Islands off KK

Just wanted to give some info for anyone planning on visiting the islands off the coast of Kota Kinabalu. We were told that it would cost 17r for the boat and 10r for the reantal of snorkel. Once we bought our boat ticket, we were stung for another 6r port tax. When we got on the boat and asked for our snorkelling equipment we were just given mask and snorkel, to get the fins was an extra 5r. Once on the island we were finally stung for another 10r entry fee. We were told that this allowed us into other islands - which would cost another 17r to get to by boat - obviously we didn't do this. All these add ons made it a pretty expensive day and to be honest the beach on Sapi was overcrowded and nothing particularly special and the snorkelling was a complete joke. No coral and a few fish - we were told that this was the best island for snorkelling and thus i'd hate to think what the others had to offer. I decided to enquire about the diving as the snorkelling was so poor and i wanted to do something and i was shocked when i was quoted 250r for a dive!!! Surely one of the most expensive in the World?! Anyway, my advice is give it a miss unless you are completely stuck for something to do (which we were) or have some money to burn. Oh, on a positive, there were some lovely large lizards roaming around, which were by far the highlight of the day :)

Was it 17R per person for the boat ride to one island?? We were planning to go to Manukan & Sapi but your message has made me think...

Sapi is very popular with package tourists, particularly from Korea who generally come from Sutera Harbour. IMO Manukan and Mamutik are much better for snorkelling.
There have been plenty of posts regarding the TAR park and the entry fee is usually mentioned.
Tanjung Aru and Sutera Resort both provide ferry services to the islands but their prices are higher but the service is probably better.
samjawed - my advice is to skip Sapi and do Manukan and Mamutik instead. If you do this through Sutera Harbour it will cost about RM45pp return plus park fee (the brochure I have was valid in January).

I agree with bannedagain. We went to P.Sapi for snorkelling 2003, it was as you said a few coloured fish, full stop! We also made the mistake of going at a weekend. Our boat picked us up later to go onto Manukan, there were fish off the jetty, but we didn't go in the water. It was a disappointing trip.

There were also some fish off the jetty at Sapi - but you couldnt swim in that area, they were just small fish anyway. When we went to Manukan and Mamutik first to drop off other people, we were relieved we weren't on them as there were many tourists, but it ended up Sapi was just as bad - predominantly Japanese and Koreans. Samjawed, the boat is 17r per island, or so i was told, if you add on all the extras ie park fee, snorkelling etc, you can expect to pay about 50r. Also its very expensive to buy anything on the islands, so take your own food and water. Basically, give it a miss. Oh and Sabah museum in KK now has tripled its price to foreigners to a staggering 15r. You can get into Beijings forbidden city, the grand palace and many many more places in Asia for less than this. Again, i dont think its worth the money.

If you wanna see fish, try snorkelling in Redang, off the coast of Terengganu.

Thanks all - we will stick to Manukan alone or maybe even drop the idea of the islands!

We went to Mamutik and it was a waste of money and time - there are two small areas where one can snorkel, but there is almost no fish, most of the corral is dead and there was a jellyfish season, i.e. we got stung a lot. Next time I'd skip TAR.

Manukan is by far the prettiest among the 3 islands in TAR park. I have snorkelled in manukan a few time and i find it rather satisfied. If you were to go to snorkel in one of the island, i would advise you to go for manukan. There are 2 places that you can do snorkeling in Manukan island, be sure to check it out.

Like the above said, things are not cheap on the island. If you really are not willing to spend any extra, bring your own bread, mineral water and some noodles or something from kk city.

Boat fares are ONLY for return trip, if you gonna rent snorkel equipments, it ONLY consists of the mask and snorkel, and when you enter the island, you have to pay certain fees.