Return to Pulau Sibu, Rimba This Time

Why mess with perfection? We have found our perfect tropical island in Pulau Sibu, Malaysia. This time, we visited the neighboring resort, Rimba. I feel weird calling them resorts though. I mean, they are amazing places and they feel luxurious but also perfectly rustic in all the ways you want a beach holiday to be: thatched roof cabins, mosquito nets, bare feet, everything outdoors, the sounds of the surf. . . perfection. It's a great place to spend a school vacation week.

This time, we added fantastic food, snorkeling, and a trip around the island including its main village and one of the out-at-sea fishing villages.

After a 2.5 hour drive, we parked at the jetty and boarded our boat to Rimba. Sharing a boat with us was a young Londoner named Richard who had visited Rimba last fall and decided to return to the island to work for a while. They put him right to work and he became one of our buddies.

Grandma Nancy was visiting for this trip.

Here it is, our home for the next several days.

We took our time making our way to the first cabin, but the kids were quickly ready to slip out of their regular clothes and into some bathing suits.

Not a bad view, eh?

Even the view inside is interesting.

The resort is set up with a central dining room, lounge areas, bar, and sun deck while the cabins are tucked away at the front of the jungle along a cute little path with pretty lights. It really feels like a little town. This resort reminded us of a much, much smaller Monhegan Island, but with palm trees. Here is the view from our first cabin down the path to the second one.

The light was so gorgeous I had to take several portrait-style shots of the kids. 

There will be more of those. Here is a shot inside the second cabin, the one with the bunk beds.

The first afternoon was spent swimming in the rocky surf and looking for sea glass along the beach. That night, we had worked up a hunger. The kids ate a special kids meal under the stars in the early evening and Richard (the new bartender) and Sophie (the amazing, fantastic big sister to all the kids) painted their faces and danced with the kids while the adults had a mind-blowing four-course meal in the dining room. Perfection.

When we woke up the next morning, the tide was way, way out. We had breakfast and explored the beach.

Little surfer dude.

Searching for sea glass.

Lunchtime.

Zoe at the bar.

After lunch, we took a snorkeling trip. And this is when I cried. Not out of sadness or fear. I cried because my back had turned to this island as we were cruising along in the boat. Suddenly there was a sharp turn and I swiveled around to check out why we were stopping and saw this island near the coral reef where we would snorkel. Suddenly, I was overcome with surprise and gratitude. I feel so incredibly lucky to have been able to be in this most gorgeous place with my beautiful, healthy, happy children. 

Just look at this place. The sand is white powder. The water is every color of turquoise and you can see all the way down to your toes and beyond. It seems unreal, but I promise you we were there. And we had the whole tiny island to ourselves.

We were here for about an hour and half snorkeling. The kids did some at first but then returned to the sand to play with Sophie while the adults kept exploring. We saw vibrant, healthy coral reef in every color: red, orange, tan, green, even blue! Lots of fish, some in big schools, some exploring on their own. They were also very brightly colored, some seeming to glow under the water. Lots of zebra fish and sea anemones. Another woman in our group saw a big sea turtle and a baby reef shark. There are supposed to be a bunch of rays around here but no one saw any today. Reluctantly, we waved goodbye.

After some more beach time, we showered and watched the sunset with some Tigers in frosty mugs. Thanks, Richard.

It was another night with an early kids dinner, but this time we put them to bed before adults' dinner and used walkie-talkies as our babysitter. No worries.

After a good, deep sleep it was time to do it all again. Here we are heading to breakfast.

But before we can eat, the kids have work to do. Every morning they helped Richard pound out the sand and dust from the cushions and set up the bar and lounge area.

Today marked the arrival of our new friends from London, Millie and Daisy. And everyone loved the island dog, Shaka.

The girls really wanted to open a coconut so Angus helped us out.

Time for a drink.

Here is the path back to our cabins.

After a quick prep, it was time to get back on the boat and explore the island.

The first stop was this fishing camp. Fishermen come here to stay and do some fishing, but also head out on deep-sea fishing boats from here. They have some snack stands, a big TV, some couches and chairs, but mostly it's a series of bunk beds for sleeping and staying in the cool.

This little girl came right over to us as we got off our boat. She wanted to be our tour guide so, sorry Angus, I followed her instead of resort tour guide. She showed us where these fish were swimming in the current, like a water treadmill. She gave the girls some "fish food"--bugs--to thrown in for them.

Then, she grabbed her pole, baited the line, and started showing us how to fish! What a cutie! I wish we could have stayed longer to play with her.

A lot of barracuda are caught here, lots of big fish. There were pictures posted on a board. This guy caught earlier is related to a barracuda. In fact, our guide called it one, but the fishermen laughed and said it was something else whose name I've already forgotten. Anyone know? Check out those teeth!

As we were pulling away, there was a battle starting. The fishermen had a big one on the line. After about two or three minutes of struggle, the fish got free. Collective sighs of disappointment.

Next stop was Twin Beach. Sibu is shaped like a giant hourglass and this part is the narrow part. One side of it has deep, calm water, perfect for a jetty. The other side has a beautiful beach with gentle waves.

These pictures capture our short walk over the field to the other side where we would cool off for a half hour in the water. You'll see Ella and Zoe found some great buddies in Millie and Daisy.

After the cool-off, we walked back over the small lip and field to follow the path into the main village on the island.

This is the village. There are 250 residents, 30 students in the school.

Several people were working in this blazing sun building a bigger jetty.

Zoe has found her love for speedboat, Daisy-inspired.

And then we stopped at another of those fairy-tale island with white sand and clear turquoise waters for another cool-off.

I'm not sure we're supposed to be here though.

Back to Rimba for some relaxing time before sunset and dinner.

The kids all ate special kid-food dinner together tonight. French fries and pizza!

Love that Shaka!

Sophie, Carly, Richard, and Angus all played Twister and Memory with the kids while we had another fantastic fancy adult dinner. 

The less-friendly but equally adorable Mogli.

Another relaxing morning hangout.

How is this possible? These giant clams were actually INSIDE the rocks!

And there were lots of sea squirts, anemones, and all kinds of cool stuff around at low tide.

 More sea glass.

Time for pre-breakfast chores.

On this last day, we took a jungle hike to the beach back at Sea Gypsy because we wanted to see it again and because it was less rocky. The water was so clear. We had a wonderful time, but then after a quick lunch, it was time to say goodbye to Paradise.

Bye, Carly! Bye, Sibu!

We made it home literally just in time for the girls' Chinese lesson and then relaxed the next morning. We have had the most amazing adventure yet again!