Tues. 16th April 2013
Pulau Tiga Resort is a great relaxing island and I could have spent the morning chilling out on the hammocks being lulled by the sound of the sea, but that was not the plan. Close by is Pulau Ular known as Snake Island and we are off to see if we can find a poisonous yellow lipped sea snake. It is a short boat trip to the small island and we are soon walking around the rocky coast following our local guide. He knows which are the rocks favoured by the snakes for hiding under and has soon located one. We can see it poke its head out from its dark hole and quickly the guide grabs it and holds its mouth firmly closed.
After the compulsory round of photos we are allowed to feel the snake’s skin, which is quite slimy. I was surprised how relatively brightly coloured it was with its black and white stripes. These snakes are deadly poisonous but as can be seen from the lead photo, they only have small mouths and so struggle to bite humans (and in any case, they are not known for being aggressive). As the guide lets the snake go another on comes out but quickly slithers away under a nearby rock. We are happy to let the guide do all of the holding.
On the way back to Pulau Tiga we stop twice to go snorkelling. There are a few fish around but not a very spectacular sea bed compared to a lot of places we have been. Amongst the rocks is this impressive clam. We have been spoilt by the great places we have been snorkelling in the last nine months. I do still enjoy just floating on the water watching the many multi-coloured fish swimming in, out and around the underwater rocks. What I do not like is suddenly finding yourself surrounded by tiny jellyfish which can be difficult to spot. Especially when you are concentrating on the sea bed rather than just under the water surface where they lurk.
There was nearly a mutiny on Survivor Island as we did not want to leave. We had really enjoyed being the only guests at the resort, wandering along the beach looking for wildlife and the excellent food they served. Reluctantly we caught the afternoon speedboat back to the mainland and just had time to grab an ice cream and a photo of these statues, before catching the coach back to Seaside Hotel. This reminds us that we should have been on Turtle Island with the original itinerary, rather than Survivor Island. It would be a tough call whether we would have preferred that to here.
As this is the last night of our Borneo trip we all sat on the balcony overlooking the sea watching yet another amazing sunset. We have all had a great time whether just on the Sabah part of the Best of Borneo three week trip, as well as those of us who did the Sarawak section first too. One of our group has a few more weeks before returning home and is off to climb the Pinnacles in Sarawak so is building up to the experience while the rest of us are winding down.
The evening meal tonight is a barbeque at the next door hotel which is a short stroll along the beach. It was good to have jacket potatoes and tasty lamb chops as a change from rice or noodles and chicken! We even had company and we hope he will not be on tomorrow’s menu. It is our final meal together as we all go our separate ways tomorrow, some home and some (like us) to continue travelling for a while longer. Another great bunch of people, increasing my friends on Facebook further. Thanks everyone for being such great company and maybe we will meet again in some other exotic location or the UK!
Miss you guys! Hope you are having fun.