pagar makan padi’ going.
Hi Jipp, Gong Xi Fa Cai! 🙂
Yeah, I’m so sad to see the dead corals. I hope the tour operators feel the same too. However, it’s not too late to do something.
Hi there! Thanks for visiting my blog. You’ve got a nice one here and I’ve read some of them! Thanks for posting on the islands! Never been in one yet. =p
You are welcome Del. Since you are back to Sabah for Chinese New Year, hey, why not visit one of our islands? 🙂
Hi, can i get permission to take ur photo for our website?
Hi gurl, yes u may, if u are using the photo in your personal blog, as long as u link to my blog here. if for business purpose, it won’t be free. may i know where is your website?
actually is for business purpose. ur photo very nice, and very informative. Nvmd, thanks for the info.
You are welcome gurl. Thanks for dropping by and hope you will visit my blog again. 🙂
hye 🙂 can i go to this island w/out packages ? i mean i’ll manage everything by my own, i dont need packages
Hi Donna, u have to get there by tour package of travel agents. If u arrange with unlicensed transport, I’m not sure where they are going to send u to.. 🙂
Helo. You have a wonderful blog on Sabah alone… I’m a Sabahan and I have no idea there are many things to do in Sabah itself.
And by the way, can I have the contact number to get the package? Planning to organize a day trip. TQ 🙂
Thank you Reynold. You can contactTraverse Tours at:http://www.traversetours.com/
Thank you for the info 🙂
Hi, I would like to go in for a walk with some elderly. If possible i would like to snorkel as well, but all depends on elderly condition & decision. Any advice ? Am i possible only buy ticket for go into island ? I saw the price list for snorkel, if i decide to snorkel only i just take the package from counter ?
Hi Lee, the ride to Mantanani is quite bumpy, some elder people might have problem with that. They would be prone to seasick too if they are not used to choppy sea. If you don’t plan to snorkel, islands near to Kota Kinabalu such as Sapi and Manukan also have nice beach (and snorkelling sites).
Thank Bro ! Seem my plan need to be change. > o <
You are welcome Bro 🙂
Have a nice trip!
Hi Murphy, we are thinking of not taking the package as it is quite expensive for a snorkeling package. Were there any boats return trip to the island? As we are thinking of just taking a boat there, use our own snorkeling gear to swim in the blue ocean and have a picnic.
Hi Dylan, now the day trip package has dropped to RM200 or less, which include return boat transfer, lunch and snorkelling, quite reasonable. As far as I know, you have to go there by tour package. If you want everything cheap, you will compromise on your safety and service quality. I’ve been hearing a lot of complaints from tourists who want cheap tour to Mantanani and got really low quality service from unlicensed operators. I would not advise you to go on your own.
Hi Murphy, oh wow that is not bad. Thank you for the info. Would you by any chance know what website or agency that is at RM200?
I forgot which company. You have to shop around. There is one I saw online is about RM250. http://sabahbooking.com/tour-8
hi, if i got my own land transport, do i straight go to the jetty at abai village or need go through agency as well?
You should go through the agency. They may let you to get onboard at Abai but you need to let them know you will join them in advance.