At long last!

OK - The Kingston & Elmbridge Sub-Aqua Club Newsletter 9Trip Report:Borneo AdventureMARCH2005Article: Adele SmithSince moving to Thailand, Wally and I had been very keen to experiencediving in the Far East. We had dived off Koh Samui, but the sites aresomewhat limited, and we had visited them all. Last November, we visitedKhao Lak for a week, and did a day’s diving on the Similan Islands. Thatwas an excellent day out, but since the tsunami, clearly that was not anoption at the moment.Gordon Brookes suggested a trip to Borneo, as he had dived atSipadan some time before. Sipadan is now closed as a resort, as its reefsand ecology were being stressed by the number of visitors. However, daytrips are permitted. Alan Keal was keen to join us, and we put ourcollective ideas together, and decided on a two centre holiday to KotaKinabalu in Sabah, Borneo, and a week on Mataking Island, off the eastcoast of Sabah. Mataking is set up as a Diving Resort, but has facilities andactivities for non-divers.On 1st march, Wally and I with Gordon and his Thai partner, Usa,flew from Bangkok to Kota Kinabalu (KK). We met up with Alan and hiswife, Mo and stayed overnight in KK. Alan and Mo had travelled via KualaLumpur, as Alan wanted to visit camera outlets to add to his very smartnew digital set up. The next morning we flew from KK to Tawau on thesouth east corner of Sabah. (An alternative travel route could have been totravel directly from Kuala Lumpur to Tawau). At Tawau, we were met with aminibus (courtesy of Mataking) to take us to Semporna on the coast. Thejourney took about one and a half hours, passing through plantations ofoil palms and cocoa trees. At Semporna, we boarded a speed boat toMataking, again the journey taking over an hour. As we neared Mataking,we could see that it was a beautiful coral island, fringed by sparkling whitesands. Later we discovered that hawksbill turtle come ashore to lay theireggs, though we were not lucky enough to witness this.We were warmly greeted, and with the paper formalities quicklyover, we were invited to have lunch and then have an orientation dive thatvery afternoon. We accordingly dropped into the house reef just 2 hourslater. The diving is organised around 3 boat dives a day, at 0830, 1100 and3pm. 3 more dives can be taken on the house reef for the real enthusiasts– at sunrise, sunset and at night. The dive masters simply require divers towrite their preferences on a board the night before so that they can planthe day.We enjoyed some excellent diving on the whole. The islands andreefs around Mataking abound with unusual sea life, including sea horses,pigmy sea horses, mantis shrimp, frog fish, leaf scorpion fish and manyothers that I had not seen before. It was ideal territory for the ‘macrocameraman’, but interesting for the non-camera guys as well. Some areasshowed signs of blast fishing damage to the coral, but that did not detracton the whole. On most dives, we encountered turtle.We had a day trip to Sipadan half way through our stay, which wasmagical. This is usually at extra cost, but for a group of divers staying for aminimum of 5 days, was free. The trip took 2 hours by speed boat, as thesea was quite choppy that day, but a crossing of 1 hour was feasible. Wehad three dives, all wonderful. Reef sharks abounded, so used to diversthat they were reluctant to move unless we got too close. There wereturtles everywhere, also clearly very used to visitors. On the second dive,we were dropped into a shoal of jacks so numerous that we weresurrounded by them for a long time. The highlight of the dive was anattack by an extremely aggressive titan trigger fish during our safety stop.It first seized Wally’s fin, and when he kicked it away, had a go at the diveguide, who fended him off with a spike. I tried to ‘keep a low profile’ whichseemed to work as it then turned on Gordon and finally Alan. It lookedhighly amusing to me, but the others were not so amused!The resort itself was a delight. We occupied 3 self contained‘lodges’ with their own facilities, all overlooking the beach. There werechalets with their own balconies, but with shared facilities at lower cost.The food and general service was excellent and the staff very warm andfriendly. All meals, tea and coffee and fruit juices were included in theprice, and drinks and snacks were available all day. Other drinks could bepurchased at the bar, signed for during your stay and settled at the end.This type of resort would not suit those who like an active night life, butwe found it delightful and very restful.At the end of our stay we were taken back to the mainland tomeet a flight back to KK. We were waved off by our dive guide and otherstaff, a novel experience for us, and epitomised the care they gave. Wespent the last few days of our holiday exploring the flora and fauna aroundKK. One trip took us into swamp land where proboscis monkeys abound.We had several sightings of family groups. Another interesting type offauna we were not expecting was a Rolls Royce/Bentley Rally that wascurrently touring Borneo. We were able to watch the cars in processionand exhibited by their proud owners, ranging in age from 1924 to 2004!Wally and I would like to return to the area, probably staying inTawau for a few days and visiting the Orang Utangs. Another visit toMataking would be very nice, or to an alternative resort closer to Sipadansuch as Mabul. Travel to the area from UK is not difficult, as Alan Keal willvouch for. He is also highly delighted with the excellent pictures he wasable to take of the very smallest of the sea life in the area.All in all, a wonderful ‘Borneo Adventure’.