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Sea Gypsy |
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Somewhere special
You really know you’re on holiday when you have to take off your shoes, roll up your trousers and jump out of a boat to get to your destination
The next instant you’re wading ashore amongst ankle high surf, climbing the white-sand beach and parking yourself in a comfortable deck chair in the bar for an ice cold Welcome Cocktail. Forget about your bags, the resort staff in their uniforms of board shorts and bare chests will bring those ashore for you.
Forget also about checking in, that will get done when you’re ready. Forget why in typical city mode you chose to wear trousers with shoes instead of a pair of shorts because you’ve already been jolted out of your city mindset.
That’s what this place is all about – forgetting the “urgent” things and remembering the “utopian” ones. Emails at the office? Forget it. Watching a sunrise? That’s par for the course. Urgent phone calls? You’ll find they’re not so “urgent” here. Rush hour and city lights? Star gazing is obligatory on this out-of-the-way undeveloped island.
Welcome to the Sea Gypsy Village Resort and Dive Base on Pulau Sibu, where mobile phones don’t work, the television room is only open for the most important of live sporting fixtures and footwear is highly discouraged unless it’s a pair of dive fins.
Sea Gypsy’s advertising isn’t the usual hyperbole – this is for real. Beach huts really do sit only yards from the sea. Seclusion really does mean you can stroll along the beach at midnight in complete safety enjoying the moonlight and the rock pools. Friendly staff really don’t wear plastic stewardess smiles.
The main bar and restaurant simply has bamboo blinds to lower when it rains, otherwise no walls to speak of. There are even a couple of palm trees sprouting through the floorboards and poking out through the roof in some places.
This is where breakfast, lunch and dinner are laid on every day inclusive in your room rate. Also where evenings with a bottle of wine and a board game take you back to a time before package tours and itinerary print-outs came in vogue.
There’s also plenty to do here for the energetic. Apart from the pristine white-sand beach and the joys of floating all day in a wonderfully warm sea, there’s a Kids Club, jungle trekking and beach volleyball.
However the main attraction is Dan’s Nasty Frogmen Dive Base. From here the crew will take you on a variety of excursions, including snorkeling and Scuba Dive trips to uninhabited islands within this superb Marine Park. They also teach Open Water Diving. For the surf and sail nuts they have Escape sail boats for rent (Solsa and Rumba) as well as Boogie Boards, Kayaks and Paddle Skis.
The chalets here are special too. Not an air-con-fridge-concrete-box in sight. Instead what you get is a back-to-basics wood and atap beach hut on stilts with a sea-facing verandah, bathroom en suite (with drinkable water), plus a large ceiling fan – that is if you need it. It is simply sublime drifting off to sleep at night with the sea breeze blowing through the open windows.
Just sneak under the mosquito net and let the sound of the sea and the rustle of the trees send you to sleep. It really does make bed time here one of the real highlights of my stay to tell you the truth… that and dreaming of becoming a permanent Sea Gypsy.
Getting to Sea Gypsy
To get to Sea Gypsy Village Resort and Dive Base, just call them in Malaysia on (60) 7222 8642 and they will arrange to have you picked up from Singapore and taken directly to the island. The trip takes about three hours depending on traffic. You can also visit them on the web at www.siburesort.com.
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