Ever since I posted the photos of me visiting Semporna, some friends have asked me about it. Mainly on where I stayed. I would usually stagger (read: delay) my posts for months but I felt the need to update this particular trip much faster than others.
Simply because it is becoming a very popular Malaysian destination. And I mean very. I also thought this would slowly help Sabah get its mojo back, if not in the near future, fellow Malaysians can plan for next year! 😊
Long story short: I stayed at Lato Lato Resort!
There's honestly no ingenious reason for this choice, I stayed here because it was the only thing I could find on Booking.com or Airbnb 😂 I was browsing through some houses in Airbnb and found this resort with multiple reviews and thought, wow looks good and not bad price!
It's a 360 degree sea view 😍
Plus, remember my first post about getting to know Semporna? I. Really. Didn't. Know. Anything. About. Semporna! Nothing. Not how many islands are there, nor what are the good ones for snorkeling, or places that are good for single travelers. Nothing. You could say it was random luck.
Lol the amount of seafood I've been eating during this trip.
The stay cost me RM 150 per person per night with full board four meals. The meals are breakfast, lunch, tea time and dinner. The stay also includes snorkeling gears which means, you can request at any time for the gears and simply jump into the sea and swim!
For a day or two, I think it's perfect to rest and relax. I'm not sure about more than that lol. Because bear in mind, the generator only kicks in between 6.30pm to 7.00am. So between then, you either eat, swim or sleep.
Please take note Lato Lato Resort is located right in the middle of the sea located within the Bum Bum Islands area, so you would need to request or arrange for boat transfers from the mainland Semporna. I didn't arrange this at first, and was quite in a predicament for not doing so. I think I took my trip too leisurely, which I thought was fine but if my mum had been next to me she would have screamed her lungs out.
On the day to find the boat, I woke up late, maybe around 9am and went to the general jetty, which caused quite a commotion. When I was walking around I asked one of the locals (they are nice people, but you need to be vigilant as well because they do scam or manipulate you into giving them money). He brought me to the jetty (which was the first one I went to but no one looked quite certain) and I was ambushed by so many people, mainly men. They kept asking me, where you going? Where you going? At one point, everyone kept asking who my "agent" was.
Apparently, the tours and travels in Semporna are really sort of arranged by "specific agents". I don't think in a bad way, I think they just respected each other's business that way. So mine, fell or ran by one specific agent - which eventually, I still do not know who.
Anyway, I manage to get the guys at Lato Lato to sort my boat transfer from the jetty at the very last minute around 11am, and got the boat just before 12pm. I mean I realised, maybe I should sort with the resort directly instead of jumping into any of these random boats - which could go nowhere 😅. You could save much more time when you take their boat transfers in advance. It cost me RM 150 (return) for a boat ride that is approximately half an hour. I think it would be cheaper for a family to because it felt like I chartered the boat on my own. Again, all my doing lol.
SO. Back to the resort, Lato Lato is generally a very beautiful resort - but you are only truly blessed if the weather is on your side. And the weather was, on my side!!!!! OMG how lucky am I?
Besides the eating, the only other things I did there were snorkeling in the evening and kayaking in the clear boat (so I can see the corals underneath), catch the sunset and accidentally catch the sunrise.
I say accident because I wanted to check my phone when I tilt my head to the platform and was like, omg! Sunrise!
I slept back after that.
Yes, being in the middle of the sea means you could catch both sunset and sunrise!
It was pretty awesome.
The only tips I can give you are,
- Practice your SOP, social distancing and sanitisers. Check in on all locations.
- Arrange your airport transfers early. Don't be like Jacqkie.
- Always take the full board meals cause you're right at the sea, no 7 Eleven nearby.
- Bring a book - no electricity between 7am to 6pm (you would need to get creative about what to do with your day, swimming, kayak and generally relaxing would be great. Playing with your phone is not creative, also battery can die - you need this to be alive for emergency)
- Catch both the sunrise or sunset if you can.
- Trust the locals but also be vigilant at all times. Like anywhere else in the world.
- But not least, enjoy the view!
Love,
Jacqueline Rowena @ Jacqkie.
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