Tunku Abdul Rahman Parks
Pearl of Kota Kinabalu
Text and pictures by Adi & Mala Gehri of www.abcdivers.com
Kota Kinabalu is well known as the international gateway for divers eager to sample the underwater delights of the famous Sipadan, Kapalai and Mabul Islands off the coast of Sabah. However the city itself (just 15-20 minutes away by boat) has its own marine attraction that is frequently overlooked. I grew up in this area, and the enchanting and captivating Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park (TARP) holds many underwater memories for me; my first crocodilefish, the biggest sea snake I've ever seen, a swimming frogfish and an aggressive tomato anemonefish defending its home.
On a recent visit home with my husband, Adi, we took time to explore my early underwater playground. Not only did the reefs serve up their delicacies but as a bonus, a local dive operator Absolute Scuba (previously known as Beach Bums Borneo) based at the Shangri-la's Tanjung Aru Resort took us diving to two Japanese WW II wrecks located a couple of hours from the city.
The Park
Covering about 4,929 hectares of land and sea off the Western Coast, the Tunku Abdul Rahman National Park is Sabah's second most popular park, after Kinabalu. Consisting of five beautiful islands, Gaya, Manukan, Mamutik, Sulug and Sapi, the park is popular for day trips with locals and visitors alike.
The beautiful white sand beaches are great places to relax, as the gentle sea breeze cools the air. For the more adventurous, there are nature trails to explore, where you can hope to see a great variety of birds such as swallows, hornbills, sea eagles, terns and waders. There are also macaques (mostly on Gaya and Sapi), monitor lizards, squirrels and, more rarely, the bearded pig, and the occasional pangolin.
Those wishing to stay and enjoy the coral reefs, mangrove and lowland tropical rainforest, have three great choices. Firstly, there's an international-standard resort on Gaya Island, with luxurious chalet accommodation. Second, Manukan Island offers several wooden chalets. Finally, public shelters, a restaurant and picnic tables, and a rest house are available on Mamutik Island.
Diving
Manukan Island
Manukan Island is famous for its long stretch of beautiful white-sand beach and fringing reef located on the Southern Coast. Spacious and comfortable wooden chalets are available for guests who want to stay longer to enjoy the sea and soak up the sun. We particularly enjoyed the spectacular sunsets over the South China Sea, which are almost daily affairs.
Manukan's dive sites are accessible to all levels of divers and I was excited to be exploring these dive sites once more. On our dives here we were very happy to see a thriving underwater garden of staghorn coral in the shallows (from about 3-8m) which then gave way to lettuce coral and brain coral. The gentle sloping reef ended up in the sand at 15m and then gradually got deeper up to about 20m. We spotted a number of trumpetfish, juvenile batfish, a school of barracuda and large squaretail coral groupers hovering just off the reef.
On closer inspection, the reef revealed mating nudibranchs, shy blennies, anemone shrimps, pufferfish and numerous species of butterflyfish, rabbitfish and parrotfish. On our way back to the surface we spotted a cowfish intent on getting its next meal. Despite the large number of storms that hit the area in October last year, the marine life was thriving.
The next day, snorkelling around the jetty, we were met by schooling jacks. However do be aware of boat traffic around the jetty. Also snorkelling is the best at the eastern part the island, as elsewhere in the shallows, storms have damaged the coral garden leaving only sparsely scattered boulders, gobies, and numerous sea stars in the sand.
Sulug Island
This area is perfect for finding unusual marine critters, as we found out! The sloping reef of lettuce coral ends up on a sandy slope at 12-15m where large sargassum and padina seaweed flourish. This is an excellent place to find various algae-eating nudibranchs and sea hares. The seaweeds are seasonal and generally found only from April to September. Lurking unobserved in the sand are panther flounders, mantis shrimps and gobies. Adi also found a cuttlefish, lying camouflaged on the sandy bottom.
As we searched among the lettuce coral, hingebeak shrimps peeked out, seemingly as curious about us as we were of them. Then a banded sea snake swam past, and we followed it for about five minutes as it went hunting, much to our delight. Transparent anemone shrimps danced away tucked among the tentacles of their hosts and a green turtle passed by oblivious to our bubbles. Just when we thought it couldn't get any better, Basir, our dive master, pointed out a painted frogfish under a table coral at 6m. What a way to end the dive!
Edgell Patch
The following day we headed off to explore Edgell Patch, near Sapi Island. The reef here is a gentle slope starting at about 6m and continuing to 25m. Basir promised to show us two large frogfish, and indeed he did. At 24m, there were two purplish-coloured frogfish perching majestically on two separate barrel sponges. Having little bottom time to spare, Adi and I frantically tried to get the shot we wanted before our dive computers gave us their warning beeps.
Coming up to 15m, colourful feather stars greeted us while swarms of cardinalfish flitted in and out of crevices. Adi waved me over to proudly point out a sleeping nurse shark. Schools of fusiliers swam past and among them was a scrawled filefish. Cleaner wrasse, intent on providing their cleaning services, checked us out as we floated peacefully underwater.
After diving we met Chong Hion Hoak, the dive operations director, who told us about some wrecks situated two hours along the coast. We were eager to dive on them and, to our delight, Hoak agreed to arrange it.
 | | | |  | | | | | | The sheer size of the wrecks was breathtaking. | | | | | | | | The Wrecks
Two days later with enthusiasm, Nitrox tanks and a team of six divers, we headed north to Usukan Bay. We had done our homework and found that these Japanese cruisers wrecks were sunk in 1944 by two American submarines, the USS Darter and the USS Dace. Given the size of these war-relics, ranging from 15 m to 250m in length, plus the fact that they had been underwater now for over 45 years, we knew the dives were going to be spectacular.
As we reached the site, our curiosity peaked. There were local fishing boats around the site, as the wrecks are natural aggregates for fish life. Locating the wrecks requires great skill and the use of a GPS receiver and sonar equipment, as there are no buoy markers. Our first wreck was the "Upside Down Wreck". After a descent shotline was in place, we eagerly grabbed our cameras and descended back into history.
We were lucky that Mother Nature had granted us excellent visibility, and the wreck seemed to go on forever. We just couldn't believe the sheer size of it! The cruiser was barely visible behind schooling bigeye jacks and rainbow runners. The shallowest part of the wreck was at 25m and the deepest sat in the sand at approximately 42m. As we explored it we came across bullets strewn along the lower deck. Then a huge surprise - the biggest grouper that any of us had ever seen swam lazily by, opening its mouth grumpily once or twice as if to warn us of its presence.
Pumping with adrenaline after this sudden encounter, we swam with lionfish as schools of glassfish darted among the many yellow coral bushes. The wreck was adorned with sponges, daisy coral, whip coral and soft coral which made the dive a kaleidoscope of colour. Banded coral shrimps were seen in the ship's funnel, while near the sandy bottom, a whitetip reef shark swam by. Cobias darted frantically around the wreck looking for easy meals. As we came up from the dive we had only one complaint: not enough bottom time! It was one of the best wreck-dives, as conditions were near perfect and the marine life was abundant. It would take many dives to explore the whole wreck; something we definitely want to do in the future.
After patiently waiting the required 90-minutes surface interval, we eagerly descended to "The Rice Bowl", located very close to the previous wreck. Here a school of batfish greeted us, followed by a shoal of barracuda. On closer inspection of the wreck, scorpionfish were seen camouflaged among the encrusting growth. Once again, the fish life was incredible. Looking into the portholes, you can make out the broken rice bowls, from which this wreck obtained its name.
The wrecks will provide you with a unique and memorable dive experience. However it is recommended that you choose experienced dive operators and have, at least, an advanced dive certification (Nitrox certification is encouraged). Absolute Scuba was very professional with good safety precautions in place. Contact Hoak at http://www.sabahsightseeing.net/absolute.html
The Tunku Abdul Rahman Park and the surrounding areas are easily accessible from Kota Kinabalu City, making it a perfect option to get wet during your holidays in Sabah. Besides that, there are many attractions around Kota Kinabalu City to occupy divers and non-divers alike. The Sunday Gaya Street Market is a perfect place to shop for souvenirs and to sample local delicacies. Besides this, a visit to the Sabah Museum (located just 10 minutes out of town) will give you an insight to Sabah's history and culture. There are lots more attractions, which can be enjoyed on a day-trip too, such as the Klias river trips and the sightings of the astonishing orang-utans and proboscis monkeys. |
