Sabah Island Getaways

If you are looking for a super cheap accomodation with food package, look no further. This is the place for you. It cost only RM50 per person per night at this place.

The office of this little resort is located in Semporna, Sabah but the actual resort is located at Mabul Island (about 1 hour boat ride from the jetty).

For price competitiveness, there are none other cheaper than this place. Believe me and the rest of the world who has been to Mabul Island.

Accomodation is very basic. You get to share a bed with other people ( 4 beds in a room ). There are no lockers or cupboards. The rooms just have 4 beds and that's it !!!

The bathrooms and toilet are located a little distance from the room. Those facilities are clean and comes with plenty of toilet paper and water supply. Please bring your own soap and shampoo and things like that. It is not provided.

The best thing about this place is, sandwiches and drinking water are available throughout the day. So, basically, you won't die of hunger at this place because there are no nearby shops which you can walk into and buy food.

The RM 50.00 package includes a breakfast, lunch and dinner. Please don't expect 5 star quality of food and service here. But it ain't so bad either. The food is not bad.

Dinner consists of a BBQ of some fresh fishes & chicken wings and some rice and vegetables. It is not bad considering the price you paid to come here.

The main attraction of coming here is not to enjoy this resort. Mabul Island is like a stepping stone / stop over to get to other places like the Sipadan Island.

So, a lot of people come and stay at this resort and then go off to the other islands for day activities and come back to sleep and eat.That's about it !!!

There is a live band that sings and plays music after dinner. I am not sure whether it is on every night or every weeknights only. But the people there can sing. Oh yeah ... they sing in English (no worries, the staff speaks English). And the most unique thing is, the drum set is home made. Made from plastic drums and welded together.

It is not a prop and they actually perform on it. Beer is also available for the beer lovers. At RM 8.00 per can, it is not terribly expensive considering the environment.

This place is recommended for people who are on a budget but wants to stay on the Mabul Island. And those who wants to stay here must lower their expectations. Must.

This is one of the more popular resorts in Semporna. Located near the jetty, this entire resort is build entirely of wood and it is above the water.

So, you can actually walk on the planks and look at the fishes swimming below. That makes this place very special. The whole complex is like that. So, you would want to be extra careful with your keys or loose change. If it drops onto the boarded walkway and falls into the water, you can kiss it goodbye.

The rooms are spacious and cooling even if the air cond isn't switched on. The most basic rooms have a TV with local channels, hot/cold shower (attached bathroom) and a small space to hang your wet clothes. Plus an old window type air cond.

Funny thing is, your bathroom is not exactly attached. It is hard to describe it but I would not recommend anyone walking naked from the bathroom to the room. There will be a very short distance that is open to the public view.

This room will all the basic amenities anyone who want cost only RM 66.00 per room. It is highly recommended for anyone who is on a budget to stay here. The more expensive rooms have satelittle TV channels and a better view of the sea.

This is basically a seafood restaurant which supposedly specializes in fresh seafood since they have some small fish farms right next to the restaurant.

They rear fishes , crabs and lobsters. So, they have the usual seafood e.g. fishes and shellfish , vegetables , chicken and some other stuff we can't remember.

The atmosphere of that place was quite good. The entire restaurant was made of wood (just like the resort) and we have a very good view and with the cool sea breeze blowing, it was a nice place to be.

But that is all that is good about it. Service was OK but I can't say the same about the food quality and prices. We had 8 people and the type of food that we ordered wasn't the expensive type. And yet the bill came up to be RM 280.00. For that kind of price, I can have a very goood dinner in the capital city of Malaysia, KL.

But I wasn't in KL. I was in some small fishing town in Sabah. The quality of food was also questionable. There were 2 types of fish menu. On the left was the fresh section which is of course more expensive. And on the right, we have the frozen section (50% cheaper).

We ordered the fresh section thinking that this place would be a good place to get some fresh fish. Fresh fish cost a lot in KL. But the fish arrived undercooked. And it was send back to the kitchen for a reheat.

The end result is an overcooked fish. That really pissed me and my friends off. We ate, paid and left. We also swore not to step into that restaurant again.

Sipadan Island is one of the world's most famous diving sites. Divers from all over the world come to this place to enjoy the beautiful sceneary under the water.

However, I am not a scuba diver. I am just a regular snorkeling guy. And I can frankly tell you that please don't go snorkeling in Sipadan Island. It is a waste of time to even bother.

If you are going there to look at the view, don't bother. There isn't much view to be seen there because much of the island has been cordoned off by the Malaysian Navy due to security and environmental conservation reasons.

Should you insist on snorkeling, you would need to at least know a little about swimming because the waves are quite strong and it can move you away from your original spot quite easily. There's a net cordon area (you are supposed to do your snorkeling within the net). But according to my friends who went for snorkeling there, the good stuff is slightly further from the net cordon.

And anything beyond the cordon is not recommended because there will be speedboats moving around. So, snorkel at your own risk when you are there.

There are no resorts / shops on this island and this island has been closed off by the Malaysian goverment for the same reasons they cordoned off most parts of the island.

But, 120 people with pre-applied permits are allowed to go there for daytime activities. Food is usually provided by the tour operators which can be found on the net.

The permits must be applied at least 2 months before arriving there and it is not a guarantee of receiving it even so. It depends a lot on luck and it cost RM 40.00 just for the permit. Boat fares are excluded.

For the boat fares / package, each individual tour agency offers different pricing and so on and so forth.