Jessica Wandering

Photos and thoughts on my travels

Kota Belud and Kota Kinabalu- last stops in Borneo

BigFin Beach resort walkway down to the ocean from dining area
From the porch in our cabin. No air conditioning here. But it is so beautiful it’s worth not sleeping well.
Snorkel first then remember how to SCUBA.

I was so excited to dive again. Looking forward to it. Reviewing the basics and got in the water. And…actually had a panic attack when put my head in the water! So weird. A purely lizard brain response, and a logical one. But quite inconvenient. I’m bummed I can’t remember the name of the woman instructor who stayed and breathed with me and went up early with me because I ran out of air. I’m proud of myself for getting past it and diving. I even had self compassion during! I think if I’d allowed myself to mostly be frustrated with myself it wouldn’t have worked and I’d have had to abort. And not see all the neat fish!
Downsides of this place were no air conditioning so hard to sleep and …
sand flies. You barely feel them biting as you lie in your hammock on the beach.

Finally a bug I don’t over react to!
But Zarah did. 83 bites swollen painful and itchy for days. I’m so impressed she didn’t scratch and just breathed through it.
This place had so much heart. The staff was so kind and like a family. They had kareoke and let us all join in. So much fun.
Staff playing volleyball.
2nd-4th dives no panic, just a little concern but manageable. We dove in a current and were able to just watch the world go by with less effort. And the guys gave me an overfilled tank so I could stay down longer.
Hard to leave such a sweet place, but looking forward to being cooler.
And catching up on some sleep.
Zarah rocking the snake swim suit going snorkeling in Kota Kinabalu. We are so pale, we just have to cover to avoid burning.
If you zoom in you can see the floating village.
We had a good feeling in Kota Kinabalu. This was a great Korean restaurant with a camping theme just a block from our hotel.
People just seemed lighter there than Kuching and Sandankan.

There was a great coffee/lunch place with a Kiwi expat server that chatted a while every time we went in. There was pretty good snorkeling you can take a boat to for cheap. But ask about the tides, they took us to an island that we basically couldn’t snorkel in the afternoon with the tide low. But they don’t tell you that buying the tickets. But knowing that I’d love to go back.

jessicaeastre

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