Usukan Cove, Kota Belud, Sabah

By Tadpole

“A bay full of corals” is my first impression of Usukan Cove. The diversity and density of corals in Usukan Cove is better than Sapi and Manukan. In fact, it looks like Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park in pristine condition 30 years ago.

Usukan Cove is only a few minutes away from Kg. Kuala Abai of Kota Belud. On the way to Usukan, you will pass by a white steel bridge called “Japanese Bridge”, which was built by the Japanese to transport the copper mined from Mamut in the past.

Built next to the sandy beach of Usukan Cove is Usukan Cove Lodge, which offers clean and cosy accommodation, from bunk-bed room to sea view twin-bed room. The lodge is able to host maximum of 50 people, so it is a suitable school retreat location.

Many European tourists love this quiet place too, as they want more privacy. A variety of nature-based activities are available for visitors to enjoy the sea, river and forest around.

SNORKELLING

Snorkelling is the best choice of activity due to the rich corals in Usukan. The density and size of the coral reef is remarkable. A boat sent me to Usukan Reef and Icy Point for the snorkelling. The Usukan Reef mainly consists of hard corals. Many species grow in big clusters. I saw large areas of big plate corals and stag-horn corals.

In Icy Point, I saw hard corals, as well as a mix of soft corals and sea grass. The sea water in Icy Point is a bit strange. In one spot the sea water is warm, but moving a few feet away I would feel cool, probably that’s why they call it Icy Point. The corals come in different forms and shapes, like big boulders, brain, fingers, pyramid, sponge and lower. Though the shore is quite far away, the water was shallow and most of the times, the corals were only a few feet under me.

For divers, you have a choice of four dive sites in Usukan, and three wreck-diving sites for advanced divers. The feature in Usukan is a type of coral that looks like Christmas Tree.

DEEP SEA FISHING

I also tried “deep sea fishing” in the sea 20 minutes off the mainland by boat. Actually it was only 14 Meters in depth. It was so nice that the workers prepared everything for me, from the fishing rod to hook and bait, making my life so easy.

In 3 minutes, we got our first fish! At first I thought we were only lucky. But from there on, we got fish in every 3 minutes. I got 3 fishes, two blacktip groupers and a Jackfish. One of us even got a puffer fish and another got blue-dotted stingray. The capture of blue-dotted stingray caused a brief moment of fear onboard because the sting on its tail is venomous. After an hour of fishing, we returned to Usukan Cove Lodge with our fruitful caught and they cooked the fishes for us as dinner.

RIVER CRUISE

We started our river cruise at Kawa-Kawa River in late afternoon, to look for the Proboscis Monkey. On one side of this 15-Meter-wide river is human settlement and another side is mainly mangrove and nipah forest. Since the proboscis monkeys are so used to people, they are relatively less elusive and we can get really close to them.

To stay away from predators at night, Proboscis Monkey has the habit of spending the night on the trees next to the river. About 4 to 5 herds of Proboscis Monkey live along Kawa-Kawa River. Luckily we found 3 groups of them despite the poor weather.

Besides long-nosed monkeys, we also saw crab-eating macaque (long-tailed macaque), monitor lizard and many birds such as oriental darter, white-bellied sea eagle, little heron, blue-throated bee eater, white-collar kingfisher, frigate, doves, egrets and bulbul. After we exited the estuary of Kawa-Kawa River and on the way to Abai River, we were rewarded by the magic moment of the sunset.

Then we proceeded to the mangrove forest of Abai River to look for firefly. We saw the “Christmas Trees”, which are in fact the twinkling light of hundreds of fireflies gathered on the trees! That was such a wonderful closing for my tour in Usukan Cove.

Source: New Sabah Times 'In' Sites

NOTE: Photo Copyright to New Sabah Times
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