SANDAKAN, BORNEO, MALAYSIA
Lankayan Island Resort, set on a tropical island, offers best snorkelling, diving and kayaking. It offers 23 spacious but simple and comfortable sea front timber chalets. Each chalet has a balcony overlooking the white sandy beach or turquoise coloured ocean. The rooms are equipped with a mini-fridge, hot running water, and a coffeemaker. There is no TV but there is so much to see outside that you really don’t need one.
Meals are informally served at the central open building, which boasts an amazingly beautiful open-air wooden terrace surrounded by swaying casuarinas, the ideal spot for after dinner relaxation and chatting, all the while admiring the dozens of juvenile black tip sharks swimming leisurely a few feet beneath. Occasionally, head out to the sunset bar for an evening get together BBQ while enjoying the panoramic view of the sun surrendering for the day.
Lankayan Island is also becoming one of the hottest diving destinations with all its dive sites within a few minutes away and boasting of colourful macro, fauna, fascinating wrecks and in season from March to May, regular sightings of gigantic and harmless whale sharks, the "dream date " of every diver in the world.
Amenities
Bar/PubConciergeFamily RoomGardenRestaurantWater SportsLankayan Island Resort SANDAKAN, BORNEO, MALAYSIA
Stay The Lankayan Island Resort offers 23 spacious but simple and comfortable sea front timber chalets. Each chalet has a balcony overlooking the white sandy beach or turquoise coloured ocean. The rooms are equipped with a mini-fridge, hot running water, and a coffeemaker. There is no TV but there is so much to see outside that you really don’t need one.
ChildCare Children are welcome to stay at the Lankayan Island Resort, but there are no specific facilities available.
Dine The restaurant on Lankayan Island is spacious and serves some of the best and freshest seafood available. A wide variety of dishes, both western and Asian are served as a buffet on the open-air wooden terrace. It is also a great spot for after dinner relaxation and chatting, while admiring the dozens of juvenile black tip sharks swimming leisurely a few feet beneath.
Relax Situated within the Sea Turtle Corridor, Lankayan Island is also a nesting place and foraging ground for sea turtles; most commonly Green and Hawksbill Turtle. One late afternoon as the sun was about to set, we were walking on the beach, when we saw the nest suddenly burst open and the baby turtles began to crawl instantly towards the sea. It was an amazing site to watch and certainly one of great highlights of our stay at the Lankayan Island.
Experience You can walk around the Island in 10-15 minutes but we decided to kayak around the Lankayan Island instead. This turned out to be rather hard work but we had some amazing experiences. We saw some healthy coral and a variety of marine life, including blue star fish, lion fish, baby reef sharks, bat fish, clown fish, and an occasional barracuda. We even followed a mother green turtle as she swam close to the beach and saw cuttlefish, moray eels and giant clams that were truly impressive.
Location Lankayan Island Resort is located on the Lankayan Island in the Sulu Sea, north-east Borneo. It is about one and half hour boat ride from Sandakan. Unpopulated and covered by thick tropical island vegetation on its topside, this peaceful, untouched little bit of paradise is ringed by an endless pure white sandy beach.
Getting There Kota Kinabalu is a short hop from Singapore, Hong Kong, Kaula Lumpur and Brunei. Arrive at the Kota Kinabalu airport and then fly to Sandakan. Lankayan Island is in the Sulu Sea about 80km off the north-east coast of Sabah, Borneo. It takes about 2 hours from Sandakan by speed boat. Depending on the sea conditions, the boat ride can be bumpy or smooth.
When to go The best time to see Orang-utans is between March and October (peak July and August) when the trees are fruiting and they come down to lower slopes to feed. This makes it easier to find them during the walking safaris. From June to September and especially during August is the turtle hatching season. There is a hatchery on Lankayan Island where you can see the release of hundreds of newly born Green and Hawksbill Turtles into the ocean. Between March and May Whale Sharks are spotted not far off the East coast as they pass through the reefs on their constant migration pattern.
Destination
Western, Borneo
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