Notes on snorkeling at Gaya Island near Kota Kinabalu, December 2018

1. It is easy to catch the early morning Air Asia direct flight to Kota Kinabalu, take the boat to the resort directly without staying at Kota Kinabalu. The only reason to stop there (it is a messy town) is to eat Malaysian durians and seafood. 
 
2. Condition of the sea, wave, visibility, amount of debris depends a lot on wind direction. October to February are monsoon season, will super calm days and rainy, windy days. 
During summer months the sea is super mirror calm, according to resort manager.

3. This is a delicious vegetable called Sabah veggie or Sayur Manis, available from the resort restaurants. Dark green leaves collected from a fast growing perennial bush, wish I could grow it. 

Sabah veggie

Sabah veggie or Sayur Manis

Snorkeling at Gaya island, Malaysia part 3

Other then snorkeling, what else to do at the resort? The choice include kayak, standup paddle board, canopy walk, cooking class and spa treatments. 

canopy walk at Bungaraya resort

canopy walk at Bungaraya resort

cooking class at Bungaraya resort

cooking class at Bungaraya resort, fish curry

cooking class at Bungaraya resort, fish curry

Snorkeling at Gaya island, Malaysia part 2

Bungaraya resort, Gaya Island

Luckily the same group (Echo resort) has Bungaraya resort on the north side of the same Gaya island, just a short boat ride to get there, and in good clean condition.

Bungaraya resort, Gaya Island

Bungaraya resort, Gaya Island

It has a beautiful curved long beach with fine white sand, with reefs at both end of the bay. Great snorkeling with a lot more to see than in the last resort.

Bungaraya resort, Gaya Island, Barracuda

Bungaraya resort, Gaya Island, giant clam

Bungaraya resort, Gaya Island, pufferfish

Bungaraya resort, Gaya Island, blue coral

Bungaraya resort, Gaya Island, coral fish

Snorkeling at Gaya island, Malaysia part 1

Gaya island

It is just a half an hour boat ride from Kota Kinabalu to reach Gayana Marine resort, at Gaya island.

Gaya island, Gayana marine resort

They have rooms built on stilts in the bay, meaning able to go snorkeling directly from the terrace, really nice.

Gaya island, Gayana marine resort

The sea is calm and nicely warm, with coral fish around, very pleasant. The marine research center on site is worth a visit to see the effort in repopulating the sea with local giant clams and corals.

Unfortunately with the wrong wind direction, there are a bit of plastic rubbish floating about. Not the fault of the resort (there are staffs to collect rubbish) but has impacted on the enjoyment of the stay there.

Cooking in both restaurants on site is good.  

salted egg king prawns

black bean clam

Asam Laksa

Durian street, Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia

Durians

On the way to a snorkeling holiday in Gaya island, I stopped at Kota Kinabalu for a night, and feasted on Malaysian durians.

There is a durian street near the waterfront under a bridge, in the evening will be filled with stalls selling different varieties of durians from their farms. Simple tables and chairs make it possible to eat them alfresco.

Musang King durians

The Musang King variety is the most famous, with yellow flesh, sweet and creamy.

Dalit Oren durian

This small durian with long spikes and deep orange flesh caught my eyes. It’s name is Dalit Oren, a wild one from the jungle.

It tasted like a semi dried durian, with very thin but dense creamy flesh, only mildly sweet and a herbal aroma, most unusual.