Andrea Johnson Photography

 

Sabah

Our 10-day Sabah Saga

There’s one travel truth I should have learned by now: if you plan an inflexible itinerary something will always happen to put a kink in it. Dale and I only had a 10 day layover in Sabah, so upon arriving in the capital city of Kota Kinabalu we planned to make the most efficient use of our time by booking a series of discounted, non-refundable tours.  Included was a scuba dive lodging & meal package on the island resort of Sipidan, reservations at a jungle lodge to visit a orangutan rehabilitation center, and  permits to climb Mt. Kinabalu, a 13,000 foot volcano.  I knew it would be a grueling schedule even under ideal circumstances, but certainly hadn’t planned on the additional challenges of getting Dengue Fever, a scratched cornea, a cold, and my toenail falling off!

My misfortune began our first evening in Sabah.  After finishing our bookings, I began to feel queasy and tried to go to sleep early. That night I was surprised by how quickly & violently tropical illnesses take root. By 2 a.m. it was undeniable that the horrible throbbing in my head and aching of my body wasn’t just caused by the loud music vibrating our hostel room from the karaoke bar below. At first I thought I was coming down with a nasty case of the flu, but I had to admit my symptoms matched the definition of Dengue fever stated in the Lonely Planet’s “Healthy Travel Asia” book:

“The illness usually starts quite suddenly with fever, headache, nausea and vomiting, and joint and muscle pains. The aches and pains can be severe…and many travelers report experiencing extreme tiredness with muscle wasting and lack of energy for several weeks…”

Those pesky mosquito bites I got in Manila turned out to be more of a pain than I ever imagined.

I was determined to regain my health quickly since our tours couldn’t be postponed for long.. After two days rest I convinced myself I was on the mend when the second incident happened. I woke in the middle of the night, this time to a piercing pain in my eye – debris had slipped under my contact and scratched my cornea. When we really couldn’t delay our trip to Sipidan any longer Dale led me, a weak hobbling ‘pirate’ with a patch over my eye, on our long journey to the island.

Sipidan, scuba diver's paradise

Scuba divers have voted Sipidan as “the best beach dive in the world” and we agree. Only 45 feet from shore the reef drops off dramatically from 9 to 90 feet. From the Borneo Diver’s pier you can sit and watch sharks and turtles lazily swim through the clear shallow water covering the reef directly underneath. After another day of rest I was well enough to join Dale on a few of the boat dives and was not disappointed for my efforts. The most unusual aspect of these dives was the amazing amount of turtles we saw on a consistent basis. They often allowed us to approach closely; we were dwarfed by their size and amazed how gracefully an 80-year-old specimen could swim.

Scuba diving next to 80 year old turtle, Sipidan

Back on Borneo, traveling up the eastern Sabah coastline proved to be another adventure. No deluxe air-conditioned buses were available so we rode as the locals do – on a converted minivan. Its original seats had been stripped and replaced with rows of closely placed benches. Our vehicle, which regularly seated six passengers, was crammed with 12 adults and 6 kids. Luckily our large backpacks were allowed on since they provided extra seats in the isle. Besides the occasional screams from the babies and men who constantly puffed away on their cigarettes, everyone was amazingly calm – even we managed to stay still squeezed in our tiny space like accordions.

Upon reaching our next destination we were relieved to discover the room we pre-booked was in a quiet, spacious lodge at the edge of the jungle. The orangutan feeding platform at the rehabilitation center was a pleasant fifteen-minute walk through virgin forest. By the afternoon the tour buses had departed leaving more orangutans than people in the preserve. Two friendly male orangutans found Dale especially entertaining. Although we tried not to disturb them in their habitat they quickly approached us and attached themselves to Dale like a long lost relative.

Two baby Orangutans jumped the fence and attached themselves to Dale

By the time we reached Mt. Kinabalu I’d regained my health if not my strength. Since climbing this volcano is the number one tourist attraction in Sabah, I thought, “How hard can it be?” At our dorm room in the hostel we met other like-minded hikers and decided to team up with four of them to share the cost of the required guide.  We woke early the next morning to prepare for a long days. It was distinctively cooler at the base of the mountain (3,000 feet elevation), so we dressed in pants, long sleeved shirts, and wore shoes for the first time in five months. Although my nose began to dribble with this sudden climate change we welcomed the cool air since we began to sweat just 15 minutes into the hike. The first day of hiking was all uphill, ascending 6,000 feet through sub tropic, temperate, and alpine regions. The trail was well trodden with occasional handrails and 2,500 man made steps spaced along the more difficult sections, but I couldn’t help but think, “This is the Stairmaster from hell!”

Harry, our patient Malaysian guide, was required to stay with the slowest member of the group (me) and Dale kept the same pace weighed down with carrying both our daily supplies in one pack. Six hours after beginning we struggled into the mid mountain lodge, our final destination for the day. We collapsed in the dining room, drank hot tea, and enjoyed impressive views as mist drifted apart to reveal glimpses of the valley far below and imposing granite towers near the summit. Not only could I barely move, but also I regrettably resigned myself to acknowledging – you guessed it – that I was sick again, this time with a cold.

For the non-acclimatized it is difficult to sleep at high elevations. We arose the next morning at 2 a.m. after a night of restless sleep to continue up to the summit in time to watch the sunrise. The final 4,000 feet was by far the steepest and most treacherous section of the trail and we climbed with just our headlamps and the full moon to illuminate the way. Dale was doubtful that I would make it to the top in my condition, and I’m sure Harry agreed but was too polite to say anything. When we reached a section of seemingly endless granite boulders so sheer that we had to grab ropes bolted to the rock in order to scramble up their faces, I began to wonder myself if I’d succeed. At 5 am we reached the top of a peak that allowed us to finally see the summit above – that view was the inspiration I needed. By 5:45 a.m. we reached the summit just in time to watch a spectacular sunrise.

summit of Mr. Kinabalu

Most people believe that climbing down a mountain is far easier than going up, but I had my reservations about descending 10,000 feet with my already wobbly legs. We stopped for a hearty breakfast back at the mid mountain lodge at 9 a.m., grabbed our pack, and continued down. Marathon athletes compete in an eco-challenge race every September, jogging up and running down this volcano trail to complete the entire circuit as quickly as two hours forty-five minutes. For us, it took nearly as long to descend as ascend.

For the last three hours we walked in a complete downpour, and when the trail transformed into a muddy river it didn’t help quicken our progress. By the time we reached the bottom our leg muscles were like spaghetti and we couldn’t bare the sight of any steps, up or down! I lost one toenail, and Dale lost two along with his desire to hike anything else for the rest of our trip. Myself? I think our toenails will grow back by October, just in time to see what the Himalayas might have in store for us.

Palau, Micronesia

Palau: Our Pacific Paradise

Palau, a group of islands in Micronesia, is not a typical stop for independent travelers. Just getting there requires some effort; for us it took four layovers and six days due to our circuitous route and missed flight. Because of its isolation from nearest neighbors (about 800 miles east of the Philippines and 800 miles S.W. of Guam) and population of only about 20,000 residents, once we arrived we were rewarded with an idyllic small-community, tropical island atmosphere. We were amazed to discover that the roads didn’t even have names or street signs! After our brief foray into the hustle of S.E. Asia and our imminent return shortly hereafter, we vowed to make the most of Palau’s remote natural beauty and tranquility.

Our main challenge to enjoying this Pacific paradise was money. Until recently Palau was an American territory so its currency is in US dollars – we no longer had the advantage of a favorable exchange rate. In addition, since most visitors to Palau are tourists from the US or Japan on short package holidays, prices are reflected accordingly.  For our first few nights we stayed at the cheapest place we could find in the capital city Koror, at the D.W. motel for $50 a night. Although it was clean and the Palaun owners nice, it was bland – not the way we wanted to spend a good hunk of our daily budget. Then serendipitous encounters led us to friendly American expats who found creative solutions to our budget challenge.

Ron Leidich, founder of Planet Blue Sea Kayak Tours, helped us jump start our Palauan explorations. Being a frequent independent traveler himself, Ron understood our situation and worked out an adventurous yet economical plan. Typically he guides day, multi-day, and even several week tours through Palau’s famous Rock Islands. Since we couldn’t afford the standard package for a multi-day trip, Ron provided the next best option – a do-it-yourself itinerary. He reviewed maps with us of a proposed three-day route, which sounded great, so we happily left the D.W. motel the next morning. After we loaded our two-person sit on top kayak with our camping and cooking gear we headed off following Ron’s directions.

Over 340 islands comprise the archipelago of Palau, which doesn’t even include the countless number of small rock islands. To our uninitiated eyes they all looked the same, making navigation a challenge. Mid-morning we flagged down a fishing boat to verify where we were on the map, and later that afternoon we caught up to and tagged along with part of Ron’s guided tour. When we ventured close to the shorelines of the rock islands we noticed that features, which were hidden from a distance view became easily visible when viewed close up.

Before Ron returned home with his group he pointed us in the right direction towards our next destination, the cathedral cave. Silently gliding through the calm waters of a low entrance, high ceiling cave covered with stalactites was dramatic even without the knowledge of how these formations were created. Unfortunately we only had time for a quick stop before the tide began to lower, exposing patches of reef:  If we had waited any longer approaching our campsite would have become too treacherous.

Kayaking through Palau's rock islands

Camping on a secluded uninhabited island was the ideal way to experience its peaceful natural environment. Once our initial concerns about getting lost disappeared we found it surprisingly simple to fend for ourselves. Our first two nights camping were on Lee Marvin Beach, a beautiful setting complete with a small covered shelter, outhouse, and water basin full of rainwater.

Each day we followed Ron’s advice about the best spots to visit and excursions to rarely visited marine lakes and caves; his itinerary minimized our paddling efforts since we traveled the same direction as the prevailing tides. Our kayak was stable and comfortable and best of all its design left our bodies exposed so that we could splash ourselves while still paddling to cool off – very important since Palau is only seven degrees north of the equator thus is consistently hot and humid.

Visiting the German Lighthouse, the highest point in the rock islands, wasn’t as easy of an endeavor. WWII cannons, barracks, pill boxes, and other relics were scattered about the route; although an old war road leads the way to the top it is still a hot, tiring trek through the jungle – especially while carrying camping gear, food and water! We pitched our tent on a tiny clearing at the rocky base of the lighthouse. As luck would have it, all night it rained forcing us to put on the fly and turning our tent into a steam sauna. However, the sunset and sunrise view overlooking a large group of the rock islands, and the kudos of respect from the locals upon returning made the jaunt well worth the trouble. Some Palauans thought we were crazy for camping someplace they believed is haunted with the ghosts of Japanese solders who were killed at that location.

The Tarzan Tour can only be done three days a month when the tides are at just the right levels and time of day. Created as an ‘extreme adventure’ including cliff jumps, rope swings, and cave dives”, we couldn’t pass up on this opportunity. With Ron’s marine biology background  we were able to better understand  the complex ecosystems and explore secret spots he discovered. There were only two other people on our kayak tour (a quiet Russian couple) so for us it was an ideal small group exploration.

Our first stop was Lost Lake, which we entered by kayaking through a small marine tunnel that is only exposed at low tide. This hidden lake had colorful soft coral fans along the entrance and excellent snorkeling that included blue-lipped clams and feathery lionfish. Tarzan Lake was our second stop, and this time the tunnel to enter the lake was so tiny that we had to leave our kayaks tied up at the shoreline of the rock island and snorkel in. Everyone enjoyed swinging from a long overhanging vine and calling out Tarzan yells before dropping into the lake.  For our final big thrill we free dove into the crystal filled air chambers of the Blue Room. The entrance to the first portion of the cave was about 10 feet underwater and the tunnel continued 15 feet or so before opening up so we could swim up to the surface. The second portion of the cave was a quicker swim underwater into a smaller, stalactite filled cavern filled with streaks of light and beautiful blue hue. The third chamber of this cave was a longer swim through a tunnel about 20 feet deep and another 15 feet long – only the guys opted to venture here.

While paddling through these destinations Ron taught us about the nature and geology of the Rock Islands. He used an analogy to explain how the undercut mushroom-shaped limestone formations came into existence: The rock islands have eroded in a similar process as icebergs, which melt unevenly and are eroded by waves causing large chunks of ice to break away.  Initially a large limestone mass pushed up to the surface of the ocean.   Then over thousands of years the triple forces of waves, acids created by rainwater mixing with leaves, and chitins chewing away at the shoreline working their magic. These formations are truly unique, and kayaking through this wonderland for five days only wetted our desire to experience them more in depth.

sharks are common encounters scuba diving at Palau

Palau is most famous as a world-class diving destination known for  big fish, strong currents, and huge wall drop offs.   In a typical day of scuba diving with Sam’s Diving Tours we saw a plethora o spectacular sights including: a 40 foot vertical column of spiraling pyramid butterfly fish, several hundred barracuda swimming together in a school, oversized Napoleon Wrasses & Parrot Fish as large as a human, huge turtles, and countless gray, black tip, and white tip reef sharks.

One of our most memorable diving days was at the famous Blue Corner dive site. This dive is truly a sensory overload; on our four previous dives at Blue Corner we drifted with the current and casually hooked in to the edge of the reef wall so that we remained stationary to watch all the action drift by. This dive was a lot different – the current was ripping! When we reached the reef plateau we hooked in and the sensation was incredible – our skin flapped like a sky diving free fall and the water pressure threatened to rip off our masks and regulators. The strong current finally found a weak point – almost simultaneously our reef hooks straightened out under it’s force and we both had to grab for a handhold to keep from being ‘blown’ off the reef. While fighting to hold on, Andrea managed to take a photo – I look like I’m in a wind tunnel.  Twenty-nine minutes later (one of our shorter dives) we floated on the surface so pumped with adrenalin we couldn’t contain ourselves. That dive was UNBELIEVABLE – words could never describe it! We both I agreed that out of our cumulative 250 dives that one was definitely the most memorable.

Next on the itinerary was Jellyfish Lake, at the complete opposite end of the spectrum from Blue Corner. Calmly we floated among thousands of non-stinging jellyfish trapped in a marine rock island lake – it was incredible feeling their soft delicate bodies brush against us, a surreal sensory experience. How do you finish a day like this? Have a relaxing tasty lunch on a white sandy beach then dive on a WWII sunken cargo shipwreck. Looming up from 100 foot plus depths the Iro‘s huge bulk is easily visible & still intact: It’s body, masts, and big guns have been transformed into a colorful coral garden paradise, completely encrusted with razor clams & home to many fish species.

non-stinging jellyfish, Jellyfish Lake

That day of scuba diving may never be topped. Palau is world class and our efforts to get there were rewarded beyond our wildest imaginations. Every single dive had so many things to see we could go back time and time again and never experience it all – but we’ll certainly try again anyway!

When we weren’t scuba diving or kayaking we found other adventures on Babeldaob, the largest island in Palau. One day we joined Greg, an expat lawyer who formerly worked in Portland, for a self guided four-wheel drive tour around the island.  Bouncing around the rough clay roads three hours up to the far tip of the island, we saw ancient stone monoliths, a Bai- an interestingly decorated men’s house, and swam under a waterfall. It was a great way to meet the locals since a lack of road signs necessitated many stops.

PHOTOs:  waterfall, bai

We were surprised by the number of Pacific Northwest expats living in Palau.  Sam, the owner of Sam’s Diving Tours, is a Pacific Northwest expat who grew up in Olympia, WA and moved to Palau over 20 years ago. Starting his own diving operation and building on his success, he has established a very successful business while still managing to create a casual and comfortable atmosphere. Sam’s generosity provided us with an interesting place to call home – his personal sailboat anchored a short kayak paddle away.

Sam’s Bottom Time Bar & Grill is like the “Cheers” bar of Koror. Hanging out at Bottom Time we made new friends, exchanged travel stories, drank Red Rooster beer, and ate the freshest and cheapest sashimi we’ve ever discovered. Dermot, Sam’s general manager originally from Ireland, came to Palau to escape to the Rock Islands. He has traveled and sailed to many great places but Palau has hooked and kept him. Dermot’s Pacific N.W. connection was a three-month stay in Portland while refurbishing a sailboat (his favorite place was… Kell’s Irish Pub of course!)   Dermot’s Palauan wife, Kaud, fell in love with my turtle necklace – I considered trading it in exchange for diving but just couldn’t let it go. She treated us to a huge mangrove crab, a local delicacy, which we enjoyed to its last little morsel. Ron, founder of Planet Blue Kayak Tours, is a graduate from Oregon State University. His enthusiastic spirit and can-do attitude was the catalyst that created our Palauan good fortune. He loves Palau and its nature, so we volunteered to help him protect it by spending half a day collecting destructive reef killing “crown of thorns” starfish – an experience we thoroughly enjoyed.

It’s not always the place, often it’s the people we meet that brings us the best memories. Palau and Sam’s Dive Tours crew offered us an abundance of both.  Palau is definitely another place we’ll come back to visit!

Fiji

Bula Fiji!

After Sixty hours of strenuous travel that began when we left Huahine in French Polynesia, we finally arrived in Fiji and it’s capital city of Nadi.   Now we had to think clearly and make arrangements for our three-week stay, though the lack of sleep sure made this challenging! We decided to visit two areas of Fiji. The first: Kadavu Island, well known for scuba diving and authentic village life. The second: Yasawa Islands, famous for its sunshine and beautiful beaches.

It’s a shame that people have been frightened away from Fiji because of its recent political coups. The Fijians are some of the most laid back, friendly, and hospitable people we’ve encountered in our travels, and the ‘unrest’ has had no effect for visitors other than to decrease tourism by 60% during the last year. It’s a budget travelers dream, visit now – get off the beaten track and you’ll find deals everywhere and space plentiful in your own private slice of paradise.

We were able to arrange an inexpensive flight to Kadavu just a few hours after we arrived in Fiji.  A scenic one-hour small plane flight that brought us to a small dirt landing strip; luckily, we had called ahead to arrange our transfer to Ono Island since it was a one-hour outboard boat ride to Jona’s Paradise – our home for the next eight days.

Locals commuting back home, Kandavu, Fiji

PHOTO:  jonas paradise crew

At Jona’s we quickly adjusted to the relaxed Fijian style and started getting to know the locals. Maggie, the resort manager, was quite the character. His flamboyant gay demeanor was very disarming; he would constantly have us laughing at his comments of affection towards other male members of the Fijian staff. The interesting thing was that no one took offence and often played up the teasing from Maggie. It was hard to not smile when seeing a Fijian dressed in a colorful flowered sulu & matching shirt wearing lipstick!

Philippe, our scuba dive master, who dove over 3500 times in Fiji and knew the surrounding reefs better than anyone. Our dives included spectacular sunlit canyons, abundant fish, sharks, large sea snakes, and beautiful soft corals. Jona, owner of our resort, is known as the best fisherman in Kadavu & provided fresh fish for our lunches and dinners (we discovered the other resorts in Fiji were not eating fish due to the difficulty of catching them during the rainy season). Fresh fish combined with garden fresh vegetables, fruit, home-baked bread and Fiji Bitter Beer helped us stay fed and happy.

Local fisherman often provided our dinners

After a couple of nights of rain, Lindua (Jona’s wife) insisted that we move into one of the bures (thatched hut). The price wasn’t in our budget but refusal of her offer would have been an insult, so a comfy bed with mosquito netting was a nice change from our steamy tent. Best of all, Lindua didn’t charge us a higher rate.

Most evenings we sat on grass mats with villagers and drank kava – a Fijian institution. Beginning as early as 3pm we heard the familiar thump of kava roots being pounded into powder. Kava looks and tastes like muddy water – even the Fijians sometimes make sour faces while drinking a bowl. So why drink kava? It’s a cheap and plentiful mild sedative that numbs your mouth and insures a good night sleep. More importantly, kava brings you together with the Fijians for formal ceremonies and casual social scenes (like going the neighborhood pub).

PHOTO: Fijians drinking kava

During our eight days in Kadavu, we became familiar figures in many different villages and we were always greeted with a heart-felt “Bula”! Numerous other Fijians made us feel welcome and our temporary adopted family included us in their daily life of church, school concerts, village visits, and the local ‘store’.

We had the fortunate opportunity to join our Fijian hosts at the village school Christmas concert. 88 kids sang, danced, and performed skits, which the locals found very entertaining. It was interesting to spend a day in a Fijian village and we learned just how friendly Fijian kids were by taking their photo. As soon as our camera came out of the case, the kids came out of the woodwork – it only took 30 seconds for a mob scene of about 50 kids to develop.

As we motored away from the island to the airport, the heavy rain and choppy seas couldn’t wash away the smiles from our faces while the entire staff waved goodbye. Many of the prominent island locals thanked us for coming to Fiji and for our genuine interest in their culture. Small things like that is what we remember and miss most of all. Jona’s Paradise was exactly what the name says.

Fijian school children

We chose to spend our last two weeks in Fiji in the beautiful Yasawas, the island group where we spent our honeymoon. We flew on the Turtle Airways seaplane and hoped for a chance to stop off at Turtle Island (we thought it would be great to show our faces and worry the staff that the over-active Americans had returned for a second honeymoon). Unfortunately, we found that it would have been easier to get inside Buckingham Palace than to set foot on this exclusive resort. The ultimate torture for us was that from where we stayed on a neighboring island, we could see and almost swim to Turtle Island.

Our first stop, David’s Place, was a big let down compared to Jona’s Paradise. The resort was in need of a face-lift and beach clean up. However our bure was nice and located on the beach with cool breezes, so we decided to stay for a few days and dive with the local scuba dive operation. We quickly discovered that the dive shop, Westside Divers (Westside@is.com.fi), was top notch; new equipment, beautiful fast boats, great service, and small dive groups (averaging 4 people).

One day after diving, we dropped off a diver at a nearby white sandy beach on a new resort (opened Sept 8, 2000). The guys at the dive shop guys told us that this resort was called Oarsman Bay Lodge and was associated with Turtle Island. With a quick radio call and some fast arrangements, we reserved a spot at Oarsmans Bay Lodge.  We arrived to a tradtional Fijian greeting on the beach (singing the same song we heard arriving at Turtle Island five years ago) & we smiled about our luck of stumbling across this wonderful place. Our bure was perfect – airy, tons of windows with fine mosquito mesh screens, and our own bathroom with hot water showers – oh what luxury!

Yasawas means ‘the sunny islands’, so we were expecting clear blue skies and starlit nights…instead we got “rain, rain, rain!”. No matter, we had a great time with the Fijians. When the sun did appear we made the most of it. I floated on the turquoise waters while Dale tried surfing on the free kayaks provided. The Fijians were very entertained by Dale’s attempts to surf – he received constant ‘encouragement’ from the shore along with laughter when he crashed. Small sailboats were also available, so we tried our hand at navigating the craft in moderate winds. After watching us take a few laps across the lagoon one of the Fijians decided to go for a ride with Dale.  After only a few minutes of sailing across the lagoon the Fijian suddenly jumped out of the boat and swam to shore (maybe Dale’s sailing skills weren’t quite perfected yet).

On full moon large, sharp-clawed crabs ran across the sandy lounge area of the resort to deposit their eggs in the ocean.  Even though they aggressively defend themselves Dale caught several which the Fijians cooked up for a tasty treat. Our last day we bushwhacked our way up the highest peak on our island, which overlooked Oarsman’s Bay Lodge & the surrounding Yasawa Islands.

PHOTO:  top of island

After enjoying three fun, relaxing weeks in Fiji, sadly it was time to leave. Mode, vinaka vaka Levu (goodbye and thank you very much) Fiji, we’ll be back!