The Journey Through the Highways of Life: The Underwater Jewel of Kuching

Talang-Talang Island

On October 14, My sister invited me on a snorkelling trip to Talang-Talang Island. Before I venture any further, let me give you a brief introduction about Talang-Talang island. According to the guide on that day Mr. Ernest, In Sarawak we have only 5 islands. From this infomation, I think I may conclude that 4 of the islands are situated in Kuching. These are Talang Talang Island Kecil and Besar (Small and Big). Another two islands which also situated in Kuching Division would be Satang Island Kecil and Besar. Another island in Sarawak should be Pulau Burung (not sure if I am correct or not). Anyway I shall continue about Talang-Talang, both of the islands are marine parks owned by the Sarawak Forestry, thus taking anything from the island (i.e Catching fishes, fishing, Taking corals) are strictly prohibited. Talang-Talang island is around 30 minutes boat ride from Sematan, a small town which is about 2 hours drive from Kuching.

The boat taking us to Talang-Talang

A big boat

Talang-Talang Kecil

Talang-Talang island is also turtle conservatory area, Turtles eggs are protected in these islands, young turtles are kept for a period of time before being released into the sea. According to the guide Talang-Talang island Turtle Conservatory is one of the most successful in Malaysia.

Talang-Talang Besar

We were lucky that day, because that day the weather was extremely good and the water is crystal clear. From the boat we can actually see the underwater life down there swimming and the beautiful corals. Our first stop is at Talang-Talang island kecil, before we went down to snorkel the guide brief us on a few things about the islands, one of the things that he stressed to us is that we should not take anything from the island especially corals or the fishes back home as a souvenir. The park rangers have every right to arrest us if we do so.

Corals

Fish Feeding

The underwater scenery of Talang-Talang Kecil is beautiful, you can see varieties of fishes swimming around the corals, it was superb seeing the fishes swimming in their natural habitat. Some of the fishes are nibbling on the corals. The most exciting part in Talang-Talang Kecil is when we spotted a green turtle trapped on the rocky shores. Of the island, of course like a bunch of crazy people we swam towards shore to take a better look at the turtle, but we sort of frightened it a bit because it rushed inside a small rocky pool, which it got stuck there. It was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen, those big beautiful eyes of it looked at us when we were sitting beside it, the smooth shell and those soft flippers, I am happy I swore myself off turtle eggs ages ago, after seeing this wonderful animal, we took the opportunity to take photos with the turtle and in the end we help and freed it back in the sea, once it was in the water it was like a torpedo, it swam so fast, and it was so graceful, the way it flipped its flippers made it look like a bird, no wonder turtles are called birds of the sea!!

Turtle

Trying 2 free it

Almost free

Later on we went back to the boat for some snacks. My sis’s friend Joseph made a delicious French loaf, it was extremely delicious. We also had crackers with Tuna which of course was not as good as the French loaf that Jo made, but still it satisfied our hunger. He he he

Yummy

Next stop, was Talang-Talang besar, again the guide brief us about the island. The guide told us that the coral formation in Talang-Talang besar is different that that of Talang-Talang Kecil. Talang-Talang seems to be deeper than Talang-Talang Kecil, so it was quite scary but than again like what the guide told us the coral formation is different from Talang-Talang Kecil, here in Talang-Talang besar the corals are far more beautiful that those in Talang-Talang Kecil, here in Talang-Talang besar we can actually see sea anemone and clown fish (Nemo). Again we saw many different types of fishes some of them also saw sharks!! Aiiks…scary…. Haha but I did not see any cause I was too busy swimming near the shore line looking at cute fishes.

Sea Anemone and Clown fish (Nemo)

Our day ended, when we saw a school of dolphins swimming and jumping in a distance which was quite near us, all of us “Ohhed” and “Ahhed” when we saw the dolphins, we were so excited and we were like a bunch of weirdoes who seems to have never seen dolphins in our entire life. Haha… but really that made our day, we went back home smiling. It was the most exciting and lovely trip, I highly recommend you all out there to go try out Talang-Talang. To me it is more beautiful than Manukan Island of KK, Sabah.