Saturday, 14 May 2022

5D4N Semporna Travel Blog - Day 2: Timba Timba, Mataking, Pom Pom Island

 









Refer to below links for more Semporna trip blogs:

1. Executive Summary: Executive Summary Blog
2. Day 1 (Semporna): Day 1 (Semporna) Blog
3. Day 2 (Timba Timba, Mataking, Pom Pom Island): This Blog
4. Day 3-5 (Kapalai): Day 3-5 (Kapalai) Blog

 




Semporna

Day 2

8.30am Gather at jetty for day trip to Timba Timba, Mataking, Pom Pom Island (include lunch)
4.30pm Back to Semporna town
😍Free & easy in Semporna town (western restaurant for dinner & spa center at night all at own cost)
*exclude breakfast and dinner*

Island Hopping Day Trip (Timba Timba, Mataking, Pom-Pom)

Happy Valentine's 2022 to us 💖! It was our snorkeling day 🐠🐟🏊! We headed out to the islands off Tawau at the early morning. We chose an island hopping day trip to Timba Timba, Mataking, Pom Pom Island (refer photo below on Island Hopping Tour B). I don't really like hiking and prefer to visit Timba Timba island due to the beautiful long sandy beach bar photo, thus we opted for this option.

There are 2 types of island hopping day tour available, arrangement depends on individual preference:
  • Tour A (Bohey Dulang, Mantabuan, Sibuan) 
    • Hiking and snorkeling
  • Tour B (Timba Timba, Mataking, Pom Pom)
    • Snorkeling and photo-taking

It is hard to find some good guidance online as there are many islands and it may be confusing for some of the 1st timers who would like to visit Semporna.
Thus, I have drawn and wrote down the summary guidance for the famous islands
which are frequently patronized by tourists who visit Semporna
Map Photo credit to whoadvetures.com
去沙巴仙本那前都找不到很多好的笔记,大大小小的岛屿看了会乱。
于是,我爬了资料,做了一些笔记,画圈和写下了重要的几个观光岛屿给你们,
游客通常都是参观这几个岛屿哦。



We came to the jetty nearby the seafood restaurant and Dragon inn 'floating houses' that we had visited on Day 1. It was a hot sunny day (it rained a little bit nearby town area, but dismissed when the boat steered off the town and to the islands) ! Let's head out for the day trip to see corals and fishes 😍! 



Happy V-Day 2022! Three pairs of chinese couples on board for the day trip, including us.
They were very friendly and helped us to take photos too!
2022情人节快乐!有3对华人情侣,包括我们。每个人都很友善,还帮忙拍照!

Dragon Inn 'floating house'
Dragon Inn‘水上屋’

Hot sunny day! The locals there can 'forecast' the weather, they told us the day before and today were sunny, but few days later will be cloudy! Our snorkeling day was nice thanks to the weather as the water clarity was good today, but it was super duper hot and we definitely got lot of sunburn patches due to the so good weather!! 😟
今天太阳公公特晒!这里的居民能够‘预测’天气,他们说昨天和今天的天气很好,不过几天后便会多云哦!所以我们今天出游的日子也合适呢,适合浮潜,海水也清澈。不过不好在于,天气实在太热啦,我们都被晒到红彤彤脱皮了!
😟



Boat stopped halfway to fetch some of the customers who stay in the overwater resort.
There were a total of around 10 people in our boat for that day.
The boat was swaying left and right due to the wave, some of us were feeling sea-sickness.
驾驶到一半停在了这里,接了一些住在水上屋的客人。整个船大约10人左右。
因为停在海上,被浪拍打的左右摇晃,都开始有点晕船了。

Truly overwater houses built by locals
当地居民制造的水上屋,生活在海上






Timba Timba Island

The first island that we reached was Timba Timba island, an Instagrammable place and famous due to the white slender sand bank. The place was perfect for some drone flying. The bird eye view was just way too beautiful! The water in Timba Timba island was clear on the day, it was turquoise in color. When matched with the clear blue sky and white sand bank, it was such a beautiful day 😎! I have captured our moments in this beautiful Timba Timba island, please refer below for the Youtube video, hope you guys enjoy it 💗!


Click on the Youtube video above and enjoy the HD 1080p version.
Some drone shots of the beautiful white sand bank of Timba Timba island
and our V-day memories 💑!
点击Youtube视频观看高清版。用了无人机拍了一些汀巴汀巴岛的全景。
这里有着细致柔软的沙滩、清澈见底的海水和美丽的大拖尾白沙滩。
影片也记录了我们情人节的回忆💑!


Look at the crystal clear water!
看那清澈见底的海水!

Reached our 1st destination of the day, Timba Timba island!
抵达了我们的第一个目的地,汀巴汀巴岛!




1st attempt to fly our newly bought DJI drone. Too stressful for him haha 😂
第一次尝试飞行我们刚买的DJI无人机。他说太压力了哈哈 😂

Few of the day tour operators were coming here too
有好几个船只都停靠在这里


Our tour guide helped us to take photos
我们的导游帮忙拍的照片

The outcome turned out to be quite natural, I love them!
蛮喜欢的,感觉拍的很自然!

Girl, ocean, sand, sun, sky 💛
女孩,海,沙,太阳,天空 💛

The water was clear and peaceful
清澈又平静的海水

It was a very sunny day!
太阳公公很给力😅

Left Timba Timba island
离开汀巴汀巴岛


Mataking Island

After some photo-taking in Timba Timba island, we came to 2nd island called Mataking, to begin our first snorkeling activity. There were about 3 or 4 tour guides for our trip. Each tour guide took care of 2 people in a group. The tour guide guided us during the whole snorkeling journey. He was swimming in the front and let us held on to the buoyant. He led us and showed us the way to see the varieties of corals and marine life. We even swam with turtle twice during the snorkeling in Mataking island! The underwater world in Semporna island is truly beautiful and well preserved 👍! And we felt safe to be guided and accompanied by tour guide throughout the whole snorkeling session 👏. It was the 1st time we had snorkeling with a tour guide around, and they were good in finding fishes and turtles for you 😍! Depending on weather, if you are lucky, you may even swim with the shark.

If you have diving license, you can opt for diving too! Few groups of people were diving and since you were going deeper into the ocean, you would be able to see more interesting marine life! On top of that, the tour guide will help you to take some photos and videos of you during the diving session and give you as a memory. Please enquire with your tour operators on the price difference in case you would like to top up for diving session.

After snorkeling, we took a rest by having lunch on a wooden 'atap' house. They have prepared lunch box for us, which consisted of chickens, vegetables and eggs. I was a bit sea sickness and couldn't finish my lunch. I was bitten by few annoying mosquitoes too haha 😫.


45 minutes snorkeling with tour guide. 1 tour guide took care of 2 people as a group. Tour guide swam in the front and we just need to hold on to the buoyant and enjoy the underwater world. The tour guide were experienced and good in finding turtle to let us swim with turtle! This was the 1st time I went to snorkeling with tour guide, and on top of that I think this is the most beautiful underwater world that I have ever seen (so many schools of fishes, sea cucumber, different species of fishes, different colors of corals, turtles, starfish and etcetera), they have preserved it very well here in Semporna 👍!
和导游的45分钟浮潜环节。1个导游同时照顾了两个人。导游会游在前面,后面有个浮圈,我们只需要手扶着浮圈,跟着导游慢慢的欣赏海底的世界!他们很有经验,还有寻找海龟,让我们一起和海龟游着!浮潜了那么多地方,还是第一次有导游带,而且应该是我看过最美的海洋世界了 (超多鱼群,海参,不同的鱼儿种类,不同颜色的珊瑚,海龟,海星,等等),仙本那的生态环境保护得很好 👍!

Crystal clear water! Even see some black fishes and corals from the boat, before heading down to the sea itself!
清澈见底的海水!都还没下水,坐在船上就可以看到了黑色鱼儿和珊瑚!

Our lunch box of the day
我们的午餐🍱

Sat on top of the wooden 'atap' house for lunch
坐在了木板‘阿塔’屋吃午餐

Bitten by many mosquitoes haha, need to cover my leg with jacket
被太多的蚊子咬了,还好有外套可以遮一下

Another group of tourists here. They were playing some card game here
一群的旅人们在这里玩扑克牌游戏

Waiting for our turn to take photos with transparent kayak
吃饱了,每个人可以排队轮流和透明皮艇拍照

My photo with transparent kayak
我和透明皮艇拍照

My photo with transparent kayak, they will teach us how to pose 😂
我和透明皮艇拍照,他们会教我们怎样摆姿势 😂

Hubby's photo with transparent kayak
老公和透明皮艇拍照

Hubby's photo with transparent kayak, looks like 'Life of Pie' movie😂
老公和透明皮艇拍照, 好像‘少年Pi历险记’😂

We reached Pom Pom Island for our last destination, but majority of us were either sea sickness or tired already, so we had decided to skip the snorkeling session in Pom Pom Island. Luckily nobody want to snorkeling again, as I was really unwell due to sea sickness and wish to go back earlier to rest. Heard that my lip color already turned purple, it was so terrible  😂 This photo was taken on the way back to Semporna town, we had passby a small fishing village..
途中经过了Pom Pom岛,可是很多人不是晕船就是累了,所以没有再去浮潜。。还好没有人要停下来浮潜,要不然我应该会晕过去了,我也是晕船到整个人很不舒服,嘴唇都发紫了,天啊,太恐怖了 😂 这张照片是回程途中,路过一个小渔村吧。。

On the way back we were very lucky to even spotted dolphins! Suddenly there were few people screaming around and the voice woke me up from my sea sickness. When I looked at the dolphins, suddenly I was feeling better and my body regained energy. My lip and face turned out to be better, it was truly magical! Maybe it was because of the excitement, or maybe it was due to the saying of if you see dolphins it brings luck to you, I was feeling much better afterwards! Felt so blessed to encounter the magical moment with dolphins, I will remember this for a long time! 💓
回程很幸运的看到🐬,突然间很多人尖叫,叫醒了晕船的我。看到海豚后,仿佛有股神力,不知不觉我的嘴唇开始有血色,人的气色也变得好多了哈哈,很神奇!有可能是我兴奋了,还是人家说的海豚代表幸运的象征,仿佛罩着我,瞬间好转了!旅途遇到的幸运,终生难忘!💓

Nomads living on sea
生活在海上的巴瑶族们

We had reached Semporna town and saw this lobster basket on the way back to our hotel. Quickly took one photo for you guys see. We had ordered lobster on Day 1, but forgot to take the photo of it before passing to restaurant owner to cook for us. The lobster sold here was really big and the meat was really succulent! Must eat when you come to Semporna!
到了镇上看到了龙虾,快点拍一张给你们看,因为第一天叫了海鲜都忘了拍照就直接交给餐厅店员烹饪了。这里龙虾很大只,很多肉啊!来到仙本那必吃!



Semporna Town Dinner

After finished the day trip, we took a rest in our hotel to regain the energy back and recover from sea sickness. For dinner tonight, we were heading to Summer Breeze cafe, which was the only western restaurant in Semporna town. It was our Valentine's dinner. Happy Valentine's day to all couples out there! 💗

Soda Blue Coral drink, look at the color like diving into ocean, so beautiful!
Soda Blue Coral 颜色太美了,渐变色仿佛跌入了海底

Milkshake Strawberry drink, this drink was super nice, not only instagrammable but also using a lot of strawberry flesh, really recommended!
Milkshake Strawberry太好喝了,不止颜值高,还放了很多草莓果肉,太推荐了!

Milkshake Strawberry drink

His dinner of the day: soda blue coral & fish and chips. Somehow he was wearing purple shirt and ordered purple color drink, matched with the purple reindeer wallpaper behind haha 😂
老公的晚餐,有饮料和鱼扒。他的紫色衣服,和紫色饮料,还有后面的紫色🦌的壁照超搭的,哈哈😂

Fish & chips
鱼扒和炸薯条

Nyonya seafood with rice
娘惹海鲜配饭

Nyonya seafood soup was surprisingly nice, the seafood varieties quite a lot and most important the soup was nice to drink and filled with nice spices
娘惹海鲜汤出乎预料的好喝,海鲜料多,重要是汤底够味

The total damage for 2pax, the price was really affordable!
2个人的晚餐,价格很合理!


Semporna Town Spa & Massage

After finished the dinner, we used Grab and reached We Do Spa for the late night massage treatment. We had the Buy 1 Free 1 promotion of RM158 for full body massage (promotion was on February 2022, please check the updated website here for latest offer). The shop received good reviews and high rating from guests who have experienced the massage there. Since we were unable to visit Le One Spa on Day 1 as it was closed due to pandemic, we changed to try this We Do Spa on Day 2. The massage was not bad, but from my personal opinion, not very outstanding as I have tried a better massage in other country. However, it was a nice and relaxing session when we were on holidays.


Served us tea before the massage session
开始按摩前,给我们品茶

Start with washing our feets
先开始帮我们洗脚

Then brought us to massage room at upper floor
然后带我们去二楼的按摩房

Couple room massage with a divider in between
双人按摩房间,中间放了个分割的

We Do Spa shop, it was inside a shopping mall, may use Grab car service to reach here, nearby town only about 5 minutes driving distance
We Do Spa店面,是在商场里面的,可以塔Grab车到这里,很靠近市镇大约5分钟


GOOD NIGHT!

 


Refer to below links for more Semporna trip blogs:

1. Executive Summary: Executive Summary Blog
2. Day 1 (Semporna): Day 1 (Semporna) Blog
3. Day 2 (Timba Timba, Mataking, Pom Pom Island): This Blog


Day 2 Semporna wanderlust ends here! Interested to venture more of Semporna? Refer to the links for other posts! Please share with me if you have any comments or inquiries. Follow me in Youtube, Facebook, and Instagram to get updates on new videos, blog posts and photos too! Xoxo 💗


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💗 Author: Ng Mei Lian/ Adrian Yeoh Aun Hong
👉 Date: 14/2/2022





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