Sapi Island Kota Kinabalu, Sabah Malaysia — Attraction in Sabah

I did a research before going to these islands. When you go to Kota Kinabalu you can just ride a grab car or maxim to the Jesselton point which is the hop off area to these islands. These islands by the way are part of the Tunku Abdul Rahman Park if I’m not mistaken.

The ticketing area is inside the jesselton point. Booths are already lined up and it’s up to you who to choose to buy boat tickets from. I chose the booth 10 and they offer just the boat rides and add ons like parasailing, walking underwater etc. i chose 2 islands to visit, The Mamutik and Manukan. You also rent the life vest and the snorkeling devices that is not included in your ticket. They automatically chose the island destination for me (maybe because mamutik and Manukan is already near each other). Buying tickets are not hassle as it seems. There is also no waiting time coz the boats arrive every 5-10 minutes i think. There is also a fee you pay upon entering the island which is separate from the ticket you bought from the Jesselton point which is a bit expensive if you’re a tourist and not malaysian.

Manukan island is a bit crowded for me but the beach and the island is beautiful. White sand and beautiful walkway bridge.

Mamutik island is smaller compared to manukan island but for me this is more beautiful than the manukan. The white sand is finer compared to Manukan and a less crowded. I also prefer snorkeling here than the Manukan island because there is a lot more fish here and you can already see lots of beautiful corals even in shallow area of the beach.

There are places to eat in each island I have never tried but I think it’s a bit expensive. There are also a lot in the Jesselton...

This is a beautiful place. Unfortunately it's an over the top " first world", "safety first" type setting. You need to put on a life vest to go into the peaceful water. Then it's a roped off small area. Basically a beautiful tourist trap feel. I understand the reasons, but having spent a lot of time on the beaches of California, Florida and Brazil, I found this boring and not my style. I understand most Asians can't swim, But the life vest is a deal breaker. The snorkeling was very bland also. The bottom was sand and there was no coral where you are allowed to go. Anyone near the ropes would hear non stop whistling from the life guards who watch vigilantly... Making sure nobody has a unique experience. It's a great selfie spot if that's your thing. I'd skip Malaysian beaches all together. Indonesia is a little less controlled and therefore a better experience for those of us who can actually swim. As an aside, nearly every online "tour" throughout our Malaysia Borneo trip had a highly manufactured, boring, fake feel. The best things we did were with local grab drivers or homestay referrals. I'd also add that the later were all generally honest and a fraction of the price of the touted tours. Our anal retentive Singaporean friend booked us a tour to Mount Kinabalu . It was in a tourist van that had protection bars preventing any good photos and any authentic experience. In addition the driver past up many great spots in which we could have pulled over for a picture of the mountain, instead driving us up to a dairy with the mountain by that time covered in fog. ...

There are 4 islands you can choose from to spend the day on a trip away from Kota Kinabalu. All the boats leave from Jessleton point. We chose to go to Sapi island as we wanted to do the zipline between Gaya and Sapi however the boat booking agent clearly didn't tell us it was closed for maintenance for a month so we only found out when we arrived, that was annoying as we certainly would have gone to another island had we known.

Sapi itself is a pretty horrible experience and I wouldn't recommend it at all if you are a Western tourist looking for peace and quiet, tranquillity etc. If you're an Asian tourist who wants to float about in a lifevest in a restricted swim zone looking a fish then you'll love it here.

So, the swim zone is a cordon marked out by a floating line, it is no more than 7 or so metres out from shoreline and as soon as you cross it you will get reprimanded by the lifeguards. There is nowhere to swim as the water is full.

The beach itself is over run with people and noise (and some smells), it is very far...