Sun, sea and sand ... all you can find at Tunku Abdul Rahman Park.

Peik Lean Y.

My time in Kota Kinabalu was pretty short and as such, we went for just a day trip to the three islands i.e. Sapi, Manukan and Mamutik at Tunku Abdul Rahman Park to bask in the tropical sun, the turquoise sea and the white, sandy beaches. Luckily for us, it was a gorgeous day for island hopping and snorkelling. The sun was shining, the sea was relatively calm and the colourful fishes were all out to play on this fine Saturday morning.

Mamutik offered the best snorkelling that day as the corals were closest to the beach. My only concern was the destruction to the corals as the water was so shallow. We practically had to brace ourselves while snorkelling. At least I did. The corals were practically in our faces and the fishes were swimming very close to our line of vision!

We managed to observe quite a few varieties of fishes amongst which were the parrot fishes of varied rainbow colours, the porcupinefish (I thought it was a “puffer” at first until we checked the “fish list”), the little clown fish (yup … there are plenty of little Nemos around swimming in between the “fingers” of the corals), the angel fish (many varieties of those too i.e. all in black, black and white stripes, etc.) and other pale looking fishes which I couldn’t identify. The whole experience brought back an urge to dive again. Guess I would seriously have to consider taking that refresher course after all!

The accommodation at Manukan looked so enticing that we decided that we have to come back one day to stay over and just beach bum and snorkel. We were told that some of the 4-person chalets were going at RM240 per night. Food there is pretty decent too and at reasonable prices. We had lunch for 2 at RM30 ~ 4 dishes altogether including stir-fried cauliflower and carrot, kai lan garlic, a fish dish and a squid dish.

Ok, before I put anyone to sleep, just wanted to say that if you don’t have much time to spend in KK, chilling out in one of the islands in Tunku Abdul Rahman Park is quite worth it. The 3 S here is definitely worth a weekend getaway especially to Sabahans or those who happen to drop by at KK for work.