Day 2: Semporna-Tetagan+Bohey
Dulang+Mantabuan+Sibuan
Early in the morning, Hatta pick
us up to had a breakfast at his restaurant, Restoran Mohd Hatta. We ordered
nasi kuning (yellow rice with sambal and ‘ikan tongkol’ wrapped in banana leaf)
and teh nain (tea added with milk).
**Note: In Sabah, ‘nain’ refer to susu (milk)
whereas ‘beng’ refer to ais. In case you want to order ‘teh ais’ just simply
say ‘the nain beng’
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| Nasi Kuning, a must try! |
There are about 44 islands in
Semporna. To reduce cost on boat fuels, the trip should be planned carefully. For
example, On Day 1, the islands are located near to each other (Tun Sakaran
Marine park). As on Day 2, we had to choose either going to Kapalai and Mabul
or Mataking and Pom Pom. It is possible going to Mataking from Kapalai/Mabul
but it will give higher fuel cost due to longer journey.
Semporna to Bohey Dulang: 1hr
Semporna to Mabul/Kapalai: 45min
Semporna to Mataking: 1hr30min
Mabul/Kapalai to Mataking: 3-4hrs
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Maps of islands in Semporna
Photo credited to Borneospeedydive
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**Tetagan Island**
Tetagan Island is a village of ‘bajau
laut’ people. They build houses on sea, they support living by fishing and they
can’t live on land (it is a fact). From a story I heard, once, Malaysian
Ministry gives help to these ‘bajau laut’ people. Each family is provided with low-cost
house on land. However, they had difficulty in adapting to new environment and
found out they don’t suit on land. Thus, they head back to their normal live,
living in the sea, building houses on the sea, fishing, playing with sea water
and yes, they are happy living like that. FYI, they have cooking gas in their
house (Hey, don’t judge a book by its cover!). They don’t speak Malay. Some words
that we learned (malai: I want; malai nih: I don’t want/No; Pahalu:tomorrow).
**Note: Visit to Tetagan was just for
sightseeing. Bring and give snacks to the ‘bajau laut’ kids. They expect some
foods from tourists. Be careful! As things might get chaotic by the time you give them
the snacks.
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| 'Bajau Laut' houses |
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| A woman trying to get some snacks for her son |
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| By the time when everything went chaotic |
**Bohey Dulang**
Do you love to hike? Then, this
is the place for you. Offering a spectacular sea view from peak of Bohey
Dulang, a 30-mins hiking is worth the pay. The view from Bohey Dulang peak is breath-taking,
no words to describe, just enjoy the pictures!
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| View from the peak of Bohey Dulang |
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| View from Bohey Dulang Jetty to the main entrance (You can see clear water of Bohey Dulang) |
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| We got super-excited looking at the clear water |
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While descending Bohey Dulang. This is the so-called 'Stairway to Heaven' stairs.
Upon reaching this stairs, you are not far away from the peak. |
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| You can clearly see the sea urchins |
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| The greenish-blue clear sea water of Bohey Dulang filled with small fishes |
**Mantabuan Island**
Mantabuan is famous for its coral. However,
during our visit, it is low tide, thus we didn’t enjoy much. Of course, we did
see some corals; we try on our snorkelling gear and make ourselves comfortable
in water as preparation for our legendary snorkelling time in Sibuan. Not much
to see here except for various colour of starfish (unfortunately, I didn’t manage
to snap the pictures as I left my phone on boat).
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| My parents with shanli, 11-years old boy who is part of our tour guide team |
**Sibuan Island**
If you had went to Perhentian Island in Terengganu
and you like it, most probably you’d love Sibuan Island too. Filled with
various type of fishes and corals, if you are lucky enough, you might see puffy
fish (I manage to find one!) I did my very first skin dive, ouh and I LOVEEEE
it SO MUCHHH! Thank you to our tour guide, Billy. There were Nemo, sea urchins
and other types of fish (blue, white, green, yellow in colour. Sorry, I don’t know
the names). Sadly, our so-called Go-Pro Cam is low on battery, so there were
not much pictures to shown (You don’t expect me to bring my hand phone
underwater, did you?)
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| 'Welcome to Sibuan Island' signage |
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| Look carefully, you will see a boy climbing the coconut tree |
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| As we reached Sibuan Island |
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| Coral reef at Sibuan Island. Photo credited to Abby |
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Me during snorkelling. Thank God, Mei (our tour guide) got a Go-Pro Cam.
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Last but not least, thank you for today's team. We had fun, we enjoy ourselves and most important, we faced our fears towards water (especially me!)
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| Our boat men, Tim and our assistant tour guide, Mei together with my friend, Sheera |
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Billy, my snorkelling instructors (white shirt).
He taught me how to skin dive, despite my fear in water (I cant swim) |
*DINNER*
We went to nearby fish market looking for freshly caught seafood as Hatta had promised to cook dinner for us at his restaurant. We bought crabs, cockles, 'Kamun' aka 'udang lipan' at low prices. For a seafood lover like me, this is what we called as HEAVEN! Where else can you get fresh seafood at low price? However, you have to be intelligent enough bargain for a lower prices. An advice, go to the market with locals there as they would know whether the seller is being honest or not.
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| Lobster, MYR95. However, we were told by Hatta we can get at lower price that that. |
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| Various type of fish; ikan pari, sotong, ikan buntal, octopus |
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| Seaweed sold at MYR1/plate |
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| Kamun sold at MYR30 |
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| Tehek-tehek. Usually cooked by removing the thorns, filled it with rice and steam |
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| Hatta (in spec) bargaining for lower price |
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Something that was called as 'Mat nemo' by locals
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| 'Ketam masal cili api'. These crabs were bought at MYR35 |
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Dinner set: Rice, Buttered fried kamun, sambal ketam, kerang berkaki rebus, sambal terung.
The delicious dinner cost us MYR27 (harga makanan laut+servis masak+air minuman) |
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Buttered fried kamun
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TO BE CONTINUED ...
