Lies about an hour offshore – to the north of Sandakan, its home to a turtle sanctuary. Access to the island is restricted in order to protect the turtles so booking is essential – look for the tour operators down at the floating village on the waterfront at Sandakan who will take care of the booking and transport to/from the island.
The usual trip is to head out there in the morning, spend the day relaxing on the beach, or you can hire snorkel gear to swim over the coral reef, but the coral is in very poor condition as the water is so shallow that years of tourists have stood all over it killing it off so you have to head quite far out to reach the deeper (and instantly colder) water – beware of the water currents over the deep channel if you’re not a strong swimmer and ask advice from the local staff if unsure.
An evening meal is served at the main building and the evening is spent sitting about at the main building or the accommodation blocks until the turtles arrive to lay the eggs. Visitors are prohibited from the beach area after sunset and are taken by a guide to see the turtle after the eggs are laid, as it makes its way back to sea.
The eggs are later uplifted by the island staff and moved to the hatchery near the main building – this area is heavily fenced in to defend it from predators such as birds, or from humans standing on the buried eggs. Turtles can arrive at any time during the night but it can be quite late – 3am when we were there.
The accommodation on the island is basic but clean and comfortable, certainly suitable for a few days stay if you want a total escape. We were advised by the guide to be careful not to leave valuables in the rooms as they are quite remote from the main building and not the most secure but none of us had any trouble.