Melohom Bay Gaya Island
By jefferi chang
11 Sep 2008
Sabah the Land Below the Wind is located at the Island of Borneo. The capital city is Kota Kinabalu is located next to the sea connected with few Sabah Park tourist islands spot within 5 - 10 minutes boat ride. Gaya Island is the biggest island and located near the Kota Kinabalu city.
Melohom Bay is one of the beaches in Gaya Island. I lived in Kota Kinabalu since I was small and never heard of these places until Patracia invited me to join with her cousin to barbecue at the Melohom Bay at Gaya Island. At the first thought, I'm not keen to go with them because the island was not a interesting places to go compared to other such as Manukan, Sapi, and Tiga island.
Melohom Bay is different compare to nearby island. It is clean and the water is clear. Most nearby beaches and bay was contaminated by polluted and muddy water from delta and follow the sea current zigzagging nearby island. The beach bay is fair and no indication of muddy flow and trash floating within or near the beach parameter.
One has to know, at the other side of Gaya Island, there are old United Nation's refugee camp resulted from the civil conflict between the Islamic Liberationists and the Philippine government. All the time, the village is the source of pollution to once considerate the most beautiful beach in the world. I am so surprised the near proximity to the camp and didn't saw any indication of trash and almost crystal clear water and ideal for snorkeling and basic underwater diving.
The weather is clear and bright. We arrived at the bay around 9 mornings. I wish that we can arrive earlier to catch a sun rise view. I discovered that Melohom Bay facing the main land facing the top part of the city. If the sky is clear, I believe it is possible to have a good clear view of Kinabalu Mountain. Kinabalu Mountain is the tallest mountain in Borneo and the second tallest in South East Asia.
I was inspired with a wide view of the beach and sea and thought of taking a panorama view photo. Indeed i able to produce a nice and good composition landscape panorama of the jetty and beaches. I took few horizontal panorama and one vertical panorama and it turn out to be nice with a little bit color, level and exposure adjustment.
The difficulties taking photo at beach is the intense bright light from the sun. Located near the equatorial line and the sun on top of the head create a bright highlight and dark shadow. It was good condition to take a landscape photo but not good for portrait and subject shot. It was a mistake when i decided not to take my external flash along to the beach trip and i find out a dark shadow that created a silhouette effect to the people subject.
The intense afternoon hot and bright day was tiring even i sat there looking at my friend snorkeling around the bay. I didn't explore further side of the bay and sat down on the picnic chair trying my zoom 70-300mm lens. Life is quite at this side of the bay and only a bit busy when a boat of tourist hopping at this bay for a snap dip at the beach. It was so hot and i wonder how they manage it.
I plan to come back to Melohom Bay in future but earlier. I wonder how it will look like when the sky is clear for the sun rise and overlook the silhouette of the Mountain Kinabalu at the background. I strongly suggest whoever plan a holiday trip to Malaysia especially Sabah to ask for transportation and snorkeling or diving activities to Melohom Bay. It is also a good and nice location for any landscape photography if the weather is clear and nice especially the sun rise.
