Before you ask, this is NOT a plug for Sangalaki... my website doesn't work that way . I don't work that way .

Anyways, I have to say that Sangalaki Dive Lodge is a lovely place, oh so very cute and the marine life is to die for. The island is a teeny little one... one night, we took a walk around the island in search of turtles. We walked around the ENTIRE island and it only took us 20 - 25 mins... it's that "big".

Facilities on the island... well, what can I say? I am used to staying in A-huts, places with outdoor plumbing, no electricity etc. The facilities on this island... my word, whilst it LOOKED like your basic A-huts from the outside, it actually had HOT WATER, and 24 hour electricity. How's that for luxury?? It also had (and I have no idea why) air conditioners. You really don't need air conditioners when your sleeping quarters is literally on the beach. Suffice to say, a few people on the trip, were actually FIGHTING for those air conditioned rooms. Sheesh... if you want air conditioning, stay in the city I say. I simply can't believe how petty some adults can get. It's amazing to think of these grown, professional adults acting like spoilt brats. More on that later...

In case you didn't know what an A-Hut is... check out those tracks leading up to the hut. Nope, it wasn't made by anything mechanical (looks like tractor tracks doesn't it??), but rather, it was made by TURTLES!!

The reason why the A-Huts are raised is because turtles crawl under them (at times) to lay their eggs!! Cool huh? Unfortunately, we didn't get an A-Hut but those who did reported strange noises at night, irregular digging sounds. Sure enough, they found turtle eggs under the huts the next day.

When we first arrive at Sangalaki, we were greeted by the staff with welcome drinks!! "WOW!!" I thought. The ONLY time I've ever experienced this kind of service is in that oh, ever so snooty resort Pangkor Laut (which is SUPPOSED to be a 6 star resort or something ridiculous like that). Service in Sangalaki is really, really good. The staff were so friendly and helpful. Anyways, after the welcome drink, we had our first briefing, the dos and don'ts of the island. We were told NOT to leave the light of our balcony on at night as it would deter the turtles from coming in. Also, we weren't allowed to walk around the resort after 1800 as, again, it would scare the turtles away. Trust me when I say that turtles DID come up EVERY night... we are not talking in the singular here but in the plural. Whilst we were there, 2 batches of eggs actually hatched and we had the wonderful experience of letting them lose in the sea... oh, such cute creatures!! I don't know which was cuter, the turtles or the grown adults fawning over them!!

An honest to goodness air conditioning unit. This blew me away!! TOTALLY unexpected and unnecessary!!	The place even has a satellite phone and TV!! We actually had CABLE telly... VERY important as I came to realise... the finals for the Rugby World Cup (you learn about these kind of things when you are dating someone with testosterone).

The mandatory feeding station for humans... and socialising area where one can sleep if one so desires inbetween dives (VERY popular past time here) . Despite immense use and flat cushions, the sofas were remarkable comfortable!! It even has a fairly decent library (donations are encouraged), coffee and tea bar, water cooler etc.

As night diving is one of the attractions offered here, dinner is served fairly late e.g. 8pm. Trust me, when you have been diving you get HUNGRY and if snacks aren't at hand, dinner time seems far, FAR away. It doesn't help that the sun sets in this neck of the woods early... well, early for us Peninsula dwelling Malaysians. The sun starts setting at around 1815 as opposed to 1930 in Kuala Lumpur. This I found very strange.

Food on this island, well, I've had better. It wasn't bad but it isn't anything you would write home about. Unfortunately, as they were overbooked, at times, we ran short of food. This is a good thing as not only did I get heaps of exercise, I didn't have any chance to stuff my face. I lost more than half the weight I had gained since I stopped smoking (see my diary of a non smoker). There was just enough food for everyone and that was that.

As this is a resort that caters to "serious divers", everyone and I do mean EVERYONE brought their own equipment. Sure, you could rent the equipment there but as mentioned before, it is costly. This island even has its own decompression chamber, presumably for those adventurous types (i.e. idiots) who tend to push the limits. Have you ever noticed that it is the "experienced" ones who get into trouble more than the novices?

The decompression chamber. I don't know how true this is but apparently, it has never been used. Why? Well, they lost the manual!!

The dive station. Check out all those designer wet suits. Somehow, not a single person looked like Lara Croft when squeezed into them!!

Aside from the sun setting early in Sangalaki, the tides are also strange. I am used to tides which turn every 12 hours... here, the tides turned every 6 hours, even less sometimes. When the tide goes out, we have some ways to walk to get back to the resort. Thankfully, we didn't have to carry our tanks with us. The boatmen did that (phew!!). In fact, after we set up our equipment for the very first time, the boatmen took care of EVERYTHING. We didn't have to change tanks, lug the tanks back to the dive station, NOTHING!! We would go into our designated boat and like magic, a brand new tank would be attached to our BCD. The only things we had to carry back were our fins, mask and snorkel. We even left the weight belts behind. Talk about LUXURY!

I took these pictures at 1143 one day. Those little specks you see in the picture on the left, well, those are divers making their way back to the boat for their 2nd dive of the day. It's a good 200m - 300m walk back to the boat when the tide is out. Imagine the poor boatmen carrying air tanks to and from the boat... NOT an easy task!!
I took this picture at 1450. Notice how fast the tide came it? The boats were moored meters away from the beach. It was amazing how fast the tide turned.

One thing that surprised me BIG TIME about this place was that there isn't a source of fresh water on the island. The island IMPORTED fresh water EVERY DAY!! How economical can that be? Everyday, this little wooden fishing boat would arrive with two fairly big tanks of water and the water would be pumped into the storage units on the island. The island staff assured us that there would be adequate water for all of us but we were encourage to use it sparingly. In the event that the island ran out of water, we were to use salt water to bath and do a final rinse with fresh water. So, you can just imagine how special a place Sangalaki is, for the developers to build something there... a place where there is no fresh water source, the 2nd most essential thing in life, after air.

The Divers

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