Layang Layang

I know it has been awhile, but better late than never....

In mid-May, my husband and I spent five nights on the island of Layang Layang off the northwest coast of Malaysian Borneo. As you can see, there were beautiful sunsets. There were also some really nice diving. We were just a little late and so the schools of hammerhead sharks were gravitating lower and thus out of our reach to see well. When the visibility was good, we could see some off in the distance probably twenty meters (60 feet) below us. That was fine with me, to be honest. I have gotten comfortable with seeing most sharks in the water especially those that are smaller than a human, but hammerheads have such a mixed reputation that I am happy to keep my distance. Instead, I really enjoyed the manta ray and turtles.

I would recommend any divers to take a trip to Layang Layang, but to not leave it as late as mid-May. I hear Mid-April is perfect timing. I really only recommend Layang Layang, though, if you can stay on a liveaboard. We stayed at the only accommodations on the island and they just weren't worth what we paid for them. I have been told that it is typically Malaysian to build a resort or any building and to do little to no maintenance. From the beginning, though, they used cheap materials inside the hotel - from the veneer walls to the AstroTurf carpeting - it felt like living on a very cheap boat. The walls were so thin that we could hear the conversations of people in the hallway and adjoining rooms. One friend we made there joked that she could hear all of the phones ring on her floor when the daily wake up call for divers was sent out by the front desk.

The staff also only sporadically cleaned the common areas. I could tell that management was, for instance, requiring staff to keep the tile floor in the dining room of the three times daily buffet clean, but it was obvious by the dark ring around the tile in the swimming pool just above the water line and the layer of tanning oil on the water's surface that management thought the pool would pretty much take care of itself and that the deck furniture would naturally stay clean by leaving it out in the rain.

As an icing on the cake, so to speak, the hotel decided the night before our departure to change the three flights they arrange for transportation back to Borneo to one large flight. Fortunately, we took our travel agent's advice and booked our connecting flight the next morning, but most people weren't so lucky. Forunately for us the re-scheduled flight was also a few hours late. Otherwise, from a diving safety point of view, we would have been cutting it really close to the minimum nitrogen detox waiting period required before flying.

The issues were mostly overshadowed by the nice diving and the other divers we met. For the most part, everyone we met was an experienced diver so it made for really relaxing dives. And, above the water, we were fortunate to meet other couples our age to hang out with. The lackluster buffet style meals would have been unbearable otherwise.

One lesson I have taken away from diving in SE Asia is to bring my own equipment. It is a major pain for someone travelling for an extended period of time, but it is really worth it. The equipment maintenance in Malaysia and Indonesia at least is ridiculous and verges on dangerous. I will be heading to Fiji in a few months too, and from what I read from reviews online, it isn't much better there either. So yesterday, I bit the bullet and bought a new suitcase, one more suitable for my dive equipment. My original backpack was huge at 65 liters, but this Quiksilver surfing bag on wheels is enormous at 96 liters. Fortunately, my husband will be able to bring my bcd and regulator with him when he joins me in Indonesia in July so I will then have all of my own gear (sans my fins).