Day 63 - 69 Turtles, Lady-Boys and Coral Reefs.

Finding the boat after breakfast, was of course, not as easy as we had hoped, as there were two jettys in Sandakan and unfortunately we had been directed to the other one! .................... This gave us very little time to make it to the correct jetty some 15 minutes away by cab, but after frantically flagging one down, all piling in with our luggage and telling the cab driver to 'step on it', we made it .............. just about in one piece!!

With the help of our faithful Tourist Information Lady, Carmdlita, from KK, we have managed to sort out a very good deal on our Turtle Island visist, as this trip was renowned for being very expensive. We boarded our boat and headed out to sea for a 45 minute, very fast and bumpy journey, towards this beautiful coral Island. The sky was slightly overcast when we left, but soon brightened up as we approached this stunning jewel of an Island, in the middle of the ocean with turquiose blue waters lapping up to the white coral sands.

Turtle Island. ......................................................... Two young trainee Burmese 'leg fishermen'

Our day of arrival is fairly free with only a presentation video at 6.30pm, so we hire masks and snorkels and spend our time before lunch, on the beach collecting shells and snorkelling amongst the coral reef. There was a very nice shallow reef off the beach with everything from the odd stingray to sea slugs, with hundreds of colourful fish in between. Once the children were in the sea, snorkelling, it was impossible to get them out! Imogen managed to put together a large collection of sea slugs, which, when picked up out of the water, had this amazing ability of squirting water out of one end, probably as a defence mechanism. This seemed to amuse the boys no end and soon turned into a live water pistol fight!! They were then put back with care, more or less in the same position they had been for the last 200 years, to continue their search for 'Heston Blumenthal' does sand!!!

After a welcome lunch we were talking to one of the staff members, a very pleasant and friendly lady and as we were the last to leave, she called us over to walk through the kitchen where one of the men had two baby turtles to show the children. Wanting to keep it very quiet, as there was not suposed to be any contact with the turtles, they handed them to the children for them to release into the sea. The children were more than ecstatic as they held the two baby turtles and carefully walked down to the beach to release them. Once released, the two turtles scrambled across the white, hot sandy beach, racing to the cool waters edge and finding the sea, they started frantically swimming for their new life in the ocean. You could see their tiny heads bobbing out of the water for some considerable distance until they eventually disappeared into the shimmering blue horizon. This certainly made the trip all worth while in the childrens eyes.

Turtle Island is basically a Turtle Conservation Park and a known destination for hundreds of breading giant Green and Hawksbill Turtles. Every night up to 50 turtles come ashore after dark, sometimes in the early hours of the morning and each turtle will lay between 70 and 100 eggs.

Following the turtle presentation video we all went down to supper and then it was a case of waiting until we received the call of the first Turtle arriving on shore to lay her eggs. We all stayed in the dining area as once called we would have to move quickly to the beach to witness this occassion. Unfortunately a large storm was brewing in the distance and this would normally mean that the Turtles would delay their arrival until the early hours of the morning, as had happened the previous night so we could be in for a long wait!! I watched the storm come in from the distance, at first no more than a couple of inches high and some distance away. However, after we had eaten supper, I walked out to see the lightening flashes surrounding us, now hundreds of feet high, yet it seemed to be passing us by.

Fortunately the Turtle call came at around 8.30pm, so we all rushed, with torches, to the beach to witness the first Green Turtle laying its eggs. The Turtle was huge and had apparently already been laying for about an hour. Seventy Nine eggs were laid in total and as she was laying, the eggs were being taken out of the hole, unbeknown to her as she was more or less in a state of trance, ready to be 'planted' in the nursery to prepare for hatching. The Turtle, unaware that the eggs had been removed would cover the empty nest with sand in the usual way and return to the sea. By removing the eggs, they would be safe from predators such as the Monitor Lizard that would dig them out for food and also from local people that would sell them in the market for a good price. The eggs could now be monitered and released when the young hatched in a safe environment which would give a much better chance of survival rate.

To complete the experience, like a scene from 'Blue Peter', they then released a batch of 62 turtles that had hatched earlier with all of us wathing as these tiny grey creatures scurried frantically towards the sea to begin their life. .................. well you coulldn't ask for much more than that! In all they would release 4000 turtles that night.

We leave the island the following morning back to Sandakan and take a six and a half hour local bus to Semporna heading to the coral islands of Mabul and Sipadan. After considerable haggling by Jo, the bus manager, a very loud, bald headed man, who appears to be Mr big in the world off buses, as he seems to be shouting and organising most people around him, sells us 4 seats on his bus as he insits that as the bus is not full, Imogen would be able to use one of the spare seats. When the bus finally departs, true to his word there is plenty of room on the bus and the children wander off to the back seats to take them over. However, what he failed to tell us was that en route, the driver and his two co-helpers had a little arrangement going whereby they would pick up passengers on the way, most of whom they seemed to know, for a bit of cash! The children soon had to rejoin their numbered seats as the whole bus became more than full. This prompted the driver to put on a video for entertainment. Unfortunately, even though there were many children on the bus, the video was an adult comedy called 'The Disaster Movie' which was pretty inappropriate and by the time it got to the final song, it became total swearing, a complete barrage of the 'F' word ................. and I am not talking just blue, it was shades of violet. As I looked around the bus in astonishment, it was clear that nobody else seemed to share my concern and then I realised that, with the exception of Jo and my children who were now sniggerring loudly to themselves, the other patrons had no idea what the 'F' word meant. I had to walk up the the driver to ask him to switch it off as I had young children on the bus and he looked at me as if to say 'what is the problem man!' ..................... He switcheed it off saying he only had three movies, so he would put the second one on. I returned to my seat with a few stares from the other passengers in the hope that movie number 2 might be a little more appropriate. ..................... how wrong can you be! .......... Within the first 30 seconds of the movie a women, clearly home alone, was walking round her garden, (nice pleasant violin music playing in the background) and hearing her dog barking was drawn towards her large garden pond. She knelt down beside the pond and peering closer into the water, she saw the outline of a face! .............. suddenly, there was a sharp change in the tempo of the music and a single arm shot out of the pond, the hand of which grabbed her violently round the throat and strangled her and pulled her in, completely disappearing!!!!! ............... Ok!!!!! admittedly, ........... It sounds like a good movie! But this is a public bus for peats sake! .............. is it just me!! .............. I stormed up to the front and sharply told him that you can't put an adult horror movie on for 8 year olds!!! ........... they are not going to be able to sleep for a week!!!! .................. Now looking really disgruntled, he agreed to put on movie number 3! ................... and expecting nothing less than 'Chubby Browns Live and Blue performance at Blackpool', (for those of you who havn't heard Chubby Brown, please take my word for it!!) ......... I was pleasantly surprised with 'Percy Jackson' ....... Success at last ........ Well, for the children at least!! ........ But as if to show his complete dissatisfaction at not being able to see his favourite movies he kept the sound down to a minimum, despite Harry asking him to turn it up twice!

We eventually arrived at the 'Wild West' town of Semporna, booked in to the not so celubriase CIty Inn Hotel in china town, which comprised a large but very basic room. Clearly the electrician had not quite got around to finishing off the electrics that he started some 25 years ago as some of his cables were still exposed in the bathroom. However, at least the hotel manager was considerate enough to put us opposite to the all night disco allowing the dulcet tones of 'Puff Daddy' to gently rock, or 'rap' us to sleep.

The next morning we went in search of dive shops to try to organise some family diving and snorkelling on the Coral Island of Mabul and came across the local fish market where they were selling every type of fish conceivable. Most of them, I am sure, should have been in an aquarium and it was sad to see such colourful fish, such as Puffa Fish, lying there awaiting the frying pan! ............. Still it was quite an experience for the children understanding that the 'sea gypsies' had been brought up to devour anything they could catch!

A Sea Gypsy Township en route.

We eventually came across 'Scuba Junkies', a great outfit that was set up about 10 years ago by a Brit and a German and they duly organised a days diving for Harry and Jo and snorkelling for Fred, Imogen and myself, for the next day on Mabul Island, as I was diving Sipadan the day after. This just left us to find more appropriate accomodation where the dulcet tones of 'Puff Daddy' were not so audible!

The 'Seafest Hotel' was the next port of call, although its more prestigious external appearance was rather let down by the 'Faulty Towers' approach inside. We found the we had to pay a deposit before taking occupation of our room .... In the event of damage!! .......... that's a first ...... clearly they had heard news of the children on the grapevine. When we finally got to our room we found a price list of every item of furniture from the toilet seat to the pictures on the wall, .............. this was obviously meant for the 'light fingered' guests who, in the unlucky event of being caught sneaking out the front door with a toilet seat up your jumper!! ............ you knew how much you were going to be in for!!!! .......... a great bit of forward planning! The Hotel had a small swimming pool on the roof which was great for the children but when asking for a towel to dry off, I was promptly brought one, but then asked for my hotel room bath towel as a swap? ........ no bath towel, no pool towel?! .............. I did try to explain to 'Manuel' that to get my bath towel I would have to walk through the hotel soaking wet, into my room to get my bath towel, bring it back out to the pool, swap it, use the new one to dry from the pool, but then I would need another one to have a shower with!! .......'Hkkeeeh' was the best response I could get............ so with true 'Faulty Towers' style ........ I promptly stabbed my forefinger into his eye and explained to the children that he came from Barcelona, ..... he doesn't understand! ........................ We later learnt from our friendly Tourist Lady that Semporna was a bit of a 'cowboy' town full of Philippine immigrants and as a result the contents of the 'Seafest Hotel' were constantly being stolen ............. hence the strange goings on and price lists.

Imogen enjoying the swimming pool ............... and 'bought' fresh fish served at the restaurant

As the weather was begining to turn to rain, we decided to take a quick walk through the local fish market, literally around the corner from us and then head to the hotel restaurant for food. We expected fresh fish to be on the menu and as the fish was something that we did not recognise, we asked to see it, ..... as you do! ............. well, they brought out a piece of fish from the kitchen ........ but it was Frozen!!! ...... "How can you possibly serve frozen fish when the local fish market is going on now, 50 metres around the corner?" They didn't seem to have an answer for this .......... or actualy seem to bothered!! ......... "OK, I exclaimed, we will go to the fish market, buy enough fresh fish for us to eat and you cook it for us" This appeared a strange request, but after we haggled a cooking price an agreement was reached and Fred and I promptly went around the corner to buy fresh fish! ......... That was an experience in itself, as there was so much fish, I couldn't recognise any of the catch and nobody spoke English. However, we eventually came away, after plenty of amusing haggling, with more than enough fish, calamari and prawns, for about a fiver!! ...... we handed them over to the managing chef and waited for the result. They didn't let us down, it was cooked and presented to perfection. ............. ................. why don't they do that every night!?



Pirates! ........ or sea gypsies!

Early the next morning Jo and Harry get kitted out with their diving gear and we all climb aboard the 'scuba junkie' boat, heading for the coral Island of Mabul, which was another very fast and bumpy 40 mimute trip. We arrived at the Scuba Junkie stilted pontoon, set amongst other stilted resorts and their long pontoon walkway takes you to the beach front, passing 'sea gypsie' boats and houses to their resort which is set behind the beach. Jo and Harry went off for their first dive off the jetty, with Jack, their divemaster from the Lake District; Harry going over some of his competency skills first, whilst Fred, Imogen and I went off for a guided snorkel with Anne, also from the UK. Visibility was about 18/20m which was not at its best, but the storm of the previous night had churned up the waters slightly. We then do a second dive/snorkel before lunch. Jo and Harry saw sting rays, Turtles and a huge Pharoah Cuttlefish, whilst we saw many beautiful fish, including trumpet fish, golden trumpet fish, trigger fish and Lion Fish. We then walk along the pontoon to the beach resort for a good lunch before all taking the boat out to the reef wall, a large drop off, where Jo and Harry go for their third dive and Fred, Imogen and I snorkel. This time we see many giant Green and Hawksbill Turtles, some resting on small ledges on the side of the wall and others just gracefully swimming by. These Turtles can live to be 50 to 100 years old and are amazing to watch. Imogen is in her element, as is Fred and I hardly get any piece without the constant, muffled, snorkel shouts of "daddy, daddy .... come over here quick!!" or "Daddy, Daddy ........ Turtle!!". It was amazing the way they could still maintain their enthusiastic excitement even after the 12th Turtle. Jo and Harry both thoroughly enjoyed their dives and Harry seemed to take to it very naturually, even though he was probably the weaker swimmer. It was something they all found hugely exhilarating. After the children took a bath in the kit washing tubs, following several somersaults and backward dives off the potoon into the crystal clear waters below, we went in for tea and cake and as Jo got talking to the Manchester couple who we had met a week before, we missed our first boat back to Semporna, but managed to catch the later one.

Fred and Imogen snorkelling off the coral reef at Mabul Island.

Starfish and Turtle off the reef at Mabul Island.

Harry attempting a somersault off the jetty. ............ Jo and Harry with Turtle

Fred and Imogen bathing in the 'Regs & Camera' bath tub!

Back in Semporna, after dropping off the diving gear, hair cuts were required, especially as I was now looking more like Bob Geldof, rather than Kenny Rogers, and Harry was also in need of a short back and sides. However, when we asked our friendly guide from Scuba Junkies, where to get a decent haircut, he gave us a couple of alternatives but did also mention, that in Semporna, all the hairdressers where run by 'Lady-boys!' .................... "oh and make sure you let them know what you want as they do tend to give you a close shave around the sides" he added. ............... Having never spent 15 minutes of my life with a 'Lady-boy' before, .............. a statistic, I might add, that I was more than happy to maintain, ........ let alone getting close enough for a hair cut, we found the salon, amidst neon lights and plucked up the courage to walk in. Following a very enthusiastic welcome from a couple of ladys ..... or boys! ..... hard to tell really!! I was begining to feel that perhaps a close shave round the sides was a far better option than a close shave round the back and so would be fairly content with this result. Harry, my 12 year old, was not quite sure what to make of it all and sniggered through most of his ordeal as his mother took photographs of the occassion ............ for the family album!

Having survived the trials of the day and now looking more like someone out of 'Top Gun' meets 'Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence', we had a good fish supper with the owner of the restuarant opposite the salon who had come out to see us, before our haircut experience, explaining that he had the best fish restuarant in the whole of Semporna and would give us a good price! ......... Well, he did provide an excellent fish supper and while the boys were waiting for their meal they 'shot' a bit of pool with a couple of lads in leather jackets ...... ........................... and long painted red nails!!!! (don't think the boys noticed!!) ........ not sure exactly what kind of establishment we were in, but three brits on the table next to us assured us that the food was great! We were booked into the local 'Borneo Global Dive' backpackers tonight, as part of my Sipadan package, which was very basic, but I certainly needed a good nights sleep before my Sipadan dive the next day. We all crashed out fairly quickly, ............. however, in the early hours of the morning, unfortunately the dulcet tones of 'Puff Daddy' had now been replaced with a band of five brothers strumming a couple of acoustic guitars who decided to pitch up outside our hotel window, on the side of the street, backing on to a piece of wasteland, and while away the midnight hours, singing, with real commitment, various songs from the 'Jack Johnson' greatest hits collection. ........ Now, when they began their all night free concert, I must admit they did sound rather good and reasonably in tune, and perhaps in another time and place, with Cheryl Cole in tow, I would have considered signing them up as the next 'Simon Cowell' boy band, ........... but by 4.00am in the morning, having now had only about half an hours sleep, I had had enough! ... I completely Iost the plot and jumped out of bed, fumbling in the dark I managed to bash my knee cap on the bed end, ........ that really didn't help with the temper!! ........... I slid the bedroom window open and shouted various expletives out of the window, that would have made 'Puff Daddy' proud, explaining that I had three children in here trying to ****** sleep. The 'Johnson' brothers, who I thought could turn very ugly at this point in time, ...... were infact very apologetic and promptly packed up their guitars jumped in their car and drove off. Meanwhile, the children, who had managed to sleep through the whole musical concert, where now fully awake following my out burst and complaining vociferously about me waking everybody up!! So not only had I lost my chance of signing up the next 'Take That', bashing my knee cap on the bed end, single handedly waking up up all my children and Jo and probably everybody else in the backpackers, but I was now so awake that I couldn't get back to sleep myself, .................. boy was I going to feel great diving Sipadan in 5 hours time!! ............. only one of the top 5 dive sites in the world comprising an extant underwater volcano, with a drop off wall decending some 600m to the sea bed!! ............

I awoke early to catch my lift to Sipadan and following a hearty breakfast, rustled up from a coffee machine (black or white) and a bread bin!? ............ I waited for one other guest to arrive before leaving. They didn't turn up so today was just me and the dive master! Jo, Harry, Fred and Imogen caught the boat over to Mabul Island to do some snorkeling and I was going to get my boat to drop me off at Mabul to meet up with them after my Sipadan Dive ............... assuming I hadn't been eaten by sharks!

The diving at Sipadan could only be done under licence and they only allowed 120 licences per day, which made it quite difficult to organise. Most licences would only be given for 3 days diving, which was hugely expensive, but we had managed to organise just one days dive with an overnight stay at a local 'Homestay' on the Island. Jo, having dived and really enjoyed Mabul, would have loved to have come but it was now too late to get a licence and even if the children stayed on the boat, as the currents were too strong for them to dive or snorkel, they would also have required licences, it was an impossible task.

'Sipadan photos from another Diver that show the sites'.

The diving at Sipadan was truly amazing and undoubtedly the best diving I have done to date. The waters were crystal clear and there were simply too many fish to remember what you had seen. We would silently float beneath an enourmous school of Barracuda as they passed an equally large schools of big eyed trevally, swirling in their hundreds, with sudden sharp turns to the right then the left, then moving like a huge ball spinning through the water. We floated on our backs looking straight up, with the sunlight bursting through from above, creating a magical scene. The Barracuda were enormous, with a mouthful of teeth that could do some serious damage, but they passed silently by, almost close enough to touch, with one eye watching us inquisitively as they passed. We continued and slowly made our way passed many 'white tip' sharks, some resting on the rocks, then scurrying away as we approached and suddenly a large Grey Reef Shark would come close by to take a look, that classic, large, thick set, grey, shark profile ........... not one to mess with as they can get aggressive. Both Green and Hawskbill Turtles were in abundance and huge Groupers would swim calmly by and amaze you by their shear size, giant fish of the undersea world! It was a wonderful experience. My dive instructor had been diving Sipadan for the last 20 years and was a very relaxed and knowledgeable individual. Jo and the children had an enjoyable days snorkelling as the coral reefs of Mabul provided a huge variety of sea life and the children just couldn't get enough! I met them on the Scuba Junkie Pontoon after my 3 dives, to grab a snack before walking across to the other side of the Island to our Homestay, which was very basic, but the family were very freindly. The accomodation comprised a basic bedroom with very basic bathroom but was on stilts over the sea, with a wonderful view from the outside pontoon/dining area. Perhaps not as nice as the Scuba Junkie Resort but it was interesting walking through the village, talking to some of the locals and feeling a little more part of the local community.

Homestay accommodation.

.............. 'Gone Fishing!' ...........

The next day we had arranged another snorkelling adventure with the children and Anne, from Scuba Junkies and had a really enjoyable time, with an abundance of Turtles to keep the children transfixed and I even managed to get 'attacked' ................... yes, attacked by a 'Titan Trigger Fish'. ( about the size of 4 large hands and very chunky, with a white 'Bill' or 'Tooth', that normally munches up coral). I dared to enter its safety zone and realising my mistake, I turned to try to flash my fins at it, to stop it from attacking, but it was too late, it came at me like a bullet and tried to take a chunk out of my right foot! ................. certainly a fish to stay away from!! ....... and with blood oozing from the wound ........ I was about to make a whole new set of friends ............ Sharks!!! ............ time to get back on the boat!! We caught the boat back to Semporna and stayed at the Sea Fest Hotel, before departing the next day to Tawau to catch a local flight back to Kota Kinabalu, ready for our 'Big Mountain Challenge'!!!