Under the Water, Not Over the Edge 🐠 Scuba Therapy on Gaya Island, Borneo
After the trauma of Mount Kinabalu, after the seven-hour descent of despair, and after several days spent shuffling around like a pair of octogenarians who’d attempted a salsa competition, we needed a different kind of extreme. We needed the restorative properties of warm water and oxygen tanks.
The irony, of course, is that a scuba diving trip—an activity involving strapping heavy canisters to your back and descending into the depths—felt infinitely more relaxing and less life-threatening than walking downhill.
We returned to Amazing Borneo Tours. (yes, we trusted them enough again not to kill us) and booked a trip to the reefs off Gaya Island, a short, civilised boat ride from Kota Kinabalu.
Highlights
- A Civilised Transfer (at sea level)
- Amazing Borneo Dive Options
- Back to Basics 🥽 A PADI Refresher
- A Weighty Debate & Sinus Calamity
- The Zen of the Deep 🧘
- From Calf-Cramps to Coral Gardens
- Flights from KL to Kota Kinabalu
- All Hotel Deals in Kota Kinabalu
- Experiences 🌟 Not Sightseeing
- Our Complete Borneo Itinerary
- Essentials for Snorkeling/Diving
A Civilised Transfer (at sea level!)
The transfer from our Shangri-la hotel just north of Kota Kinabalu was a dream: no jarring minivan, no sudden altitude changes. Just a pleasant spacious van ride along the coast road that was, crucially, flat.
We even managed a brief, sarcastic reflection on the mountain looming in the distance. “Look at that magnificent lump,” I thought, “trying to trick people into climbing it.”
There was a brief silence as we acknowledged the mountain in the distance. We looked at that great, indifferent heap of granite—a geological bait-and-switch. It was posing, of course; trying its best to look like an ‘aspiration’ rather than a vertical torture device.
We arrived at our dive assembly area, an open morning market with a few stalls reserved for the dive staff. All the diving equipment was already stashed on the dive boat. This was just the mandatory check-in, requiring our diving credentials and the inevitable indemnity signatures.
Aquatic Redemption 🐠 Amazing Borneo
When it comes to discovering the vibrant marine life of the Tunku Abdul Rahman Park, Amazing Borneo Tours together with their Go Aquatic dive operators, provide the established, seamless experience you require.
They are the veterans of Sabah tourism, extending their logistical mastery from the mainland straight into the clear, warm waters off Gaya Island.
Their scuba packages are designed for maximum aquatic enjoyment and minimum fuss. Whether you are a newly certified diver or haven’t seen a regulator in years, they handle the entire process: the transport, the premium gear, the necessary instruction, and access to the best reefs—all with the efficiency that comes from decades of operation.
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Seamless Logistics: Reliable transport and booking managed by Sabah’s most established operator.
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Premium Marine Access: Direct diving and snorkelling trips to the sheltered reefs of Gaya Island and TAR Park.
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Certification Covered: Options for introductory DSD (Discover Scuba Diving), certified fun dives, and PADI refresher courses.
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The Adult in the Room: Expert Divemasters ensured our safety, picked the best sites, and pointed out the turtles we were too busy clearing our masks to see.
We didn’t touch a gear bag; we just showed up and tried to look like we knew what a BCD was.
Price: Packages start from roughly RM 380 (€80) for multiple dives.
Back to Basics 🥽 The PADI Refresher
Now, having not breathed deep underwater since the 1990s—a time when our diving equipment resembled something from Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea—we were not simply allowed to strap up and plunge into the abyss.
Oh no. We had been politely, but firmly, informed that we required a PADI refresher day. This meant a morning dedicated to remembering which valve does what, practising rudimentary skills like clearing a mask full of water, and generally proving we hadn’t forgotten the basic science of not drowning.
The highlight of the administrative process, however, was the genuine amusement we provided to the younger dive staff when we presented our physical PADI dive cards. These are thick, plastic relics from a bygone era, prompting stifled laughter from the guides who now deal exclusively with digital certification.
We felt instantly ancient (and rather privileged) – the last gasp of analogue diving in a fully digital world.
36 Years Later 🧟
Once our guide’s fit of laughter had abated, we were permitted to embark on three glorious boat dives. This was preceded by the standard refresher checks, after which our confidence had been suitably renewed.
Our guide for this aqueous adventure was a brilliant Malay guy named Owee, whose calm demeanour is precisely what you need when your brain is trying to remember the difference between a regulator and a snorkel.
⚓ A Weighty Debate (& Sinus Calamity)
So we boarded the boat, and were soon on route to Gaya island.
With the trauma of the refresher course successfully navigated (and our dignity only slightly bruised), it was time for the practical application: the first boat dive. But before this, the age-old, subtly contentious discussion with the Divemaster: how much weight?
Given that I hadn’t used SCUBA since Tony Blair was still considered trustworthy, I had done some mental calculations—an educated guess, if you like—and settled on needing about 5 or 6 kilos on the belt. More is safer than bobbing about like a distressed cork, I reasoned.
Owee, however, had the benefit of experience, and a general rule of thumb. He suggested a mere 4 kilos.
Naturally, I capitulated. Owee is the expert, after all. But deep down, nestled next to the mild anxiety of bobbing around embarrassingly on the surface, was the inner knowledge that this was simply not enough mass to drag my buoyant, earthbound body down into the deep blue.
And, of course, the moment we started our descent, I was proven correct. I spent the first five minutes of the dive performing an elegant, yet infuriating, dance: kicking to stay down, fiddling with the BCD, and generally looking like a man trying to retrieve a lost sock from the bottom of a fast-flowing river.
The buoyancy wasn’t my only struggle, mind. My sinuses, bless their obstinate little hearts, hate diving. They reject the notion of pressure equalization with a stubbornness that would make a mule blush. While others can do a quick, simple Valsalva manoeuvre (a gentle nose-pinch and blow) to clear their airspaces, I was left with only one desperate solution: snorting seawater.
Yes, truly refined stuff.
For myself, its always been as uncomfortable, disgusting, and utterly necessary as it sounds, a pre-dive faff of self-torture required to keep my head from feeling like a collapsing tin can. It’s certainly not something you see in the PADI promotional videos.
Anyway, with the aid of Owee’s patient tugs and the occasional desperate snort, we eventually stabilised and descended into that glorious, silent world…
Owee was a patient divemaster
The Zen of the Deep 🧘
We were immediately enveloped in the warm, wet comfort of the sea. There is something profoundly calming about the weightlessness of diving, a state of glorious suspension that contrasts sharply with the frantic, gravitational effort required to ascend a mountain.
Underwater, the rules are delightfully different. There’s no urgency, no steep inclines, and absolutely no need for hiking poles.
The physical exertion is minimal—a gentle fin kick is all you need. You glide through the water, watching the world unfold in vibrant, silent splendour. The constant, rapid-fire calculations of mountain descent—Is this rock slippery? Is my right knee about to give up entirely? Will I make it to the bottom before hypothermia sets in?—are replaced by the simple, meditative rhythm of your own breathing.
We submerged, and the transition from the terrestrial world of painful struggle to the serene, blue world of weightlessness was instantaneous. It was therapy, pure and simple.
We descended to a respectable depth, where the colours deepen and the light diffuses beautifully. I found myself briefly contemplating the absurdity: we’d spent three days fighting to reach the highest point in the ASEAN region, only to find our true relaxation and peace at its lowest.
“This,” I thought, inhaling deeply on the regulator, “is a much more sensible way to spend a Tuesday.”
It was a turtle discovery
From Calf-Cramps to Coral Gardens
We had 2 morning dives, and one more in the afternoon, after a very satisfying lunch.
We spent the day exploring the coral gardens, our legs entirely forgotten. The jelly-like trembling of the calves had been replaced by the gentle sway of the current. The deep-seated cold from the mountain rain was now a distant memory, replaced by the encompassing warmth of the tropical sea.
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The Marine Life: A veritable zoo of peculiar and brightly coloured creatures. Giant clams that looked like they were hiding secrets, clownfish darting around their anemone flats, and schools of fish flashing silver in the light.
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The Silence: The only sound is the gentle, reassuring whoosh of the air from your regulator. It is a profound, blessed silence, a welcome respite after the wind-howling, knee-groaning auditory assault of Mount Kinabalu.
- The Wildlife Bonus: During one particularly serene dive, we were granted a vision of pure, unbothered grace: a large sea turtle, resting casually on the sandy bottom, utterly unconcerned with the ridiculousness of human ambition. It was a masterclass in living without gravity.
The contrast was stark, and utterly delicious. Climbing Kinabalu was about conquering; diving Gaya Island was about coexisting. It was less painful, and the fish didn’t demand we sign an indemnity form before proceeding (… although Amazing Borneo Tours did).
We paid just RM 380 (€80) per person for 3 boat dives, including the refresher course, rental of all equipment, and lunch. Excellent value. We surfaced, happy, warm, and no longer looking like we’d been dragged backward through a hedge.
We had done the mountain, we had suffered, and now we had earned our blissful, buoyant, underwater reward.
And yes. we did have to climb up some more steps to get back on the boat…
If you enjoyed our Borneo Kinabalu Climb, take a look at our other Tropical Travel Plans. You may also like:
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