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Turtle Islands Park, the Best Turtle Sanctuary of Borneo

About 110 million years ago, when dinosaurs were ruling the Earth, a marine creature has existed in the ocean. They survived the predation of Megalodon (a 20-metre-long, the biggest extinct shark) and live until today. It’s the sea turtle, some species can live more than 100 years old.

You can see three stages of turtle life on Selingan Island

However, without any protection, human can wipe out this ancient animal in 20 years. Luckily, sea turtles are fully protected in Sabah, as well as their main nesting grounds in Sulu Sea, the Turtle Islands Park, which is about 40 kilometers to the north of Sandakan of Sabah (Malaysia).

Two sea turtle species of Sabah. Left: Green Turtle (*Chelonia mydas*). Right: Hawksbill Turtle (*Eretmochelys imbricata*). Can you spot their differences? (Photo Credit: Green turtle by Paul Asman and Jill Lenoble, Hawksbill Turtle by Tchami)

Turtle Islands Park comprises the islands of Selingan (8.1ha), Gulisaan (1.6ha) and Bakkungaan Kecil (8.5ha), covering a protected area of some 1,740 hectares, of which 18.2 hectares are on land while 1,721.8 hectares at sea.

Beach of Selingan Island protected by reef balls (to stop beach erosion)

Only Selingan Island, which provides accommodation and basic facilities, is open to tourists, who will witness three stages of a turtle life by looking at the hatchery for the eggs, releasing of hatchlings and nesting of mother turtles in close distance.

Why Protect Sea Turtles?

Turtles don’t beat up villains like what Ninja Turtles do, but they are unsung heroes of maintaining a healthy coral reef ecosystem and food chain balance in the ocean. For example, a Leatherback Sea Turtle can consume 200 kg of jellyfish a day. Green turtles graze on seagrass to stop the overgrown sea meadows that obstruct the sunlight to seabed.

Sea turtles have existed on earth for over 100 million years. But human can wipe them out in one or two generations. Then our children only can see this ancient animal in an aquarium.

Sea Turtles are also the important assets of tourism in Sabah. Diving with gentle sea turtles is one of the most exciting experience, and scuba divers can see more than 10 turtles whenever they dive at Sipadan Island, the top dive sites of Malaysia.

Sea turtles are also important for tourism because tourists love to see them, especially scuba divers

Unfortunately, all seven species of sea turtles are on the endangered list (IUCN Red List). Four of the seven extant species of marine turtles occur in Malaysia (leatherback, green turtle, hawksbill and olive ridley). Selingan Island is a safe haven for the endangered green turtle (Chelonia mydas) and hawksbill turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata).

A Painful Lesson

In the 1950s, about 10,000 leatherback turtle nesting were recorded annually in Terengganu state. Nevertheless, in 1980s, I had been hearing bad things such as people turned the turtles over, sat on them to take pictures and even took their eggs. The mother turtles couldn’t lay their eggs in peace, the consequence is no more landing of leatherbacks there after 2006.

Nesting trends of sea turtles in Sabah and Terengganu. Left: Leatherback turtles in Terengganu. Right: Green and Hawksbill Turtles in Turtle Islands Park of Sabah. Without conservation, leatherback turtle is extinct in Peninsular Malaysia.

Terengganu government tried to curb the collection of turtle eggs in 2005 but it’s too late too little. Though leatherback is sighted occasionally after 2015, there is no hope to recover the past glory as one of the world’s largest nesting grounds of leatherback turtles. WWF Malaysia states that the leatherback turtle population in Malaysia has plummeted by more than 99 percent since the 1960s.

Four species of sea turtles found in Malaysia are Leatherback turtle, Green turtle, Hawksbill turtle and Olive ridley turtle. They are all endangered species. In Sabah, they are fully protected by laws (Wildlife Conservation Enactment 1997). Offender could face a fine of up to RM250,000 or imprisonment of up to five years, or both.

Therefore, it’s significant that Sabah gazetted Turtle Island Parks as a turtle sanctuary on 1 Oct 1977, which stops the declining trend of green and hawksbill turtles population in Sabah.

Visit Selingan Island

Selingan, the turtle island of Sabah, is the place where turtles and tourists meet. To visit Selingan Island, visitors need to contact Crystal Quest (Website: turtleisland.com.my, Facebook: Turtleislandresortsandakan, Phone (Whatsapp): +60 11-51665923) to book a 2-day-1-night tour, which is a full board package that covers land / sea transportation, permit, accommodation and meals.

Sabah Parks jetty in Sandakan City is the departure point to the Turtle Islands Park (Selingan)

Turtle Islands Park is managed by Sabah Parks, but they are focus on conservation and offload the tour booking and activities to Crystal Quest. The island sets a limit of maximum 50 tourists per day, so the tour to Selingan is always full. You better book this popular trip a few months in advance.

The main office and dining hall on Selingan Island

The Itinerary in Brief:
9:15am Register at Sabah Parks jetty
10:00am Depart to Selingan by boat
11:15am Arrive Selingan, check-in and have lunch
6:30pm Visit Exhibition Hall
7:30pm Dinner. After that wait for turtle landing and releasing of hatchlings
Day 2
7:00am Check-out, breakfast and leave Selingan

Only Selingan Island has chalets for tourists

The peak nesting months for Green turtle are from April to August, and for the Hawksbill turtle is between January to June. Overall, for Selingan the peak time is during April – August. Turtle landing on Selingan is almost guaranteed every day, so you don’t really need to pick a best time to visit.

You can watch this video for a quick overview of the tour to Selingan

Note: It’s a family and muslim friendly tour. English is spoken for non-Malaysian tourists.

The Turtle Hatchery

The first thing that you would notice on Selingan Island is the turtle hatchery zones with thousand of turtle nests fenced by green mesh net, which keeps away the predators such as monitor lizards, rodents and crabs. A well-protected nest has a hatch rate of above 80%.

Turtle hatchery on Selingan Island. The temperature determines the gender of the hatchlings, so part of them are placed under the shade, which provides higher chance to hatch male turtles.

The first turtle hatchery was built on Pulau Selingaan in 1966, followed by Pulau Bakkungan Kecil and Pulau Gulisaan in 1968. But the hatchery on the smallest island, Gulisaan, closed in 2015 due to beach erosion.

The total number of turtle eggs collected in the Turtle Islands Park from 1979 to 2016 is 22,449,572 eggs, namely 10,428,711 (46%) on Selingan Island, 6,381,682 (28%) on Bakkungan Kecil Island, and 5,629,179 (25%) on Gulisaan Island.

Tourists looking at their adopted turtle nests. You can participate in the Turtle Nest Adoption Program by donating RM100 to adopt a turtle nest.

The sex of baby turtles depends on the nest temperature. Warmer nests can lead to hatching of more female babies, while cooler nests lead to more males, so you would see some hatcheries are placed under the cooler shade. Without such measure, overwhelming majority of the hatchlings would be female due to global warming.

You can adopt a turtle nest. Your name will be labelled on the nest that you adopt.

Turtle Nest Adoption Program

You can adopt a turtle nest at RM100 (about USD27). Each sponsor will receive the following as an appreciation:

Have your name displayed on the nest’s label
A certificate of adoption
A Turtle Nest Adoption T-Shirt

You will be informed via e-mail when the eggs in your adopted nest hatch.

Other Turtle Hatcheries in Sabah

The combined island size of Turtle Islands Park is only 18.2 hectares, which is smaller than Manukan Island (20.6 hectares). We can save more turtles if we build more hatcheries because Sabah has 394 islands and nearly 1,000 miles of coastline.

Turtle hatcheries of Lankayan (left) and Sipadan Island (right)

In fact, some Sabah islands such as Libaran, Lankayan, Mabul, Mataking, Sipadan and Dinawan have small turtle hatcheries built under the support of resorts, government and local communities. For example, Libaran Island has released more than 42,000 baby turtles since 2010.

Accommodation on Selingan

A few chalets are available for tourists. Most of the rooms are twin standard bed room, which is clean and comfortable, so is the attached bathroom cum toilet. Electricity is available 24 by 7 to power the air conditioning and ceiling fan. Towel and shower gel are provided.

Twin bedroom and attached bathroom of Selingan Turtle Island Chalet. Towel, shower gel, air-conditioning, ceiling fan and toilet are provided.

Beach of Selingan

The beautiful white sandy beach of Selingan is a bonus of the tour. The beach is kept in clean and pristine state, the way mother turtles love it. What turtles need is just a simple and natural beach for nesting. Sadly, nowadays most beaches are either having too many rubbish or people.

Left: site map of Selingan Island, Right: No nudity warning sign at the beach

After lunch you will have plenty of free and easy time until dinner time. It takes less than an hour to walk one around of the island. North side of the island is rocky shore, so I only explored the sandy beach. I saw hundred of holes dug by the turtles for laying eggs, and the tyre-like tracks they left on the beach.

Monitor lizard and Philippine megapode are two common residents on Selingan Island

Do apply mosquito repellent before you walk in the wood. The three most common animals on Selingan are the roaming monitor lizards (harmless unless provoked), Philippines megapodes (or Tabon scrubfowl) busy scratching soil for food, and hermit crabs (most active at night).

The sandy beach and rocky beach on Selingan Island

The favourite afternoon activity of tourists is snorkeling (gears available for rent on Selingan). Only the beach on the east side of Selingan is open for tourists to swim and snorkel because of the calm and shallow sea. There are life guards on duty at the beach from 8:30am to 5:30pm. You can sunbathe in sexy bikini, but no topless and nude please.

Left: snorkeling on Selingan Island. Right: sea cucumbers. There are probably thousand of sea cucumbers in the shallow sea of Selingan.

From the beach, you can see Lihiman and Great Bakkungaan Islands of the Philippines only 6 Kilometres away. They are the “Philippines side” of the turtle island park. Turtle island parks from Malaysia and Philippines establishes the Turtle Islands Heritage Protected Area (TIHPA), the world’s first transborder programme between two countries to conserve sea turtles and their habitats in the Sulu Sea since May 1996.

You can see the islands of Philippines from Selingan. They are also part of the Turtle Islands Heritage Protected Area (TIHPA), the world’s first trans-border protected area for marine turtle. Left: Lihiman Island, Right: Great Bakungan Island at the left and Pulau Bakkungaan Kecil (of Sabah) at the right

The sea water is crystal clear and inviting to beachgoers who want to swim between Malaysia and Philippines water. The sea floor is rocky so a pair of water shoes would help. I saw hundred of sea cucumbers near the shore. The corals and macro lives in deeper water are spectacular. During low tide, avoid snorkel too close to the sharp corals or you would risk getting cut.

Exhibition Hall

No walking on the beach is allowed after 6pm, as the turtles would land anytime. You may visit the small exhibition hall, which is open from 6:30pm to 9pm. Some photographs, specimens and skeleton of marine animals such as turtle, dolphin and giant seashells are displayed.

The labels and information are written in Malaysian and English, for you to learn about the sea turtles and the conservation projects of Turtle Islands Park. This short visit is a good time filler before dinner. Halal / Muslim-friendly food is served. If you are a vegetarian, you can inform the operator of your food preference in advance.

Turtle Nesting

After dinner at 7:30pm, everyone was asked to sit and wait in the dining hall for the highlight activity. Based on the landing records from 1981 to 2016 of the Park, a total of 85,870 unique turtles have been marked involving 81,149 (94.5%) green turtles and 4,721 (5.5%) hawksbill turtles. The Olive Ridley turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea) rarely comes here (only 6 landing).

After dinner, tourists wait in the dining hall for the tour to see nesting turtle

The number of turtle landings at the Turtle Island Park has increased to between 6,000 to 15,000 annually since 1991. The highest number of turtle landing was 15,219 nests in 2011. It’s safe to say that Turtle Islands Park is one of the most important nesting sites for green turtles in the world.

Green Turtles lay about 120 eggs while a Hawksbill can lay up to 160 eggs on average. Batches of 50 – 80 eggs are the most common.

The wait took less than an hour. Around 8pm, the ranger brought us to the beach where mother turtle nested. It’s only a 10-minute walk, but we were so enthusiastic and brisk walking behind the dim flash light of the rangers. We were requested to keep quiet and turn off our torch, or the excessive noise and light would stress the sensitive mother turtle and turn it away.

Nesting pits dug by the sea turtles for laying their eggs on the beach. These holes are everywhere on the sandy beach of Selingan Island.

By the time we got there, a green turtle had already dug a 16-inch-deep hole in the sand near vegetation line (above high water mark) and started laying eggs. We gathered around the turtle and looking at clutch of ivory-color and perfectly round eggs being laid into the pit.

Tourists gather next to the nesting site of a mother turtle

Everyone was given turn to shoot photos (extra torch, flash light and video taking are prohibited) so we didn’t need to elbow others to move to the front for the best angle. But we still need to keep a distance from the turtle.

The nesting usually takes 30 to 60 minutes. The clutch size varies between 40 – 200 eggs but batches of 50 – 80 are the most common. After the mother turtle was done with nesting, the ranger collected her fresh eggs into a bucket.

The fresh turtle eggs look like ping-pong balls. They are transferred to the turtle hatchery for better protection.

We followed the ranger to the turtle hatchery, where he buried the new turtle eggs for incubation. The nest is labelled with date, clutch size and serial number. These are what rangers do until dawn when they find new nests during night patrol.

Releasing Baby Turtles

The next program is the releasing of baby turtles to the wild. Turtle eggs take about two months to hatch. Once they emerge from the sand, the ranger will put them in a basket ready for releasing at night later.

Newly hatched baby turtles got photographed by excited tourists before their release

Everyone walked to the beach. The baby turtles were so cute and we were in a photo frenzy. Before the release, we were instructed to stand still because the small turtles would run all over the beach and around our feet.

A sleeping sea turtle can remain underwater for 4 to 7 hours

The ranger pointed the torch to the sea, to guide the hatchlings to enter the water. Baby turtles normally use the brightest horizon as clues to find the ocean. Artificial lights would distract them from finding their way, so coastal reclamation is a threat to their habitat.

You might ask, isn’t it easier to pour them all into the water? Sea turtles can sense the Earth’s magnetic field and use it as an internal compass. Release them on the beach would help them to register the magnetic signature of their birthplace, so they will come back to lay eggs in future.

Releasing of baby turtles on the beach. The female turtles would come back to the same beach to lay eggs after 20 years.

During their lifetime, sea turtles will travel thousands of miles across the oceans. It’s remarkable that adult turtles can use the Earth’s magnetic field as a global GPS to navigate back home for laying eggs.

Daily scoreboard of records on turtle landing and number of eggs collected. (GT = Green Turtle, HB = Hawksbill Turtle)

About 22 million hatchlings from over 315,000 turtle nests have been released into the sea from 1979 up to 2023 (1st quarter) in Turtle Islands Park (94% are green turtles, 6% are Hawksbills). The number is impressive but only one in 1,000 hatchlings would survive to adulthood. Every egg counts.

Starry sky of Selingan Island, which is free of air and light pollution

The releasing is the last activity of our tour. Most of the light was off and we were not permitted to wander near the beach until 6am next day, to avoid disturbing the landing of turtles. Without light pollution, the starry sky on Selingan was stunning. Many hermit crabs crawled out in the night. It’s funny but worrying to see that many hermit crabs used plastic waste as their shelter instead of normal seashells.

Hermit crabs use plastic waste as their shelters. This bizarre adaptation is getting common as more beaches are polluted.

People told me that Selingan Island is haunted. The rangers also shared some paranormal activities that they experienced during night patrol. Sometimes they heard people whispering but there was nobody around. One of the most terrifying story is – they saw huge shadow of turtle stood up in the sea. I’m not sure if these are fake stories to discourage tourists from going to the beach at night. I’ll leave it to you to find out. I had a good sleep there anyway.

Before we left Selingan next morning, we caught the nice sunrise view over the Philippines islands. Overall, this is a leisure and educational tour that I would highly recommend to someone who love turtles and tropical islands.

What to Bring

The following are some necessary or useful items for the trip:

Sunblock lotion / spray
Sunglasses & hat
Swimwear or beachwear (e.g. swimsuit, bikini, rough guard)
Beach mat
Cash
Passport / MyKad
Water in refillable bottle
Insect repellent
Light clothing (e.g. T-Shirt, short)
Slipper / Sandal
Toiletries (toothbrush, toothpaste, face wash, soap, shampoo, toilet paper)
Camera & spare batteries / memory cards
Mobile / Cell phone and charger
Portable power bank and charging cable
Torch / Flashlight
Optional: dry bag (water-proof), goggles, waterproof casing for phone / camera, snorkelling gears (mask, snorkel, fins, life vest), water shoes, personal medicines

Note: you can rent the snorkelling gears on Selingan.

Challenges

Having turtle hatcheries and conservation acts are not enough to stop sea turtles from extinction, unless the threats below are mitigated effectively.

Not all Malaysian states ban the consumption of turtle eggs
Poaching of turtle and its eggs
Between 2,000-3,000 turtles are trapped as bycatch of commercial fishing in Malaysia every year
At least half of all sea turtles have already consumed plastic, which is hazardous to their health
Coastal development destroys the nesting beach of turtles

Threats to marine turtles include poaching of turtle eggs, and thousands of turtles trapped and drowned in the net of fishing trawlers every year

References

“Sabah on the world turtle map” by Daily Express (October 29, 2017)
(PDF) “Marine turtles in Malaysia: On the verge of extinction?” by Eng-Heng Chan
“Solutions for fishermen, marine life” by Daily Express (June 21, 2021)
“Turtles use the Earth’s magnetic field as a global GPS” by National Geographic

Turtle Sanctuary and Glamping at Libaran Island

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What a tourist couple did really touched me. I was buying cake in a bakery in Kota Kinabalu City. At the cashier counter, an Australian couple declined to use plastic bag to store their purchase. They explained to their children, “We shouldn’t use plastic bag because if it’s dumped into the sea, turtle would think it’s food and eat it, and that can kill it.” I’m so grateful that foreigners care about our turtles. On the other hand, I feel ashamed that Malaysians generate about 4,000 metric tonnes of plastic waste every day, and these contribute to plastic found on one-third of the coral reefs in the Asia-Pacific region.

Jellyfish is the food of sea turtle, and plastic bag is often mistaken as jellyfish by turtles

Therefore, I see hope when Libaran Island, which used to be a turtle grave, has become a turtle sanctuary and a new tourism attraction now. Before a turtle hatchery was established there in 2012, every turtle egg laid on Libaran would end up in the stomach of villagers and stray dogs on the island. After 5 years, this hatchery has saved more than 27,486 turtle eggs!

Releasing baby turtles to the wild

And Top 4 Reasons to visit Libaran Island? #Turtle #Glamping #Stargazing #Sunset

About Libaran Island

With a population of 450 people, Libaran (GPS: 6.120437, 118.030001, see Location Map) is a 450-acre (about 2 sq KM) island located 45 minutes away by boat from Sandakan, the second largest city of Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. Though Libaran is only 5 minutes away from the famous Turtle Islands Park (a.k.a. Selingan) of Sabah, unfortunately it is not inside the boundary of this protected park.

Beach of Libaran Island during low tide

If turtle landed on the wrong island, that’s the end of their cycle of life when villagers collected their eggs. Luckily this is changed by Alex Yee, a business-minded conservationist, who creates Walai Penyu Conservation Park with a win-win model for the locals and turtles.

Beautiful mangrove tree in Libaran

Trip to Libaran Island

Turtle sighting in scuba diving is always a delightful experience. This gentle reptile swims gracefully and look really chill underwater. We can’t call a diving destination a top dive site if it has no turtle. Turtle is also the Guardian of Coral Triangle because it maintains the health of marine ecosystems. If turtles are safe, our tourism and environment will do well.

Group photo of divers with the friendly turtle. But we were not allowed to touch it or we would be banned for next dive.

What’s better than looking at the turtle up-close? Malaysia is home to four species of turtles, namely, Leatherback, Green, Hawksbill, and Olive Ridley turtles, all are endangered due to pollution and poaching. When Alex invited me to his Walai Penyu Resort on Libaran Island last month, I said YES x 100 without thinking.

Alex named his boat “Tora” to commemorate his dog

In a sunny afternoon, our boat to Libaran departed from the Sabah Parks jetty located at Sandakan Yacht Club. If you book a tour with Walai Penyu Resort, they will provide boat and land transfer (Walai = Stay Together and Penyu = Turtle in local language).

Stunning red cliffs of Berhala Island

On the way to Libaran, you would pass by Berhala Island, a very beautiful island with distinctive red cliffs. Sadly, its beach is covered by so many junk that it never becomes a tourist attraction. If the locals love their environment more, they would have a nice island for weekend outing now. Rubbish is like karma, we will pay for our wrongdoing.

Approaching Libaran Island

The ocean was calm and we reached Libaran Island after 45 minutes of smooth ride. It’s a fairly densely vegetated flat island, without any high ground and tall building. Turtles love such pristine beach with little development. Too much noise and artificial light will drive mother turtle away.

You can see the corals in crystal clear water

Though we were about 100 Metres away from shore, the water was only knee depth, and I could see the lush corals clearly. Our boat cruised slowly to avoid crushing the corals.

Nesting spots of sea turtles

Finally we landed on the golden beach of Libaran, the cradle of turtles. Their staff already waited for us with wheelbarrow and transferred our bags to Walai Penyu Resort.

Landing track of mother turtle on the beach

Apparently we are not the only visitors here. Tracks and traces of turtle landing are everywhere. We found nesting sites under the shrubs, on the beach and near the camp.

Glamping at Walai Penyu Resort

We check-in to our room. Actually it’s a glamping tent, which is larger than standard camp and spacious enough to fit in two beds and a desk. The camp is very clean and located on the beach.

Glamping ground of Walai Penyu Resort in Libaran Island

Glamping is becoming a trend for travellers who love to be close to nature but stay comfortable with adequate setup. In short, Glamping is a luxury version of Camping. I have done camping many times, glamping is new to me, and it definitely offers a more family-friendly and enjoyable stay than camping.

Glamping is where stunning nature meets modern luxury

To minimise the impact to the environment, there are only 8 dome-shaped tents in Walai Penyu Resort to host up to 16 guests each day. Lighting is kept to minimum to avoid disturbing nesting turtles.

Experience glamping on Libaran Island

Bathroom in Walai Penyu Resort

The tents have side windows covered with mosquito net. You can unzip them for sea breeze or view. As our tents are very near to the beach, it’s quite windy and we could hear sea waves clearly.

Toilet and shower room on the island

The common toilet and bathroom have lot of open spaces that allow good ventilation, so the place is dry, clean and doesn’t smell.

Beautiful Libaran

Turtle usually comes after dusk. It’s still early, so I strolled around the island. With me were three lady editors (Alison, Carmen and San) for China social media. If you want to walk one around of this island, the walking distance is 6.5 KM, which takes about 1.5 hours.

These mangrove trees can prevent beach erosion

Near our glamping site is a few patches of lush mangrove trees. Alex told us that at night we could find fireflies there. The entangled roots of these old mangrove trees are so fascinating, some looks like bonsai.

Little mangrove “island”

I asked Carmen to be my model. Being professional, she didn’t hesitate to climb up and down the tree for some perfect shots (the mangrove root is quite slippery). Of course the outcome is brilliant. Instagram is full of cliche photos on sandy beach, so we are happy to bag many special shots.

From Left: Alison, Carmen, San and Alex Yee

Due to low tide, the water was very shallow and tempting, so we walked in the sea water to feel the soft sand and warm water running through our toes.

You can walk to Racket Island during low tide

Less than 2 KM away is Racket Island, where you can find the “tomb” of turtles. You can walk to that island during low tide. But do return before high tide or you have to swim back to Libaran.

Thanks Carmen for climbing up there for a great shot

The beach is long and litter-free. The cleanliness is not by accident. Alex divides the beach into dozens of 100-Metres lot, and pays villagers MYR100/month to keep their allocated slot clean.

This mangrove tree looks like bonsai

Clean beach is not only for tourists, but good for the turtles too. By regularly removing driftwood, plastics and other washed-up trash from the beach, turtles don’t need to crawl over piles of debris to lay their eggs on the beach.

Alex spent 3.5 years to collect 3,500 mineral bottles to build this little house

Alex has been buying plastic bottles from these cleaners for 3.5 years. He showed us his masterpiece he created with these plastic.

Plastic House Cafe?

It’s a 300 sq-ft plastic house which took 5 weeks to build from 3,500 one-litre plastic bottles. This house reminds me that Malaysia is the 8th largest producer of mismanaged plastic wastes. Guess that’s the message Alex tries to tell (and show) the world.

Fishermen return home after fishing

Then Alex went back to the camp to prepare other activities for us. We continued to explore other side of the island. There is a garrison on the island. I saw police and dogs patrolled on the beach, so I feel safe.

Peaceful dusk at Libaran

The sea view was ravishing. We forgot the time until dusk was approaching, and the cloud was like in fire. It’s the famous flaming sunset of Sabah. We chased for the sunset view and reached a peaceful fishing village on other end of the island. The friendly villagers smiled at us while busy preparing for the nightfall. This is just an ordinary fishing village, but looks so surreal under the sunset.

Fisherman walking to the sunset

Inspiring Success Story

By the time we were back to our resort, yummy dinner was already served under a canopy. During meal time, Alex shared some stories about his conservation project on Libaran. It wasn’t a smooth sail. If I were him, I would had given up.

Dinner on Libaran Island

Turtles have existed for over 200 million years, but if nothing is done, human can wipe them out in 10 years. Unlike Ninja Turtle, the shell of turtles can’t protect them from human greed. Turtles are fully protected by wildlife act in Sabah and Sarawak only. In some states of Peninsular Malaysia, turtle eggs are sold openly and it’s legal to consume them.

Mangrove seedling

However, without any enforcement on a remote island such as Libaran, the locals were eating the turtle eggs. I’m not saying that the villagers there are bad. Turtle eggs have been the main source of protein for islanders for many generations. Now for conservation, we have to take this away from these poor villagers, so it isn’t hard to understand why they are unhappy.

Variety of corals exposed during low tide

Besides stop eating turtle eggs, we must not harass turtles too. Let me tell you a real case. Rantau Abang in Terengganu used to the most popular nesting location of leatherback turtle. In 1950s, there were more than 10,000 nesting spots. Then tourists came and ride on their back and flipped them over for fun. The consequence is – almost 0 sighting of leatherback there for last 5 years.

Sometimes it’s a bit windy on Libaran

Libaran is blessed because they act soon enough to prevent the repeat of Rantau Abang tragedy there. In 2011, Sabah Wildlife Department sought collaboration with Alex to protect the turtles on Libaran, because the villagers collecting turtle eggs. However, it�s a hot potato, not cash cow, being handed over to Alex. The former village head didn�t support his conservation work and even tried to stop his team from collecting turtle eggs.

Lovely morning of Libaran Island

Deeply dismayed by many challenges and people issues, Alex thought about quitting in Nov 2015. His visit to Libaran in Feb 2016 was supposed to be a goodbye trip. Then a turtle laid 70 eggs in front of his tent. Alex saw this as a sign and decided to continue. Due to his perseverance, Alex has successfully established a new turtle stronghold on Libaran. It�s a victory in Sabah conservation.

Alison recording a time-lapsed video for sea tide

Just a trivia. During World War II, about 2 or 3 British prisoners of war escaped the infamous dead march, and one of them was hiding on Libaran until he was rescued by US Navy after the war. Many years later, his son visited Libaran and found that the father of Alex’s employee is the one who rescued his dad.

We still could see starry sky though that night was cloudy

Libaran is also a great place for stargazing, since they keep the light to minimal. I saw many stars in the sky, but it was covered by dense cloud shortly.

Good Night!

Before we went to bed, Alex said, “Tonight it will be high tide. We have good chance to see turtle landing.” And he was right.

Turtle Landing!

Because of the comfortable sea breeze and sound of sea waves, I had a deep sleep until I heard Alex was talking on walkie-talkie around 3:20am. I waked up and saw him standing outside his tent. From his serious expression, I knew a turtle has landed. I followed behind him with a torchlight.

Hawksbill turtle landed on Libaran

There are a total of 401 turtle landing (75% Green Turtle, 25% Hawksbill Turtle) on Libaran between 2013 and 2017.

Turtle laying eggs on Libaran Island

And yay!!! We saw a Hawksbill turtle about 200 Metres away from our campsite, and it laid eggs under a tree near to beach. We were so excited but we had to observe it quietly from a distance. If disturbed, mother turtle would abort the nesting and turn back to the sea. Sabah has the largest population of hawksbills in Malaysia.

Mother turtles only come to land for laying eggs. They will dig a hole with their legs, lay eggs, then cover them with sand. To me it’s bizarre. Imagine human who lives on land, but give birth a baby in the sea.

Moving the turtle eggs to hatchery for better survival rate

This Hawksbill turtle laid 149 eggs that morning, breaking the 3-year-old highest record of 146 eggs! According to Alex, Libaran got one turtle landing every 3 days in average. They prefer to come during high tide, so they don’t need to crawl a long way to the beach.

Turtle Hatchery

After the mother turtle left, the trained staff collected the eggs carefully and moved them to the hatchery near to our camp. This measure can increase the survival rate of hatching up to 90 per cent.

Turtle Hatchery on Libaran Island

Turtle eggs look like ping-pong ball, and are delicious treat for crabs, monitor lizards and birds. Therefore, we have to place a circular wire mesh enclosure around the nest, so these predators can’t dig the nest.

Each nest in hatchery is labelled with date, number of eggs and turtle species

The nest is also labelled with information such as date, number of eggs and turtle species. The eggs will hatch after 45 to 55 days. Do you know that temperature can set the sex of a hatching? Cooler temperatures lead to a male, while hotter sand leads to a female.

This 4-ha hatchery was setup in July 2012 by Alex Yee at the site chosen by Sabah Wildlife Department. It’s named as Taman Hadiah, which means Gift Garden. It hatches about 4,000 eggs every month in average (73% Green Turtle, 27% Hawksbill).

From 2013 until 2017, the hatchery had collected 20,022 Green turtle eggs and 7,464 Hawksbill turtle eggs. On 1 March 2018, they will celebrate the release of 30,000th turtle!

I’m happy to witness the release of a few dozens baby turtles that evening. They usually release them at night to avoid the predators. Once freed, the baby turtles will head to the moonlight and enter the sea.

Releasing baby turtles to the wild

Another amazing thing happens during the release, these baby turtles will register the magnetic signature of this beach as their “home point”. Even after 25 years, the female turtle can rely on Earth’s magnetic field to navigate back to her exact birthplace to lay eggs.

Only 1 in 1,000 of baby turtles can make it to adulthood

There is one cruel fact I hope I don’t have to tell you. Only one in a thousand baby turtles will survive. So every egg counts.

By the way, if you see any sneaky fellow in Sandakan City that shows you Ok sign in the street, bash him because he is selling turtle eggs illegally (but double check in case he is really a friendly Sandakian).

Leaving Libaran Island with happy faces

In Sabah, anyone caught in possession or consuming turtle eggs could be fined MYR50,000 or be jailed five years, or both, if convicted. That means you are as guilty as seller if you are buying turtle eggs.

Walai Penyu Libaran is one of the few places in Sabah where you can experience glamping

However, due to weak enforcement, these sellers are still around and certainly enjoy good business. I hope the authority will also prosecute the buyers to the fullest extent by law. This will send a strong warning to buyers that buying turtle eggs is also a crime.

How to get there

A visit to this new turtle island is highly recommended to those who want to see the miracles of nature. Day trip and overnight tour are available. For more information or booking, please contact Walai Penyu Resort via the following channels:
Facebook: WalaiPenyuResort
Website: walaipenyuresort.com
E-mail: sales@trekkerslodge.com
Phone: +60 16-8310168 (cellphone), +60 88-260263 (office)

View of our campsite after sunrise

At the end, I would like to compliment Alex Yee for his dedication in conservation. What he does far exceeds the scope of Corporate Service Responsibility (CSR). It’s a long term commitment, not a one-time beach clean-up or symbolically planting a few trees. I hope more visitors will visit Libaran to support the turtle conservation there. Please learn from the story of Rantau Abang and don’t be the generation that bully turtles.

Photos taken in Sandakan, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo

Snorkeling in Sipadan Island

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Being described as an “Untouched Piece of Art” by Jacques Cousteau, Sipadan Island is always high on the chart of best dive sites and frequented by scuba divers from all over the world. To promote Sipadan, travel agents like to use underwater photographs of divers, as if the only way to see the beauty of Sipadan is to wear over 30 pounds of diving gears and sink to the sea bottom.

So, is swimming and snorkeling in Sipadan just a waste of time? Read on, you will see that Sipadan is also best for snorkeling.

Sipadan is the only oceanic island of Malaysia and its reef is built on a volcanic seamount which rises steeply from a surrounding seabed more than 500 Meters in depth. In brief, Sipadan is a mushroom-like island in the deep ocean. This 13.5-Hectare island, which takes only 20 minutes to walk one round, looks like an ordinary tropical island, but there is a lot of going on under its water.

Pic: the deep blue seawater is the 500 Meters drop. Sound scary, but a lot of corals bloom on its steep wall and become “hanging garden”, which is famous for Wall Diving.

In my last visit to Sipadan, I snorkeled in 3 sites, which are only 3 to 6 Meters deep and not far from the island.

If you prefer to watch video, the following is the 2.5-min video of my snorkeling tour in Sipadan:

Site #1: Mid Reef

The visibility of Mid Reef is good in the morning. The water is about 3 Meters deep, so I can get a close and clear view of flourishing hard corals.

Pic: big fan coral, which is bigger than me.

Pic: 500-Meter drop at the left

Fishes like to congregate near the edge of island. I saw thousands of reef fishes in different colors and sizes in coral reefs, like butterflies among the flowers. A popular TV host from National Geographic Channel once said he was dazzled by the fishes here LOL.

I also spotted a live giant clam about 3 feet in wide. Due to overfishing, it is extremely rare to see such a big one in the wild.

A school of Barracuda just appeared in front of me, as seen in tourism brochure. This magnificent view was totally unexpected because I thought I only can see this in deep water.

Site #2: Turtle Tomb

I was so happy with what I saw. Quickly I proceeded to the next site, the Turtle Tomb.

The sunlight was getting bright so the visibility is superb. My underwater camera could record everything clearly.

It was not too long for me to find a sea turtle swimming gracefully, then came the second, third and fourth one. Sea turtles are just everywhere. Surprisingly, they didn’t bother about my presence so I could see their natural behaviour up close.

Some turtles were resting at the bottom. Like the one above was just a few feet below me. To avoid disturbing it, I stayed still and let current pushed me away. It looked fairly relax and didn’t try to hide or flee.

Then I noticed something big and dark moving under me. It was a group of Bumphead Parrotfish foraging around corals.

Can you believe it? Nearly hundred of Bumphead Parrotfish were so close that our fins almost touched them.

I only saw Bumphead Parrotfish in seafood dinner before, without knowing that it is such a fascinating creature.

Site #3: Barracuda Point

I had my lunch after two snorkeling trips. After a short rest, I couldn’t wait to get back to the water again.

Sipadan is located in Coral Triangle, which is also known as Amazon of the Sea and important habitat to over 3,000 coral fish species and 76% of world’s coral species.

When I thought the best part was over, I saw a big swarm of “something” coming to my way.

My goodness, it is a school of Jackfish, probably ten of thousands of them. This is crazy!

A guest swam to them and soon engulfed by wall of Jackfish. Before this, I thought such view was something only happened in my dream. I strongly recommend you to watch the video.

The fishes didn’t look stress though we were really close, a result of long years of full protection by this marine park.

In conclusion, the snorkeling experience in Sipadan is almost as good as diving. However, to see richer variety of corals and bigger sharks, you still have to dive deeper. Every diver says they regret to dive in Sipadan. Why? Because they have seen the best (Sipadan), other dive sites can’t impress them anymore. So I advise you to keep Sipadan as the last. 🙂

In case you wonder how Sipadan got its name. The name is from the word Siparan, which refers to a dead body of a person named Si Paran, whom had been found restlessly on the beach of Sipadan.

Visit Sipadan Island

To visit Sipadan Island (Pulau Sipadan in Malaysia language), you need an entry permit from Sabah Parks, the management of Sipadan Island Park. To reduce the impact to the environment, Sabah Parks imposes a daily quota of 120 people to Sipadan. The tour is always fully booked, so you need to apply at least 3 months in advance. The easiest way is to get a licensed dive operator to arrange the diving trip for you, they also can book the accommodation and provide the airport transfer.

Pic: the reception counter at the jetty. Everyone must register here before entering the island. You will be denied entry if you don’t have a permit.

Pic: the boardwalk to Sipadan Island. Do you notice the big tall tree? It is a huge strangler fig tree (see photo below).

Pic: The island has adequate amenities such as public toilet for tourists.

Pic: there is a few shelter and benches for you to rest and have meal.

You may watch the 90-sec walking tour video to see the surrounding of Sipadan:

FYI, there is a Turtle Hatchery on Sipadan.

More Photos

www.flickr.com

Do you know any other nice spots for snorkeling, besides Sipadan? Please share with us.

Photos taken in Semporna, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo

Turtle Hatchery of Sipadan Island

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One of the most exciting features of Sipadan Island (Pulau Sipadan in Malaysia language) is scuba divers can easily spot over 10 sea turtles. The turtles of Sipadan also don’t seem to be afraid of human. As Sipadan is a paradise for turtles and they don’t feel threaten here, can’t this island be a favorite nesting ground of turtles too? Funny thing is, very few tourists even wonder this, so the turtle hatchery on Sipadan can remain as a hidden secret and not flooded by visitors.

Sipadan Island has abundant corals and fishes, and sandy beach, the perfect conditions for turtle nesting. However, Turtle Islands Park and Lankayan Island of Sandakan are more famous than Sipadan as a turtle nesting site.

Pic: if you are lucky, you would spot turtle mating in Sipadan, which can last for 20 hours.

During my visit to Sipadan in Apr, my dive operator Borneo Divers brought me to the Turtle Hatchery of Sipadan, which is about 150 Meters away from the jetty (turn left).

Pic: when I was getting near, I saw the “tyre mark” of mother turtle on the beach. This photo proves that sea turtle has wheels (just kidding!). The track shows that turtle crawls on beach inch by inch. It’s quite an effort so it prefers to lay eggs during high tide.

Pic: Turtle Hatchery of Sipadan. It is managed by Sabah Parks since 2005.

This hatchery is not open to public, so walk-in tourists won’t be entertained. You need to write-in to Sabah Parks in advance for a permit to visit (which is another permit different from diving permit). The Sabah Parks staff will guide you for a tour and even shows you the baby turtles (if available).

Pic: there is a turtle nesting below the signage. Seem like turtle can read too.

Pic: the entrance to the turtle hatchery

All the eggs from turtle nests will be transferred to this area for protection and conservation. The turtles that nest on Sipadan are Green Turtle (species: Chelonia mydas) and Hawsbill Turtle (species: Eretmochelys imbricata).

Do you notice half of the hatchery is under the sun and another under the shade?

The temperature can determine the sex of the baby. Hotter sand temperature is more likely to produce female turtles (not 100% but very high chance). FYI, male turtle takes 10 days longer than female to hatch.

Mr. Joannes, who is the caretaker of turtle hatchery on Sipadan Island Park of Sabah Parks, tells us about the tagging, measuring, excavating and releasing of sea turtles. He also says the peak season of turtle nesting usually falls in August and the highest nesting record (of Sipadan) is 18 turtle landing in a night.

The eggs from each nesting is surrounded by mesh wire, to prevent predators such as lizard, rat and crab from digging for the eggs.

Pic: each nest is labelled and recorded for tracking and research purposes.

Pic: they will cover the opening of the mesh wire when the eggs are about to hatch (normally takes 70 days).

The baby turtles will be released into the sea. They don’t simply put all the baby turtles into a basket then pour them all into the sea. The correct way is to release the turtles about 4 Meters before the sea water. By doing so, they will remember their place of birth and come back in future for nesting. Scientists confirm that sea turtle has the ability to use Earth’s magnetic field to go back to where they hatch.

Based on the collected data from tagging, the turtles released from Sipadan can swim as far as the water of Philippines and Australia. Therefore, this conservation program also benefits the marine ecology of other countries. Let’s hope this amazing marine wildlife will be everywhere again in our ocean.

Photos taken in Semporna, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo

Lankayan Island, Living next to Turtles & Sharks

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Tell me, what would your dream tropical island look like? Is it an island with sandy beach and beautiful sea under blue sky? Well, there are hundreds of such islands in the world, but when you dive in their sea, many islands only have underwater desert with very few marine lives present.

Lankayan Island (of Sabah, Malaysia) is more than sandy beach and crystal clear seawater. It is an island “approved” by sea turtles and sharks, a paradise for both tourists and wildlife. Please read on to see why or you may watch the beautiful photo slide show of Lankayan. Lankayan Island is only 5 hectares, about the size of 10 soccer fields. You only need 15 minutes to walk one round of this island. Though Lankayan is tiny, it is one of the important marine protected area and turtle nesting sites.

Look at the white sandy beach and turquoise-colored sea of Lankayan. Everyone smiled when they reached this dreamy destination. 70% of the island are covered with lush Pandanus sp trees.

The Corals

Coral reef is the rainforest of the sea and a habitat for over 2,000 reef fish species. Out of 700 coral species in the world, 400 live in our sea. Coral is very sensitive to pollution, destructive fishing, global warming, etc.

You don’t need to go far for snorkeling. Just jump off from the jetty and you will swim among high density of colorful corals.

Say Hi! to Nemo of Lankayan. This photo was taken in water less than 1 Meter deep. Lankayan has huge area of shallow costal reef. During low tide, the water only reached my waist even though I was more than 30 Meters away from the shore.

Pic: a lonely Barracuda swimming near the beach.

Besides coral reef, the wide sea grass bed also attracts foraging turtles and fishes. Visitors can swim, snorkel, dive and kayak in Lankayan. The dive center of the island also offers basic and advanced PADI scuba diving courses there.

The Chalets

Lankayan Island Dive Resort is the only accommodation on Lankayan Island and it is luxurious.

They have 23 wooden seafront chalets that face the sea (mostly at sunrise direction), and the beach is just a short walk away.

The chalets are on twin or triple sharing basis and include water heater, air-conditioning, mini-refrigerator, safe with 4-digit PIN, etc. I just love the warm ambiance created by wooden structure. But the best part is – the resort is eco-friendly, it uses Hydroponics Treatment System to treat effluent from resort before discharging it.

The super sea view of the balcony. Needless to say more..

You may watch the 4-min walking tour video of Lankayan below:

I waked up at 5:30am to take photos of sunrise at the balcony. Too bad the sky was gloomy. However, I saw something more interesting. A number of juvenile black-tip sharks were foraging in front until 6:30am. Btw, Whale Shark sighting from Mar to May is also a highlight of Lankayan.

Two sea turtles and a school of Jack Fish were passing by too.

Turtle Hatchery

What impresses me the most is the turtle conservation project and the number of turtle hatchery on Lankayan. Selingan Turtle Islands Park is the most popular turtle nesting site of Sabah but it is always fully booked. Lankayan is the next best alternative (good chance of sighting but no guarantee).

The peak months of turtle nesting are from Jul to Oct. The two common sea turtles that nest on Lankayan are Green Turtle and Hawksbill Turtle.

I was there in July, and the turtle hatchery area is full.

If you want to observe turtles, you can hang the wood tag on your door knob (blue tag for turtle nesting and yellow tag for hatchling release). Their staff will knock your door to inform you.

Releasing Turtle Hatchling

Once the baby turtles emerge from sand, the staff will release them ASAP for better survival rate. They will not wait for everyone to start the “show”, just to remind you.

It takes turtle hatchling 3 to 7 days to dig and get out of the sand by group effort. The baby turtles were still so hyperactive despite long hours of digging.

You can see the baby turtles in video below:

There were 125 baby turtles to be released. The guests were so excited, as if they were becoming parents. To avoid predators to predict the release, the staff picked a random location to free the baby turtles. We were asked not to move as the turtles would run all over the place.

Pic: the race started and all the hatchling vanished into the sea in minutes. In year 2011, Lankayan released about 40,000 hatchling. Sounds like a big number, but less than 1% will survive to adulthood.

Turtle Nesting

Around 9pm in second night, I heard people busy moving outside my chalet, with chattering mixed with excitement. Then a staff told me that there was a green turtle nesting nearby. I grabbed my camera and joined a group of enthusiastic guests to see turtle laying eggs. We were asked to be quiet and keep a distance, as the turtle would turn back to the sea if it was disturbed. Photo taking with flash is also not permitted (that’s why my photos look dark).

We stayed still and silent around the turtle, observing the event with the aid of a dim torchlight, as if we were witnessing a sacred ceremony. It took the mother turtle half an hour to unload all her 50 to 80 eggs into the pit she dug. Then she covered the hole with sand. I was showered by sand each time she scooped sand to the back. The staff said turtle purposely spread the sand all over the place to cover the smell, so the predators can’t pinpoint the nest.

It was a long and slow process. The turtle would stop and take a breather once in a while, as if she was sighing. Finally she was done and headed back to the sea. In year 2011, there were 500 nesting on Lankayan Island.

The staff dug out the turtle eggs to transfer them to hatchery. The eggs look like ping-pong (actually it’s soft, like a sac than shell)! Sabah is one of the few Malaysian states that bans the trading of turtle eggs. Unfortunately, turtle eggs are still being sold illegally. In Sandakan, if someone shows an OK finger sign to you, that means he wants to sell you turtle eggs.

The staff also lets us touching the turtle egg. Sadly, Peninsular Malaysia still consumes turtle eggs today. For example, Terengganu was used to be an important nesting site of leatherback turtle. Due to egg consumption by human, its population drops 99% since 1960s, and now leatherback is a critically endangered species.

To protect the eggs from predators, the staff transferred the eggs to hatchery. The hatchlings will emerge after 50 to 60 days. I really appreciate what Lankayan does for the environment.

Above are some turtle nesting statistics in case you are curious.

Reef Guardian Exhibition Center

Lankayan forms SUGUD Islands Marine Conservation Area (S.I.M.C.A.) with Billean and Tegaipil, two nearby islands in Sulu Sea and Coral Triangle. SIMCA covers an area of 46,300 hectares of open sea, shallow coastal reef and sea grass bed. Reef Guardian is the manager of SIMCA and they have an exhibition center on Lankayan.

This building is also a “Combat Center”. They have radar to detect fishing boat that intrudes the marine protected area. Many countries completely destroy their corals and overfish. When their sea has nothing left, they come to our water to steal.

Pic: Sea turtle has existed more than 210 millions years, but human can wipe them out very soon.

Reef Guardian is open daily 8am-12:30pm, 2pm-4:30pm and 8pm-9:30pm. A 15-min video presentation about SIMCA is played on every Mon, Wed & Fri at 12:30pm. You may visit this center to see some interesting photographs and specimens about marine ecology. Do donate some money to fuel their combat.

Lankayan Restaurant

With panoramic sea view, the new Lankayan Restaurant makes meal time a very enjoyable experience. The design is modern but it won’t block nature away from you. You can listen to the sea and feel the sea breeze inside.

Good food, good view… everything in Lankayan is designed to make you lazing around.

I love the colorful sofa. The atmosphere is soooo.. relaxing.

They have good variety of local and western food. Every meal is different from the last one so you won’t feel bored. Just to name a few, BBQ chicken wings, fried noodle, pudding, prawn, lamb… If I’m not mistaken, the food is halal (for Muslim).

Pic: beautiful sunset over Sulu Sea

Pic: Lankayan is one of the few places in Sandakan where you can see Mt. Kinabalu, the highest mountain of Malaysia.

More Photos

Want to see more beautiful photos? Check out my Flick photo album then.

Created with flickr badge.

How to Get there

Lankayan is 85 KM at north-east of Sandakan city (location map). The boat ride from Sandakan Yacht Club to this island takes about 1.5 hours.

To visit Lankayan, you need to book a tour with the following agent:
Pulau Sipadan Resort & Tours Sdn. Bhd. (License: KPL 2536)
Website: www.lankayan-island.com
Facebook: lankayanresort
Tel: +60 88-238113 / +60 89-673999
Address (Office):
Kota Kinabalu City (KK): Block B, 1st Floor, Lot B-1-1, Plaza Tanjung Aru, Jalan Mat Salleh, 88100 Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia.
Sandakan City: Block C, Ground Floor, Lot 38 & 39, Mile 6, 90000 Sandakan, Sabah, Malaysia

Lankayan has 35 dive sites, you may arrange a scuba diving trip with Asia Diving Vacation too.

Would you agree if I say Lankayan is the most beautiful island of Sabah?

Photos taken in Sandakan, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo

Lankayan Island

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Lankayan Island is a tranquil tropical island in Sulu Sea off Sandakan. Situated within the Sea Turtle Corridor and Coral Triangle (a.k.a. “Amazon of the Seas”), Lankayan is also declared as Sugud Islands Marine Conservation Area (SIMCA) by Malaysia government in 2001. After visit orangutan and pygmy elephants in Kinabatangan, you must not miss the turtles in Lankayan, to complete your wildlife adventure tour.

Turtle Hatcheries

Lankayan Island is a nesting and foraging place for Green and Hawksbill Turtles. You have a chance to see turtles laying eggs and hatched baby turtles being released to the sea, especially in peak season from July to October.

As nesting occurs mostly at night, an overnight stay is recommended. You can request the staff to knock on your door when turtle nesting or hatching takes place. The egg-laying can take about 1 to 2 hours. The clutch size varies between 40 – 200 eggs but batches of 50 – 80 are most common.

Above: the tracks left behind by mother turtle

Above: the turtle nesting is growing over the years, thanks to the conservation effort!

For better rate of survival, the staffs will promptly collect the freshly laid eggs and transfer them to the hatchery, where the eggs are buried by hand into 75-cm-deep pits, covered in sand and surrounded by plastic wire mesh. The hatchery will protect the eggs from predators such as monitor lizards and snakes, as well as soil erosion.

Above: each nest has an information plate displaying a serial number, collection date and number of eggs.

Above: as you can see, the peak season of nesting is from July to October

After 50 to 60 days, the hatchlings will emerge and the guests would have the opportunity to witness the release of baby turtles.

Above: newly hatched baby turtles. Do you know temperature of the sand can determine the sex of the turtles? Higher sand temperatures result in more females.

Watch a 30-sec video of releasing baby turtles:

Click Here for wider video

Above: Green turtle has one pair of prefrontal scales and rounded beak

Above: Hawksbill turtle has two pairs of prefrontal scales and sharp hawk-like beak

Diving

What makes Lankayan Island an excellent diving destination is the following 3-in-1 diving deal.

1. Reef & Macro Diving
It’s a colorful world under the water of Lankayan. Besides lettuce coral, staghorn coral, jawfish, seahorses, flying gurnards, mimic octopus and porcelain crabs, other pelagic such as scads, barracudas and jacks are found all year round. Lucky divers will see hump head parrotfish, large rays, guitarfish and even manatees.

2. Whale Shark
Lankayan is also famous for sighting of gentle whale sharks. You have a better chance of seeing it from March through May.

3. Wreck Diving
Lankayan has four wreck diving sites, where divers can observe different types of marine life living there. The highlight is Mosquito Wreck, a cargo ship of Japanese’s Mosquito Fleet during World War II and its main structure still remains mostly intact, include its bow gun.

Above: dive map of Lankayan. Click Here for more detail.

Resort

Lankayan Island Resort is the only accommodation on Lankayan and it offers modern amenities, comfortable rooms, and excellent dive facilities. The seafront wooden chalets are well-equipped and attached with private balcony for a breath-taking, open view of white sandy beach and turquoise colored ocean.

For more information or booking of diving tour to Lankayan, please contact Asia Diving Vacation or visit their website at: http://asiadivingvacation.com/resort/lankayan-island-dive-resort

Photos taken in Sandakan, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo

Islands of Semporna

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Half of the popular attractions of Malaysia are sea and islands. Besides the tropical weather, white sandy beaches and crystal clear seawater, the islands of Sabah are rich in marine biodiversity. The sea of Semporna lies inside the Coral Triangle, “The Amazon of the Seas” that covers six countries, and Malaysia (North and East of Sabah) is one of them.

With an area equal in size to half of the United States, Coral Triangle is home to 75% of coral species, more than half of the world’s reefs, 3,000 species of reef fish, and seven species of marine turtle. In year 2014 there were about 65,139 tourists came to dive in Sabah. You can bet most of them dive in one of the recommended islands below:

Pom Pom Island

Pom Pom is 45 minutes by boat from Semporna. This island has almost everything what a tourist expects for a dream holiday on island. The chalets are built with traditional local methods which make them blend nicely with the ambiance of the island.

What I really like about Pom-Pom is its environmental-friendly approaches to operate the resort. For example, they have a turtle hatchery to protect the turtle eggs, a reverse osmosis re-cycling rainwater system to cut down pollution from importing of water, and the waste water and residual waste is re-cycled and used for irrigation and fertilization for their gardens.

As tourists are getting more conservation-conscious, green resort like Pom Pom should Resort should be a role model for other island resorts to follow.

>> Click Here to read more about Pom-Pom

Mataking Island

Mataking is well-known as a romance island, even for newlyweds from Italy. In fact Mataking is a 2-in-1 island, with 20 acres of land divided between two islands, namely Mataking Kecil and Mataking Besar. During low tide, you can walk to other island on long stretch of sandy beach that connects two islands.

For divers, you can post a letter in “Underwater Post Office”, the first of its kind in Malaysia. The mailbox is on Mataking 1, an old 40-foot wooden cargo ship sank by Mataking in March 2006, to create an artificial reef.

For non-divers, you may laze on the beach or try activities such as Jamu Spa, batik painting and kayaking. You also can join night trekking to see fireflies, turtles and the rare coconut crab.

>> Click Here to read more about Mataking

Kapalai Island

Kapalai is a magic island, as the island will “disappear” during high tide. Kapalai was once a beautiful island 200 years ago, but due to land erosion, now what remains is a narrow sandy bar only visible during low tide. This makes its wooden accommodation looks like a floating resort.

The chalets are built on high wooden stilts on the sand and connected by boardwalk. At night you can see marine lives such as lionfish, sting ray and even turtle swim under the walkways. There is an opening on the deck of the restaurant. You can see schools of fish passing under the viewing hole.

On Kapalai, you feel like you are living in the middle of the ocean, not just an island.

>> Click Here to read more about Kapalai

Mabul Island

Mabul is one of the best muck-diving sites in the world. When I saw Mabul, I was amazed by abundant of corals growing so near to the shore. This is quite impossible when the island has over 2,000 of residents. Thanks to the tour operators who engage the local community on conservation, the marine ecology of this island is recovering from its history of fish bombing.

Just drop off from the end of the jetty for a dive or snorkeling, you would see variety of macro life such as flamboyant cuttlefish, blue-ringed octopus, spike-fin gobies and frogfish. Mabul is near to Sipadan, an ideal stop-over for divers who want to dive in Sipadan. The resorts and dive operators on Mabul have been trying to involve the locals in beach and underwater clean-ups, coral transplanting and environmental education. One of them even pays the villagers to collect the garbage, which otherwise would end up in the sea. For some guest houses, I hope they could be more eco-friendly, for example, I don’t feel comfortable to see my bath water goes directly into the sea.

>> Click Here to read more about Mabul Island

Sipadan Island

As one of the top 10 dive sites in the world, Sipadan doesn’t need more introduction. Sipadan is the only oceanic island of Malaysia. This mushroom-shape island was formed by living corals growing on top of an extinct undersea volcano, which rises 600 Meters from the ocean floor.

There a total of 12 dive sites in Sipadan, and the most recommended dive sites are the Barracuda Point, South Point, Hanging Garden and Turtle Cavern. Most divers can spot many green and hawksbill turtles, sharks and school of large fishes in a single dive.

However, please save Sipadan (best) for the last. I feel uneasy when divers, who just earn their cert, say, “Now I want to go to Sipadan!” The water current in Sipadan is a bit strong. We don’t want those clumsy new divers, who cannot control their buoyancy totally, kick and crush the fragile corals by accident. And please stop chasing and touching the sea turtles!

That’s a right decision that the government asked all the dive resorts moved out of Sipadan in year 2004, to preserve the island’s pristine state. The number of divers allowed to dive in Sipadan is also limited to 120 persons a day. Although the tourism ministry is constantly pressured by the tour operators to increase the daily quota, I am glad that government’s determination to protect the marine ecosystem doesn’t change.

>> Click Here to read more about Sipadan Island

Tun Sakaran Marine Park

In photo exhibition of Sabah, if you see those beautiful photos of primitive stilt houses over turquoise sea water, usually with a kid paddling a boat in foreground, very likely they are taken in the islands of Tun Sakaran Marine Park (TSMP).

Above: viewing from Semporna town, Tun Sakaran Marine Park looks like a “Sleeping Old Man”.

Also known as the Semporna Islands Park, TSMP consists of eight islands (i.e. Bohey Dulang, Bodgaya, Sebangkat, Selakan, Mantabuan, Sibuan, Maiga, Church Reef and Kapikan Reef) and is the largest marine park of Sabah. With a size of 350 sq KM, it also has the largest concentration of coral reefs in Malaysia.

Even though this park is not as popular as Sipadan, TSMP has more biodiversity in terms of species and habitats. Total species recorded in TSMP includes 544 species of coral reef fish, 255 species of hard coral, 70 species soft coral, 140 species sponge, 265 species mollusc and 109 species echinoderms. I think it is better to keep the Park as pristine as it is, rather than promoting it as a dive paradise.

>> Click Here to read more about Semporna Islands Park

How to get there?

Semporna is a small town and doesn’t have any airport. To go there, you need to take a flight (by Malaysia Airlines or AirAsia) from Kota Kinabalu City, capital of Sabah, (or from Kuala Lumpur of Peninsular Malaysia) to fly to Tawau airport. You can hire a taxi from Tawau Airport to go to Semporna, which takes about an hour. It costs about RM200-RM250 (≈US$50-US$62) per taxi, which is a standard sedan that can take 4 passengers (but may end up only can take 1 or 2 people, if you have diving equipment and lot of big luggages). Taxi is always available in Tawau Airport, because the taxi drivers keep track of the arrival of flights.

The best arrangement is to book the accommodation or tour in advance, and request the resort / dive operator to fetch you at Tawau Airport. They would charge a fee of RM50-RM60 per head (≈US$12.50-US$15) and normally pick you up by van (more space).

Do not go to Tawau city and take a taxi to Semporna from there, it’s a waste of traveling time (take nearly 2 hours).

Photos taken in Semporna, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo

Pom-Pom Island – looking for bom-bom girls

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Pom-Pom Island is a relatively new destination compared to other islands such as Sipadan and Mabul in Semporna, Sabah. Few people know that Tun Sakaran Marine Park (TSMP), also known as Semporna Islands Park, is the most reachable from Pom-Pom. In fact, TSMP is currently the biggest marine park of Malaysia and has richer marine ecology and biodiversity than Sipadan in terms of macro lives, many new species wait to be named and discovered.

Pom-Pom Island is 45-minute by boat from jetty of Semporna town. There are two accommodations on Pom-Pom. I was going to Pom-Pom Island Resort, the one which operates in environment-friendly manner. Without any fishing village and island residents, tourists enjoy more privacy on Pom-Pom. Don’t confuse Pom-Pom with another island named Bum-Bum.

The white sandy beach and crystal clear sea are as spectacular as other islands in Celebes Sea. Under the hot tropical sun, everyone just can’t wait to jump into sea. We even saw lion fishes and many other fishes under the jetty. To say it in a tacky way, Pom-Pom looks like the picture in dream holiday ad. Visitors can swim, dive, snorkel and kayak around the island.

In case you wonder if Pom-Pom Island has many hot pom-pom girls…

Actually Pom-Pom gets its name from the “Pom-Pom” tree (photo above), which is abundant on the island.

>> Click Here to see more photos of Pom-Pom Island

We checked in at their activity hall and restaurant (photo above). Welcoming drink was served (but no dancing Pom-Pom girls). It’s very nice that they sent our heavy luggage to our chalet with mini-tractor. I’ve been hearing positive feedback about the excellent service of Pom-Pom. Basically they take care of everything, so you are worry-free. They can even pick you up at Tawau Airport.

Island Chalets

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Of course the most luxurious chalet is the Water Villa built on the sea, and of course I can’t afford it. Anyway, I was busybody a bit and took a few photos of Water Villa (see 4 photos above).

I remember an incident that a hotel put me and my male colleague in a room with honeymoon setting. There is only a transparent glass between the room and bathroom, so I can see what my roommate doing in toilet. I am not that “open-minded”, so I requested the hotel to give us a “normal” room. Well, even if sharing room with wife, I don’t think it’s romantic to see her wiping her butt after doing number 1?

Though I stayed in Beach Villa (photo above), it’s already a 5-star lodging to me. Yes, the chalet has electricity, hot shower, light, fans and air-conditioning, and the room is spacious.

Pom-Pom is a small island that needs only 40 minutes to walk one round, but it’s big enough to have the soil to plant fruits such as Papaya and Dragon Fruit. After sunset, a large number of fruit bats (flying fox) will fly to this island to enjoy the fruits. The big bats are just everywhere after dusk. By the way, they have jogging and cycling tracks on the island.

I went for a bird-watching hunt around the island. The sighting of Barred Rail is reported on this island. This bird species is common in Philippines but it is only recently spotted and added to the list of birds found in Sabah. I was told that it likes to wander in the grass near the fruit garden, but too bad I didn’t see it. I saw other birds such as sunbirds and kingfisher.

You can find a sense of humor in many little things on the island..

Mr. Bean dustbin?

Kampung House? (Village House)

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OMG, a Plate Warmer? This is the first plate warmer I see in Sabah. I love food to be served on warm plate. One thing that Sabah “kopitiam” (Malaysian coffee shop) always make me mildly pissed off is when they give me the plate and spoon that are still wet. I think it is kind of disgusting.

Pom-Pom Island Resort also invests on reverse osmosis (R.O.) plant to use rainwater. It is the only island in Sabah employs such green technology. They also plan to use wind energy in future.

Below is a 2.5-min video about Pom-Pom:

Click Here to watch bigger video.

BOHEY DULANG

From Pom-Pom, you can clearly see Bohey Dulang, one of the islands of Semporna Islands Park.

According to the legend, a notorious Sultan of South Philippines eyed on Arung Salamiah, a beautiful princess lived on Bum-Bum Island, so her parents hid her on Bohey Dulang island. She vanished few days later and people believe that she was hidden by the spirits on the island and turned into fairy. Locals say they could hear her singing and her dog barking during full moon, and even occasionally see her walking on the island.

The romantic story of Arung Salamiah was even played in Sabah Fest 2010.

We dropped by Bohey Dulang island on the first day, not to visit Salamiah, but to look at the giant clam nursery. I blogged about this giant clam nursery before. FYI, you may snorkel here because they release many giant clams in front of the giant clam nursery.

We also checked out the cultivation of abalone on the island. The species of our abalone is relatively smaller.

Our initial itinerary included a 30 to 45 minutes trekking up to the high point of Bohey Dulang (probably Salamiah stood on this hill before?), to get a bird eye view of Tun Sakaran Marine Park. Due to time constraint, we had to cancel the plan, too bad, next time then.

Mantabuan

Later Pom-Pom sent us to Mantabuan Island for snorkeling. Being one of the islands of bio-diversified Semporna Islands Park, we saw so much in only 8 Meters of depth! Luckily coral bleaching does not affect the cooler Celebes Sea of Semporna, so the corals are in great shape. In merely 1 hour of snorkeling, we saw stack horn, brain corals, blue corals, lettuce corals, thorns of stars, huge sea cucumbers, puffer fish, crocodile fishes and 3 Green and Hawsbill Turtles!!! I was told by my friends that they also spotted turtle when they snorkel near the jetty of Pom-Pom in next morning. A scuba diver also said that she found 13 turtles in the sea in front of the jetty.

Above: Mantabuan Island

The sea current was not strong and the visibility was about 9 Meters. To see more, you can join scuba diving to see the precious black corals in deeper water. It’s about RM365 (USD$110) for 2 boat dives, permit fee and rental of dive equipments. Pom-Pom Island Resort has a dive center.

Night Patrol

Another feature of Pom-Pom is the night patrol for sighting of turtle laying eggs. The staffs of Pom-Pom were trained as the wildlife warden, so they know the right steps and measures on conservation of sea turtles. The nesting records will be submitted to WWF and Sabah Wildlife Department. The guests were offered a night walk with the guides around 8pm.

No turtle nest found during my stay. I only saw a ghost crab on the beach. The luck was not with us that night.

If any turtle nests on Pom-Pom, for better survival rate, the staffs will collect the eggs and move them to a protected turtle hatchery next to the dive center. The eggs will hatch after 2 months and the baby turtles will be released back to the sea. The staff (Sally) told us the number of eggs of Green Turtles and Hawsbill Turtles are nearly equal. FYI, you can sponsor the nest.

Before we departed on second day, two turtles showed up near the jetty, as if they were saying goodbye to us.

To know more about Pom-Pom Island, you may visit their website at:
http://pompomisland.com
They also have an interesting and updated blog.

>> Click Here to see more photos of Pom-Pom Island

Photos taken in Semporna, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo