Knightdivers
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Eyelands of Paradise (For some photos: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/5brzw6rjjjg13s9/b_HkBosETd)
If you have been diving over a decade in the coral triangle, you would realize that most islands are indeed a paradise but to have an island that is a gem both above and below, only a handful would be on this list in the Celebes Sea.
Mata in the local Malay language would mean eye and I guess it is aptly named that as Mataking consists of two island Mataking Besar (Big) and Mataking Kecil (Small). It would indeed look like a pair of eyes or spectacles from the heavens. The local resort however would call it the Eyes of the King as it offers the guest with the room of the magnificent sunrise and the romantic sunset which successfully lured Princess Elisabeth of Germany to this enchanted island in 2013.
Final Frontier
The Reef Dive Resort is the only dive resort on Mataking Island and this escapade would be familiar to those who have heard or have been diving in the mystical Sipadan Island. There are daily flights from Kuala Lumpur and Kota Kinabalu to Tawau where you will be greeted by the resort driver who will take you on an hours journey on the van to Semporna town. From this town, the journey to Mataking is only a 40 minutes boat ride. The island is connected to Sipadan Island via the Alice Channel on an 80 minutes boat journey. Tight security on this island is maintained by the police and the navy as it is the final frontier of east Malaysia. It is also interesting to note that due to security concerns in this part of the world, this resort is built with the chalets inland instead of the water chalets. Interesting to note that Philippine is less than a 15 minutes boat ride from here
Luxury Meets Adventure
Some of us may focus on the quality of the dive and not the accommodation but staying at the Reef Dive Resort, you are assured of both. Their luxury air conditioned villas, chalets, a spa and with a 5 Star PADI Dive Centre, this resort provides both the adventurous diver and the newly wedded couple memories and experience of a lifetime. Their sumptuous international cuisine with fresh seafood will keep any hungry diver satisfied and wanting for more.
Best Time to Dive
If you are looking for visibility between 30 and beyond, the best time would be February to November. The monsoon doesnt affect this area and when we were there towards the end of December, the clouds were still visible from below 20 meters.
Dive Centre
If you are not keen on divers appearing everywhere in your camera viewfinder, you will be delighted to know that that there is only one dive centre on the island. The Reef Dive Resort which offers not only a honeymooners dream resort and spa but a fully equipped 5 Star PADI Dive Centre with eagle-eyed dive masters and Jerry who was assigned to us for our previous trip definitely proved to be one!
The dive centre offers virtually a full range of PADI dive courses and if you have yet to be certified, this is definitely a place you may give serious consideration as their dive instructors are not only knowledgeable but they are extremely fluent in Mandarin. Unlike many dive centres where you hear the noisy generator pumping up the air cylinders, you can be assured of peace and tranquillity and most importantly, the cleanest air while diving in this region as they are the only certified Bauer Pure Air Station as far as I am concerned.
Sites to Dive
We were spoilt for options when it comes to selecting which dive sites as there are 30 that are within minutes boat ride from this centre including a day trip to Sipadan Island. We were there for 4 days and could only manage to cover half a dozen as we kept returning to the same few especially the house reef to admire and capture the marine diversity it boasts.
House Reef
We spent the first afternoon exploring their house reef. We were greeted with artificial reefs, structures and a well decorated Christmas tree (not the worm!) that slopes to a depth of 18 meters but we were extremely busy with the first 10 meters. We witnessed schools of jacks, yellow fussilers, giant groupers and a myriad of macro critters on every structure there is.
The ideal way of appreciating this site is to start from the house reef and fin towards the resort jetty. In the day, the jetty is filled with schools of jacks, sweetlips and those seeking refuge from the predators. A resident great barracuda that goes by the name of "Charlie" can be found here. Crocodilefish, a plethora of nudibranchsand crutaceans kept the batteries in my strobe busy.
The dive at this site that evening was a real strain to my eyes as Jerry pointed out the Liropus minusculus or skeleton shrimp to me. It took me a while before I realised it was a pair of red eyes that belongs to an alien looking creature that is smaller than a grain of rice. I dont really want to think that it is looking at me. Upon further inspection of the hydroid, I realised there are more than a dozen who were clinging on to their host.
Garden of Eden
This place lives up to its name with beds of soft corals and turtles resting and appearing at almost every corner of my eye. A marvellous site for wide angle aficionados as soft corals appears to be endless. I counted more than 2 dozen of turtles in this single dive and most of the turtles are not shy of divers but please do not attempt any form of physical contact with them. While you get busy with the turtles, don't forget to look at the corners and back of the corals. We found orang utan crabs, porcelain crabs, shrimps and an amazingly large harlequin ghost pipefish with eggs at one of the bommies.
Shipwreck Post
I wanted to send my New Year greetings to some of my dive buddies in California and there's no better way than to send them a card posted underwater. The resort sank a fishing boat here and it attracted a school of jacks who were rather shy with us. I tried giving chase but at the depth of 25 meters, it would mean sacrificing the opportunity to explore the critters in the wreck. I signalled to Jerry for him to take a few shots of me posting the greeting cards into the only underwater post in Malaysia as well as only 5 in the world. Getting Jerry to model for me swimming through the wreck was also a sight to behold as thousands of juveniles hide themselves in the wreck.
D'Wall
No prizes for guessing here. It is a wall dive where you can try that "diver beside the giant seafan" shot! Currents can be strong here but it's also a time to enjoy a drift dive. Do look at what's below and in the blue as you will never know whether the big boys may just be looking for some cleaning action. I was told that mantas and grey reef sharks do pay regular visits here. It was at this site that Jerry pointed to a blue giant frog fish and within ten minutes the miniature cousin the white painted frog fish was located.
Jalan Jalan at Timba Timba Island
This site would mean "taking a walk"in their local language. Located right opposite of Mataking Island and less than 10 minutes boat ride, Jerry and myself had a very clear objective - locate the Severn Pygmy Seahorse and the Hairy Shrimp. Both are extremely elusive creatures and if you think pygmies that are small at less than 1.5cm, wait till you see (if you can)the Hairy Shrimp! I would normally doubt any effort in locating them but after two days with Jerry, I have to admit that my hopes were high.
Within 10 minutes, Jerry lived up to my expectation and delivered the pygmy. Severn pygmies are not found on the sea fan like the Bargabantis and Denise but they are well camouflaged in an algal turf. Just like all hippocampus, this little friend refused to look at my lens direction and I had to conclude the session with just a side profile of him.
Going macro in these waters would mean getting a +10 magnifier especially with the Hairy Shrimp. I could hardly make out what it was when Jerry pointed the tiny speck of floating dust to me. However, it later became obvious when I look at my magnifier and the way this creature kept floating back to the same algal perch. Didn't manage a satisfactory shot but I spent quite a bit of time admiring the creature by magnifying it on my camera when I got back to my room that afternoon.
Conservation Efforts
The regular sightings of turtles around the island is not by coincidence but Reef Dive Resort's constant and consistent efforts.The resort engage marine biologists to manage a turtle hatchery plus monitoring and tagging of them. During the right season, you can witness the turtles coming to this island to lay their future generations. The hatchery will monitor the progress of the eggs and you are allowed to aid with the release of the young ones to the sea when the time is right.
Other major efforts include the sinking of The Shipwreck Post that I dived in. It was originally an old cargo ship that was sank by the resort in 2006 as an artificial reef. In the same year, artifical reefs which were made of mangrove wood boxes were deployed at the north end of the house reef. You will probably know why we spending so much time appreciating their great work that also attracted all the magnificent creatures. The Reef Dive Resort was also built with eco-friendly features as it doesn't extract water from the ground and water is transported from the mainland.
Big Day with A Big Difference
If you are planning your big day and running out of ideas, Mataking Island allows you to splash it out in the most unique way An Underwater Wedding where you can exchange your vows under the Celebes blue sea with an underwater chapel and minister.All you need is to ensure that you are at leasta certified Open Water Diver. Probably another great benefit of being a diver! If you are already married, you can still consider renewing your vows here!
Activities Above
If you are not diving or planning for an underwater wedding, the best activity to do here is actually nothing! That's the reason why honeymooners frequent this paradise to enjoy mother nature. However, if you insist on doing something, you will not be disappointed. Their Jamu Spa awaits you for a magical and therapeutic session of massage as it is a great way to pamper yourself after a day or two of hard work (diving!)
If your hobby is not only for creatures that fly in the current, you will be able to spend your time bird watching the different colourful species found on this island. You will also be able to have a round of DIY TShirt and Batik Painting as souvenirs you can be proud of should Henna Tattoo be something for the lady. In the evening, we were entertained by their multi talented resort staff who performed cultural and traditional dances on our second night there.
The Finishing Touch!
You may want to seriously consider spending a night or two in Tawau after Mataking as this is a great town to relax and enjoy the seafood restaurants before your long (or short for some) journey back. If you are tempted to bring some ocean wonders back home, you can do so legally by purchasing freshly frozen seafood in this town. We spent the night in Heritage Hotel as it is located right in the middle of this town and it can be conveniently booked along with The Reef Dive Resort as they are owned by the same person.
After two days in Tawau, we flew back to Kuala Lumpur knowing there are still islands of such pristine beauty that most of us would call a paradise!
If you have been diving over a decade in the coral triangle, you would realize that most islands are indeed a paradise but to have an island that is a gem both above and below, only a handful would be on this list in the Celebes Sea.
Mata in the local Malay language would mean eye and I guess it is aptly named that as Mataking consists of two island Mataking Besar (Big) and Mataking Kecil (Small). It would indeed look like a pair of eyes or spectacles from the heavens. The local resort however would call it the Eyes of the King as it offers the guest with the room of the magnificent sunrise and the romantic sunset which successfully lured Princess Elisabeth of Germany to this enchanted island in 2013.
Final Frontier
The Reef Dive Resort is the only dive resort on Mataking Island and this escapade would be familiar to those who have heard or have been diving in the mystical Sipadan Island. There are daily flights from Kuala Lumpur and Kota Kinabalu to Tawau where you will be greeted by the resort driver who will take you on an hours journey on the van to Semporna town. From this town, the journey to Mataking is only a 40 minutes boat ride. The island is connected to Sipadan Island via the Alice Channel on an 80 minutes boat journey. Tight security on this island is maintained by the police and the navy as it is the final frontier of east Malaysia. It is also interesting to note that due to security concerns in this part of the world, this resort is built with the chalets inland instead of the water chalets. Interesting to note that Philippine is less than a 15 minutes boat ride from here
Luxury Meets Adventure
Some of us may focus on the quality of the dive and not the accommodation but staying at the Reef Dive Resort, you are assured of both. Their luxury air conditioned villas, chalets, a spa and with a 5 Star PADI Dive Centre, this resort provides both the adventurous diver and the newly wedded couple memories and experience of a lifetime. Their sumptuous international cuisine with fresh seafood will keep any hungry diver satisfied and wanting for more.
Best Time to Dive
If you are looking for visibility between 30 and beyond, the best time would be February to November. The monsoon doesnt affect this area and when we were there towards the end of December, the clouds were still visible from below 20 meters.
Dive Centre
If you are not keen on divers appearing everywhere in your camera viewfinder, you will be delighted to know that that there is only one dive centre on the island. The Reef Dive Resort which offers not only a honeymooners dream resort and spa but a fully equipped 5 Star PADI Dive Centre with eagle-eyed dive masters and Jerry who was assigned to us for our previous trip definitely proved to be one!
The dive centre offers virtually a full range of PADI dive courses and if you have yet to be certified, this is definitely a place you may give serious consideration as their dive instructors are not only knowledgeable but they are extremely fluent in Mandarin. Unlike many dive centres where you hear the noisy generator pumping up the air cylinders, you can be assured of peace and tranquillity and most importantly, the cleanest air while diving in this region as they are the only certified Bauer Pure Air Station as far as I am concerned.
Sites to Dive
We were spoilt for options when it comes to selecting which dive sites as there are 30 that are within minutes boat ride from this centre including a day trip to Sipadan Island. We were there for 4 days and could only manage to cover half a dozen as we kept returning to the same few especially the house reef to admire and capture the marine diversity it boasts.
House Reef
We spent the first afternoon exploring their house reef. We were greeted with artificial reefs, structures and a well decorated Christmas tree (not the worm!) that slopes to a depth of 18 meters but we were extremely busy with the first 10 meters. We witnessed schools of jacks, yellow fussilers, giant groupers and a myriad of macro critters on every structure there is.
The ideal way of appreciating this site is to start from the house reef and fin towards the resort jetty. In the day, the jetty is filled with schools of jacks, sweetlips and those seeking refuge from the predators. A resident great barracuda that goes by the name of "Charlie" can be found here. Crocodilefish, a plethora of nudibranchsand crutaceans kept the batteries in my strobe busy.
The dive at this site that evening was a real strain to my eyes as Jerry pointed out the Liropus minusculus or skeleton shrimp to me. It took me a while before I realised it was a pair of red eyes that belongs to an alien looking creature that is smaller than a grain of rice. I dont really want to think that it is looking at me. Upon further inspection of the hydroid, I realised there are more than a dozen who were clinging on to their host.
Garden of Eden
This place lives up to its name with beds of soft corals and turtles resting and appearing at almost every corner of my eye. A marvellous site for wide angle aficionados as soft corals appears to be endless. I counted more than 2 dozen of turtles in this single dive and most of the turtles are not shy of divers but please do not attempt any form of physical contact with them. While you get busy with the turtles, don't forget to look at the corners and back of the corals. We found orang utan crabs, porcelain crabs, shrimps and an amazingly large harlequin ghost pipefish with eggs at one of the bommies.
Shipwreck Post
I wanted to send my New Year greetings to some of my dive buddies in California and there's no better way than to send them a card posted underwater. The resort sank a fishing boat here and it attracted a school of jacks who were rather shy with us. I tried giving chase but at the depth of 25 meters, it would mean sacrificing the opportunity to explore the critters in the wreck. I signalled to Jerry for him to take a few shots of me posting the greeting cards into the only underwater post in Malaysia as well as only 5 in the world. Getting Jerry to model for me swimming through the wreck was also a sight to behold as thousands of juveniles hide themselves in the wreck.
D'Wall
No prizes for guessing here. It is a wall dive where you can try that "diver beside the giant seafan" shot! Currents can be strong here but it's also a time to enjoy a drift dive. Do look at what's below and in the blue as you will never know whether the big boys may just be looking for some cleaning action. I was told that mantas and grey reef sharks do pay regular visits here. It was at this site that Jerry pointed to a blue giant frog fish and within ten minutes the miniature cousin the white painted frog fish was located.
Jalan Jalan at Timba Timba Island
This site would mean "taking a walk"in their local language. Located right opposite of Mataking Island and less than 10 minutes boat ride, Jerry and myself had a very clear objective - locate the Severn Pygmy Seahorse and the Hairy Shrimp. Both are extremely elusive creatures and if you think pygmies that are small at less than 1.5cm, wait till you see (if you can)the Hairy Shrimp! I would normally doubt any effort in locating them but after two days with Jerry, I have to admit that my hopes were high.
Within 10 minutes, Jerry lived up to my expectation and delivered the pygmy. Severn pygmies are not found on the sea fan like the Bargabantis and Denise but they are well camouflaged in an algal turf. Just like all hippocampus, this little friend refused to look at my lens direction and I had to conclude the session with just a side profile of him.
Going macro in these waters would mean getting a +10 magnifier especially with the Hairy Shrimp. I could hardly make out what it was when Jerry pointed the tiny speck of floating dust to me. However, it later became obvious when I look at my magnifier and the way this creature kept floating back to the same algal perch. Didn't manage a satisfactory shot but I spent quite a bit of time admiring the creature by magnifying it on my camera when I got back to my room that afternoon.
Conservation Efforts
The regular sightings of turtles around the island is not by coincidence but Reef Dive Resort's constant and consistent efforts.The resort engage marine biologists to manage a turtle hatchery plus monitoring and tagging of them. During the right season, you can witness the turtles coming to this island to lay their future generations. The hatchery will monitor the progress of the eggs and you are allowed to aid with the release of the young ones to the sea when the time is right.
Other major efforts include the sinking of The Shipwreck Post that I dived in. It was originally an old cargo ship that was sank by the resort in 2006 as an artificial reef. In the same year, artifical reefs which were made of mangrove wood boxes were deployed at the north end of the house reef. You will probably know why we spending so much time appreciating their great work that also attracted all the magnificent creatures. The Reef Dive Resort was also built with eco-friendly features as it doesn't extract water from the ground and water is transported from the mainland.
Big Day with A Big Difference
If you are planning your big day and running out of ideas, Mataking Island allows you to splash it out in the most unique way An Underwater Wedding where you can exchange your vows under the Celebes blue sea with an underwater chapel and minister.All you need is to ensure that you are at leasta certified Open Water Diver. Probably another great benefit of being a diver! If you are already married, you can still consider renewing your vows here!
Activities Above
If you are not diving or planning for an underwater wedding, the best activity to do here is actually nothing! That's the reason why honeymooners frequent this paradise to enjoy mother nature. However, if you insist on doing something, you will not be disappointed. Their Jamu Spa awaits you for a magical and therapeutic session of massage as it is a great way to pamper yourself after a day or two of hard work (diving!)
If your hobby is not only for creatures that fly in the current, you will be able to spend your time bird watching the different colourful species found on this island. You will also be able to have a round of DIY TShirt and Batik Painting as souvenirs you can be proud of should Henna Tattoo be something for the lady. In the evening, we were entertained by their multi talented resort staff who performed cultural and traditional dances on our second night there.
The Finishing Touch!
You may want to seriously consider spending a night or two in Tawau after Mataking as this is a great town to relax and enjoy the seafood restaurants before your long (or short for some) journey back. If you are tempted to bring some ocean wonders back home, you can do so legally by purchasing freshly frozen seafood in this town. We spent the night in Heritage Hotel as it is located right in the middle of this town and it can be conveniently booked along with The Reef Dive Resort as they are owned by the same person.
After two days in Tawau, we flew back to Kuala Lumpur knowing there are still islands of such pristine beauty that most of us would call a paradise!
