Tag Archives: snorkelling
Top 10 Islands of Sabah
Nobody can resist the tranquil sea and white sandy beach of tropical island. Sabah, as a “Maldives of South East Asia”, has dozens of islands open for tourists. Below is the list of Top 10 Islands in Sabah. Each island has its own features and beauty, you may click the Island Name to know more about them.
Your vote and comment will perfect the list, so please feel free to contribute to this open list.
Murphy Ng
Owner
Top 10 Islands of Sabah
Your date will love you for bringing her there.
Source: http://www.mysabah.com/wordpress/top-10-islands-of-sabah/
Kapalai Island is a pearl in Celebes Sea of Semporna. This island is so isolated and look like another world. Its "magical" beach only appears during low tide.
Sipadan
Sipadan Island is one of the top 3 diving sites in the world. This only oceanic island of Malaysia has been featured many times in National Geographic and Discovery Channels. You can easily spot over 10 sea turtles in a dive. But what thrills divers the most is the barracuda tornado.
The nearest island to Sipadan. Mabul itself is also an island full of corals and one of the best muck diving sites in Malaysia. In the past, the corals of Mabul was badly damaged by blast fishing. After many years of restoration, the fishes and turtles are coming back.
Also nicknamed as Pearl Island, Bohey Dulang has the most stunning sea view in Sabah. It's located in Semporna Islands Park, which has one of the richest marine ecology in Malaysia, and it's also a favorite photography site for many world's renowned photographers.
Pom-Pom
Sea turtles call this island their paradise. The sea and beach of Pom-Pom Island is just unforgettable. At night, you can lay on the jetty to look at the starry sky and listen to the sound of ocean.
Lankayan
Well-known for whale shark sighting and turtle nesting. All the chalets of Lankayan are facing the sea. In the morning, you would see many fishes, turtles and baby sharks swimming in front of your balcony.
Mataking
Famous honeymoon destination for Europeans. Mataking is a picturesque tropical island with white sandy beach, crystal clear water, romantic sunset and luxurious resort. You can have your wedding underwater or in the chapel on the island.
Mantanani is also known as the Mermaid Island because a friendly dugong living in this sea. The moment you see its turquoise sea, you know you have fallen in love with this island.
The filming site of first TV reality show named “Survivor”. Pulau Tiga is the most unique marine park of Sabah because it has mud volcano and snake island. Its hidden gem is the snowy pristine beach on Sands Spit Island.
Sapi
Sapi Island is only 15 min by boat ride from Kota Kinabalu City. This small island seems to have more fishes than other nearby islands. Tourists feel a bit intimidated by harmless wild boar and monitor lizards that wander around, but they also love such nature experience.
You are welcome to add new item to this list too. However, please allow me to remove item that is irrelevant or unfit for this category. Thank You~
Other Islands of Sabah
There are nearly 400 islands in Sabah, but only some of them are developed for tourism purpose. Below is a list of other islands that travellers can visit.
- Balambangan Island
- Banggi Island, the largest island of Sabah
- Dinawan Island
- Gaya Island
- Kelambu Island, One Island and Two Beaches
- Layang-Layang
- Libaran Island
- Maliagin Islands
- Mamutik Island, a small island with big space
- Manukan Island, the Most Popular Island of Sabah
- Mengalum Island and the Mysterious Anchor
- Selingan Turtle Island
- Sepanggar Island
- Sulug Island
- Supirak Island, an Island of Sorrow
Other Sabah’s Top 10
Bawang Jamal Beach: Sunset, Longhouse, Milky Way
Need a break? Hearing someone says, “let’s go to the beach!” will definitely cheer you up. Everyone loves going to the beach. However, it stinks for beachgoers to get only a few meters of space at a popular but crowded beach. Personally I dislike sharing a beach with hundred of people.
Bawang Jamal Beach (Pantai Bawang Jamal in local language)
A crowded beach in USA (photo by Michael Candelori)
Luckily, with about 1,300 Kilometers of coastline, Sabah has so many nice beaches that are enough for everyone to get over 10,000 Sq. Meters of space.
Bawang Jamal Beach is about 1 KM long
I’m not exaggerating. Bawang Jamal Beach (Pantai Bawang Jamal in local language), in north of Sabah, is one of them, and most of the time you would see less than 10 people on this 1-Kilometer long beach.
Water-filled trough (Runnel)
Promoting the beaches of Sabah to foreigners can be challenging sometimes, because my marketing managers would comment, “The photos are nice but hey.. the beach is so empty. Tourists would think that our beach ain’t fun or got shark!”
Panoramic view of Bawang Jamal Beach
Located in Kudat, Bawang Jamal Beach is really hidden well behind a village and dense casuarina trees (GPS: 6.993149, 116.727974, see Location Map).
End of Bawang Jamal Beach
During my visit, I saw an Australian couple spending their vacation at this beach, and they say Bawang Jamal Beach is probably the best beach in Borneo. I had seen the seething mass of meat (people) in Bondi Beach of Sydney, so I understand why they love this secluded beach so much.
Tourist walking on the beach
This beach is unspoiled and turtles also come to nest occasionally, and a turtle hatchery was built around here. Street and house light can drive turtles away, so no development could mean a good thing to wildlife.
White sandy beach of Bawang Jamal Beach
Local children beachcombing for shells and seaweed
The blue sea and snowy beach here are something that tourists willing to pay high dollar for staying in such an untouched beach. It’s a small bay flanked by rocky shores. The intertidal zone and sandy beach are wide, which is very suitable for kids who can’t stop running around.
The island far behind is Kelambu Island
Edible seaweed found on the beach
Sometimes group of village kids would walk along the shore to collect edible stuffs such as shellfish and seaweed. In tourist beach we can’t do this because usually there is nothing left.
Crawl marks left by seashells
Rocky shore of Bawang Jamal Beach
Rocky beach at the end of Bawang Jamal Beach
The rocky shore at the edge of the beach is fun to explore. You would see many small marine animals trapped in the tide pools. I can sit there whole day watching them crawling or swimming.
Starfish in tide pool
Rocky beach covered by yellow seaweed
The most interesting feature of Bawang Jamal Beach is big area of rocky shore covered by yellow seaweed. It looks like a golden carpet when lighted by warm colors of sunset.
Beautiful sunset at Bawang Jamal Beach
Rocks along the beach
Actually I want to photograph the luminous sea (“glowing sea” caused by bioluminescent phytoplankton) of Bawang Jamal Beach, but it wasn’t in peak condition during my visit. Anyway, I saw many fishes swam near to the shore to lay eggs, and a fisherman showed me his caught after night fishing, it’s kind of fun.
Fishes caught by villager at night
Mossy rocks and seaweed on the beach
No matter what, this beach is quite unique that I’m sure many photographers would thank me for introducing them another nice spot for landscape shots.
Milky Way at Bawang Jamal Beach
As this beach is free from light and dust pollution, you can see thousands of stars clearly in crystal clear sky. I shot a few photos of Milk Way. Later I found that some of my friends have no idea what is Milky Way because they never see one in the city.
Super Sunset
Not only that, the sunset view at Bawang Jamal Beach is spectacular. No kidding. The nice sunset and beach can be the excellent backdrop for romantic movie scenes.
Dog and cat seem to enjoy the sunset
Sunset walk at Bawang Jamal Beach
Our beaches are really underrated. I’m kind of upset when some travel portals rank some mediocre (but popular) beaches as the best in the world.
Panoramic sunset view
Sunset run on the beach
After seeing so many nice beaches in Sabah, I’m not easily impressed by beaches in other countries. In fact, many Sabahan friends return from overseas trip and say, “heck, you know what? Our beaches are better.”
Secret Place Cafe
By the way, if you stroll around this beach, you would find Secret Place Cafe near the midsection of the beach. Well, it’s not that secret. I saw a number of westerners relaxing there.
Secret Cafe Place
You can buy hot and cold drink such as tea, coffee, soft drink and beer there. They also sell food like fried rice, noodles, toast and omelette. The prices range from RM6.50 to RM8 (≈US$1.60-2.00) and the serving size is quite big. Though the cafe is not certified Halal, they serve no pork.
Beach at Secret Cafe Place
FYI, you also can rent snorkelling gears and camping tents at this cafe. I think they offer sunset BBQ too.
Lupa Masa Longhouse
For those who want to spend more wonderful time at Bawang Jamal Beach, Lupa Masa Longhouse is only 3 minute walk away from the beach. The design of this accommodation is based on traditional bamboo longhouse of Rungus people in Kudat. “Lupa Masa” means “Forget Time” in Malay language, which conveys that it is an enjoyable place where you would forget about time.
Lupa Masa Longhouse
Like how villagers live, the bedroom and amenities of the longhouse are very basic. The room is quite warm during daytime, but quite cooling at night. Electricity for lighting is available. Common toilet and bathroom are just 10 Meters outside the longhouse. The place can accommodate about 12 guests.
Lupa Masa Longhouse has some basic amenities (From left to right, top to bottom: longhouse, bedroom, washroom, verandah)
The accommodation fee per night is RM50 – 75 (≈US$12.50-19), depend on if you want to participate in Homestay (with full meals) or just Bed & Breakfast. They can help you to arrange various activities around Kudat, for example, snorkeling, fishing, sunset tour and river cruise.
Longhouse under the starry sky
Lupa Masa Longhouse is only 7 Km before the Tip of Borneo. Below is their contact:
E-mail: lupamasaborneo@gmail.com
Tel: +60 19-8020549
Website: lupamasa.com
Facebook: Lupa.Masa
Mangrove river behind the beach
Would you prefer a crowded beach or a tranquil beach? Please tell me in comment section below.
Photos taken in Kudat, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo
