not just another pretty island

just had the most amazing couple of days on mabul island, off the east coast of sabah. we did a day's snorkeling trip to sipadan island- a national marine park. you aren;t actually allowed to stay on the island any more-they closed it for tourists a couple of years ago, so you just have to do a day trip. and wow, it was unbelievable. there's just so much there.

the main attraction is the number of turtles that they have. its fantastic. they're just everywhere- really big, old ones as well. at first we were so excited to spot one or 2, then as the day wore on you began to see more and more, until you were surrounded by them and you could just see them swimming around every direction you looked. they're just beautiful..look like they're flying underwater. there was at least a couple of times that there were ones underneath me that i didnt even notice until i dived down and it swam off! as well as that we saw lots of sharks- mostly white tip reef sharks and also a leopard shark. very exciting! and the coral was beautiful- i dont know how much there really was there, it was hard to look at everything there was just so much going on everywhere you looked! totally amazing!!!! in between snorkeling we went onto the beach and had coffees and lunch stops interuptted by a very tame, very large monitor lizard. obviously used to being fed, it was a little bit scary!

the day ended all too soon, but then we went off to the island. it was pretty expensive to stay there, but they told us if we asked permission from the police they would maybe let us camp there. so this we did, and the policeman (who looked about 18!) said we could. we were able to use the facilities at the backpacker lodge for showers as well so it was pretty good. the lodge was such a nice spot, built over the water, with a little jetty, plus we'd met some really nice people at the jungle camp who we'd hooked up to do this trip with, so we hung out there during the evening. there was even a band with a drum kit made up of empty plastic barrels, and an empty oxygen diving cannister. it worked amazingly well! very chilled indeed.

the next day we were woken up early as it was about a hundred degrees in the tent and we had made some new friends - a couple of very lively dogs who bounded over as soon as the door was opened. we had a bit of a swim to cool down... the joy of camping on the beach- a morning bath only 10m away! then after some food, went snorkeling off another pier belonging to one of the the really fancy resorts there. these were gorgeous- all the rooms built on stilts over the water, and its such a beautiful colour of blue, with coral right underneath. stunning. anyway, we couldn't stay there but at least we could enjoy the water! so we spent a few hours doing that, then had coffee overlooking the water. was great to be able to just look down and watch the fish from there!

so we ended up not leaving that day as planned and spent another day in a similar manner! i mean, it was free to camp, and it was just way too nice to leave. the next night we sat on the pier again, listening to the band, chatting and drinking rum. lovely...

it was an amazing few days, so sad to leave there...definitely one of the highlights of our trip i think!!!