Our final stop in Borneo ended up being an unexpected surprise! We left Sandakan, and by late afternoon our bus pulled into the station in Semporna, a small town along the coast, a jumping off point to some of the most spectacular islands in all of Borneo. As we had nothing booked, we took the advice of some fellow travellers, and made our way to the head quarters of Singamata, a hotel built in the middle of the ocean! We were thrilled to find out that there was space available, and we quickly booked ourselves in for a few nights. On the way to the boat we were greeted with a group of local daredevils who were jumping off the pier screaming “photo photo”. From there we were whisked off to the hotel, a ten minute boat ride from the coast, in the middle of the ocean!
Upon arrival, we were blown away by the beauty of the place. It was literally built in the middle of the ocean, on a sandbar. We quickly got settled in, and in no time we were in the natural aquarium built in the middle of the hotel. We were snorkelling around with some of the most amazing fish we had ever seen, including grouper, star fish, tuna and sting rays! After tiring ourselves out, we spent an amazing evening just watching the sunset and joking around with some other travellers, including a wickedly cool Swedish couple!
The next day we were up and out early, as we had planned a day of snorkelling on Mabul Island, about an hour away from the Singamata which was very close to the island of Sipidan, one of the best islands for diving in all of the world. Getting to Mabul was an adventure in and of itself, as we ran into some treacherous weather that made the trip a little longer than usual.
At first glance, we were not all that impressed with Mabul. The storm that we had just traversed through had washed up a lot of sediment, and therefore the visibility was pretty poor. However, after enjoying a delicious pasta lunch, the skies had cleared and we were back in the water. This time we were enjoying the beautiful marine wildlife as it was meant to be seen, and it was a real treat!
We made it back safely to the Singamata in the late afternoon, and once again spent the evening with some fellow travelers. The next day we bummed around the hotel, swimming, snorkelling and relaxing in the hammocks, before we made our way to catch the night bus to our final stop before leaving Borneo.