Day 2: Mabul Island

Saturday, 4 February 

We woke early this morning again at 5am-ish, to be ready by 6am to hop on our rental coach which will take us direct to Semporna, stopping only at Lahat Datu for a pee break.

With the big group that we are in, altogether 30 including ourselves, we finally left Sandakan around 730am after a 15minute stop at a kopitiam where most of us got down for a quick breakfast, and to tapau in case hungry along the way. I stayed in the coach with the two kids and Daddy bought some pau, lo mai kai and siew mai for the kids.

In the coach, the kids slept for a good 2 hours or so, and spent the remaining 2.5hours on the Ipad and PSP. Good thinking that we brought these (never leave home without these gadgets) to keep them entertained and seated!

Even then, we had moments of boredom and in the last 1 hour, Vic kept asking me when will we be arriving.  Honestly, I was getting "nails-in-my-bum" effect too, and to make it worse, I couldn't sleep for whatever reason despite waking up early.  

We arrived Semporna close to noon and had our lunch - local food, at a restaurant near the jetty.

Place is clean, food is reasonably priced and washrooms relatively clean. 

Hopping on!  This is the private boat we hired. 

Together on the boat ride which took 45 minutes.  Weather was good and sunny, but the sea waters was rather choppy.  We had to hang on tight.  With the strong wind blowing in our faces, thank God no one had sea sick or threw up, else it'd be "raining" - what more, after lunch! 

Little captain William - he was really steady on the boat. 

He really love the boat ride!  From his ambition of being a pilot, to an astronaut, to fireman, William now wants to be a... fisherman!  Haha... ask him why, and he says sitting in a boat out to the sea to catch fish sounds like everlasting fun to him! 

Scenes along the way to our accommodation.

When planning, we had a choice of staying here - a former oil rig. But we didn't stay here...

Nor did we stay here.  These are beautiful individual chalets with air conditioners from Uncle Chang's (who owns some accommodations on the island) that greeted us as we neared Mabul Island.

We stayed here! Mabul Backpackers. No aircon, no carpet flooring, no house keeping, no coffee making facility in the rooms, no ensuite bathrooms, no concierge service and no blankets!  We have a unisex wash area comprising of two bathrooms (with plastic doors) and 3 toilets.  The men and women walk in an out freely, so this was my first time bathing with clothes on! 

Our room had a double bed, two mattresses on a floor (covered with plastic sheets under the linens which is a plus for hygiene but minus for comfort), a dustbin, a dying potted plant, a wall fan that could not oscillate and a much-needed two panel window.

Honestly, I was lost for a moment, not knowing how to change, where to put the luggage, where to hang my clothes, to separate as dirty or wearable-again. But the crowd brings me back to reality, and I hurried the kids to change into their swimming clothes, then go pee, then lather them with SPF50 and myself too, before adjourning with the rest to the "lobby area" where we chose our snorkeling masks.

Snorkeling

I did not bring my camera, as we were going into waters. So sorry folks, no picture. Maybe can get some pictures from friends at a later stage.

The boat took all of us to another place about 10 minutes away, and the waters were still rather choppy. This being my first time, but nothing was up to my imagination. I had thought we will get shallow quiet waters, but we stopped somewhere in the middle of the ocean. Wah liao eh! I told myself I'm definitely not jumping in! Our boat had no ladder attached, and we were only given life jackets, no floats or flippers.

But some enthusiastic friends jumped in, followed by hubby and William insisted that he wants to get in the waters. Vic rather stay on the boat, and I kept wishing William will change his mind, but he went down. This brave little boy had his sister's swimming float around him, two arm floaties and his life jacket. He climbed over the boat, into the waters where Daddy waited to catch him. Then they "sailed" away...further and further.

After what seems like 10 minutes, I told the guides to bring the baby back... my son! So the boat went to a jetty and the others in the ocean together with Daddy and William swam back.

William stayed in the boat thereafter, whilst the rest played on the jetty. I invited him to join us a few times, but he declined, saying he was scared and rather watch. Sigh, what a matured boy. He didn't cry, he just watched us in folded arms.

First time experience

Our game plan was to pair off with a buddy who knows how to swim. Only adult-adult or adult-child. Hubs was my snorkeling buddy since he knew how to swim, and I didn't. Vic stayed on the jetty with her friends and some adults. William was on the boat with some adults.

I saw schools of fishes only for a short while, blue star fishes, small fishes of many kinds. I don't recall colorful corals, albeit there were some brown ones.

The waters was clear, but in summary, I had expected a Nemo experience... but did not see one.

After an hour or so, we went back to our accommodation to freshen up relax before dinner. The kids went to the beach, and even at shallow, clear beach waters, there were fishes.

Some of the kids (and Vic) played board games while waiting for dinner.  Dinner was scheduled at 7pm but they only served past 8pm.  Daddy walked straight to the kitchen to talk to the kitchen staff, and convinced them to allow 11 plates of rice and food for the children to eat first. 

Evening scene from our backpackers' "lobby area." Really serene, peaceful and lovely.  Pity I missed the sunset.  I think that would be glorious!

Fishermen going home after a hard day's work. 

I hardly slept at night. Eventhough there was no air conditioner, the wall fan was blowing into the soles of our feet. Due to lack of space also, I had to sleep at the foot of the bed, whilst the two kids slept on the bed, and Daddy on the floor mattress. I woke at least 5-6 times that night, later discovered many others did not have a good night rest too.

Forgot to mention we only had electricity from 6pm-6am.