Day two began waking up from a lovely restful sleep at my loft queen bed at Jono’s place….

I was determined to catch a sunrise and sunrise in Sabah can be pretty early… and I managed to walk all the way from Jono’s Place to the Seafest Jetty where I got my sunrise photo….

Then I took a nice stroll back to the guesthouse and headed to the kitchen to make myself a yummy bowl of maggi curry.. after all, sometimes the simple things are really good if you know how to enjoy it….

Abang Pat and Mat came over earlier and took us for a local breakfast at Restaurant Mawar Mee Tauhu Sembilu Rasa where we tried the noodles and nasi kuning with fish/ chicken and /or tauhu… it certainly was yummy

From there, we headed to the public jetty (did not know this one existed until now) where we boarded our boat that took us to our home for the night, the newly opened Starz Water Village…

We left our bags and all before hopping back on our boat to go island hopping… cos , hey, if you are in Semporna and not doing any island hopping, it sure is a crying shame…

This time we headed to Pulau Timba- Timba, Pulau Mataking and Pulau Pom Pom….

Pulau Timba-Timba or Timba- Timba island is just stunning…. This speck in the ocean is the perfect Instagrammable island. With a beach that’s about one kilometre long, not much else, you can feel like you have escaped the world here. However, during a peak season, it is also full of tourists….. hehehe as it is one of the few public islands you can wander around….

Pulau Timba- Timba is located to the northeast of Semporna off the coast of Sabah, and quite close to Pulau Mataking .. Pulau Mataking is the island which is furthest from Semporna and closest to the Phillipines borders

You should take the opportunity to snorket at Pulau Timba-Timba, as the clear turquoise waters surrounding the island are home to a breathtaking array of marine life from colourful corals, tropical fish and starfishes. It’s located just outside the Tun Sakaran Marine Park.

It is said that there are about ten dive sites around the island with moray eels, frogfish, barracudas and nurse sharks being commonly seen here!!!

Pulau Mataking is a private island with powdery white sand and crystal clear sea water that can be soooo blue on a sunny day … There is only 1 resort on Mataking Island, and no one is allowed on the island except the resort guests and like Sipadan Kapalai, there are Malaysian Royal Navy patrolling and keeping a lookout for trouble and keeping residents safe…

Since we were not Pulau Mataking Resort guests, we could only visit in the boat and snorkel if we wanted to…. And we were pretty tempted but Abang Pat warned us against playing with the fishes which were more aggressive there… and we then decided against it… I for one did not want to be missing a finger or a toe or my ears to the trigger fishes …

We contented ourselves having a simple but nice packed lunch on the boat while enjoying the view and the fishes

From there we headed to Pulau Pom Pom where we did a fair bit of snorkelling and feeling amazed by the underwater world before heading back to Starz Water Village SWV….

Starz Water Village SWV is one of the newer resorts recently opened and one which is built in the middle of the sea, on stilts on top of corals in the shallow waters off the coast of Semporna…

Currently the resort or water village has 20 rooms, 10 which are queen bedded and 10 twin bedded… the rooms are cutely named after the owner’s children…

The resort may be new but it sure was welcoming and we had the house rules briefed to us as well as time for our dinner , breakfast and when the boat leaves the water village in the morning….

Here as the Starz Water Village SWV, you can surround yourself with the blue blue skies and blue blue sea and just feel awesome…. Fullboard packages begins at just RM320per person….

we saw shoals of baitfishes, swam with the starfishes (wait they were just there) and had appearances by squids, turtles and all kind of fishes….

Dinner and breakfast were certainly yummy and you could swim and snorkel as you like in the centre of the water village… there are platform and steps for you to go down to the sea…

I certainly had an unforgettable time and sunset and sunrise here were just spectacular… for more details and info, contact : +60 14-550 4429

Address – Kampung Tundun Bum Bum, 91308 Semporna