We arrived into Semporna, the gateway to the Mabul and Sipidan islands at lunchtime. Due to the time of year we were there, we read that places got booked up quickly in Borneo, so had booked all our accommodation in advance. We had booked a night in Semporana before heading over to Mabul island. Unfortunately on arriving in Semporna we wished we hadn’t, and had just gone straight to Mabul. The hostel we booked was fine- with it being a unique capsule hostel that looked like a space pod. However the rest of the town had nothing about it. We headed out to find, and struggle to get money out from the only ATM we could find. Then we walked to find the Sipidan borneo divers to book a 2 day 1 night package with them (320 MYR for snorkelling option for me and 580 MYR diving package for Dave) as well as 10.60 jetty fee. The only reason we had decided to come to Mabul was because the sea life is supposed to be incredible for both snorkelling and diving. From Mabul you can also dive Sipidan, which is an island a boat ride away from Mabul with insane wildlife. However there are only a certain number of licenses for divers provided each day and these get booked up way in advance, it also costs a lot extra to get the license and to dive their so Dave just decided to dive at Mabul instead. As we were not heading there until the next day we had a bit of a walk around town. It was dirty, lots of fish, durian and rubbish smells and didn’t feel overly safe. There was nothing of interest there, just a few seafood restaurants that didn’t look great. So we ended up chilling at Aloha and then finding KFC for dinner.
Grateful to be leaving Semporna we headed with all our luggage to the dive place at 6am as we were supposed to be leaving at 6.30am. Due to a chinese family also heading there with us we didn’t leave Semporna until 7.30am. We got a half an hour car to a small jetty with a very small boat. The clouds were rolling in very thick and fast looking as if it was going to rain torrentially so we put on waterproofs and waterproofs on our bags to hedge our bets. Luckily we did as it ended up being a horrendous boat journey and I don’t think I have ever felt more like I was actually going to die. The rain chucked it down and the waves crashed against our boat and pouring water all over us and our bags- which had all our electronics in them. The sea threw the boat around like a toy and in turn chucked us around giving us whiplash and banging us forcefully against the seats and sides of the boats. After being on the boat for about 40 minutes we were very relieved to get to the small wooden dock of our accommodation. When we arrived though it was utter chaos and we weren’t offered any food or told at all what was happening. Eventually we were shown our room. The whole place was very basic, just a wooden structure over the sea but acceptable. Then we sat on the deck watching the storm ravage over the sea.
At 10.30 we were taken out for trips- me snorkelling and Dave diving. The standard of diving was definitely different to how it had been on Koh Tao. Dave’s dive instructor spoke barely any English, not that it matters when under the water, and there was a much more cowboy feel about it. Unfortunately due to the stormy weather the snorkelling was a bit of a washout with visibility being terrible. Dave’s dive was more successful though and he got to explore a shipwreck. We returned to shore and had lunch (meals provided in our package), which was tuna steak in soy sauce, greens and a chicken dish. We met and chatted with a lovely Malaysian family from Kuala Lumpur and a German and Israeli couple. After refuelling we felt much calmer and the weather must have felt the mood shift as it became bright and the seas were suddenly still.
After lunch we went out snorkelling/ diving again near Kopali. The island and sea looked so beautiful in bright sunshine, such as difference from the morning. We were dropped off at the same place. Us snorkelling around as Dave and the divers descended into the depths of the ocean right beneath us. Seen as we had been so anticipating seeing the wildlife surrounding Mabul we were not disappointed. There was a splendid display of different fish, including shoals of mackerel. We also got to sea two large sea turtles that we managed to swim with for a while. It was made so much better as I managed to borrow a prescription mask so I could actually see everything clearly for once. Dave was also equally impressed with his dive and got to see 4 sea turtles. He also had a close encounter with a sea snake, which he managed to film with the go pro. Apparently these are deadly, luckily in the water they tend to be docile but if on land they can be very aggressive. This area had a strong current in the sea so the snorkelling and diving were both on drifts. This was a weird feeling, being pulled along by the current and then getting picked up in a completely different place.
The evening was very relaxed we chilled out, had a quick explore around the island near us and had some great conversation with people. We watched the sunset over the sea from the deck, which had lovely colours. We had a nice dinner made up of different dishes- fish, chicken, vegetables and watermelon before heading to the beach next to our place (belonging to a much nicer private resort with bungalows, where we enjoyed looking at the stars. Being in the middle of the ocean with hardly any lights on meant there was an incredible sky, super clear and full of stars. It was so clear that you could actually see the Milky Way and we spent a while just admiring it and trying to capture it in a photograph.
In the middle of the night at 3 am, we woke up due to there being torrential rain and it thundering against the wooden roof. We quickly jumped out of bed and grabbed our washing, knowing that it would get whipped away into the sea by the wind. Unfortunately some people’s stuff was already gone or they didn’t get up to get it! It was still rainy, with a big storm and high waves again when we woke up in the morning. This meant the morning snorkel/dive was cancelled so instead we watched the storm and had some breakfast with everyone else (eggs, bread, jam, noodles). As we watched from the deck, there ended up being lots of turtles just by us swimming out the front of our place so we had a great game finding them and watching them. At 10.30am Dave went out to dive near an oil rig, which was apparently ok but there was no snorkelling on due to the poor visibility again. Instead I just chilled out on the deck in a rocking chair watching the sea and reading. We had a nice chicken curry and more juicy watermelon for lunch. Afterwards we both went out snorkelling/ diving at turtle point as the weather had calmed again. The corals were beautiful and vibrant colours. We swam over a drop off where Dave descended down. For snorkelling we swam along the drop off seeing a range of fish- trumpet, trigger, sting-rays as well as about 6 huge turtles. These would appear and we would follow them until they disappeared into the depths and then a few metres later another one would appear. It was an amazing experience. Dave also enjoyed his dive seeing several turtles, frog fish, a blue sting ray, eels and potentially also ribbon eals.
Due to only booking 1 night after the dives we packed up our stuff, sunbathed on the deck until our boat came to get us. This time it was a much more enclosed, more substantial boat that got us and the journey was a lot calmer, thankfully! We checked into the Wanders Inn, as the previous hostel was booked up, this was ok. We were in separate dorms though and the communal area was big and just empty space. Not enthused at being back in Semporna we had a cheap meal in a Malay restaurant (nasi goreng 6MYR), went to the supermarket and bought chocolate and then went back to the hostel to do a bit of admin before heading to bed early. At 3am the thunder and lightening started, the storm was horrendous and lasted until 8.30am. The next morning we hung around, got food, got out money before getting a bus to take us to the local airport. This only took about an hour, quicker than we had expect so we ended up sitting around in the small airport in the canteen having, cake, drinks and then food watching cool runnings on the laptop for 2 hours before being able to check in. When we finally went through security it was only a large room filled with seats and nothing really to walk around in terms of shops or restaurants just a couple of basic kiosks. We ended up watching a whole season of Atlanta. Waiting in the same place was also the Malay family and the other couple that had been with us on Mabul. They had stayed the night extra on Mabul when we went back to Semporna and said the storm had ravaged where we stayed pulling the roof off some of the rooms and opening them up to the elements (the only time I was grateful we were in Semporna). After a day basically waiting around we boarded the short flight back to Kota Kinabalu. Then we spent the night at The Bunk again before getting an Uber to the airport (10MYR) and flying to Singapore.
Our thoughts about Semporna/Mabul:
Do not stay in Semporna unless you have to
There are a lot of options for budget on Mabul. Where we were was very basic but it was also very budget friendly and the only way we afforded going over there.
The sea life was incredible, so it didn’t really matter where we stayed as it was for such a short time and we wanted to be in the water as much as possible. In the end it was a fun and very mixed experience!
If you have more funds you will be able to enjoy packages at some much nice accommodation and for longer.
Go in a season that is better for weather if possible, but you can’t control it, sometimes it is just going to rain.
Pay to get a decent boat over if possible!
Alex
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