Surviving the Sulu Sea | Bizarre Creature Encounters in Malaysia 🇲🇾 [SE E43]

Surviving the Sulu Sea | Bizarre Creature Encounters in Malaysia 🇲🇾 [SE E43]

Previously on “Two Up and Overloaded” – We delved deep into the heart of East  Malaysia, taking our little KTM 250   Adventure on some truly adventurous roads  through rugged jungle and lush palm oil orchards.  But now we were headed to the  coast, and were about to delve into a  

Very different type of scenery – the ocean.  Yeah, from jungles to oceans, folks. Yes. The ocean is something that we, as Chicagoans  from a big continent right in the middle,   not close to any ocean, are unfamiliar with. We’re  also equally unfamiliar with jungle coming from  

Chicago. That’s true. But I understand forest and  anything on land a lot better than I understand   the creatures of the sea. That is a world that I  do not know at all. There’s things that zap you,   there’s things that sting you, there’s  things that bite you… Like, “Nope.” [Bak Bak Beach – Malaysia]

So we left Bak Bak Beach. I wanted  to say that one. Oh, you can say it.   Bak Bak Beach. And we headed to almost the  Tip of Borneo where we were going to stay. Yes,   a little beachside cabin near the town of Kudat.

We had to take a small road  that felt more like a bike path. All right. This is the entrance  to our, as Marisa calls it,   a beachfront resort. I do like these  little small roads. They’re like   bike paths back in the States, but  here this is two-way traffic, yeah.

There’s a couple little  wooden bridges that we rode over.   And we were in more of a rural  area, which is exactly what we want. All right, what do we got? A little bridge. So we were following Google Maps, and it  said it should be right around here.  

Oh, there’s little puppies. I saw your sibling up  the street. And unfortunately, we didn’t see the   correct road to get to this beachside cabin, and  we kind of got stuck in this little area between   houses where there was a lot of sand. Well,  the problem was, is there were some roadside  

Houses and buildings and structures and then  apparently some beachside on the other side.   But we don’t know what we’re looking for, and  so I’m just kind of riding around like an idiot,   and then I got us stuck in this little field that  was clearly a dead end of somebody’s backyard.

Do you want me to push you back? I do. Back back. Hut, hut, hike. But thankfully, there was a lovely woman that was  like, “These people need the guidance of somebody   useful.” And we asked her where it was. Oh,  through here? Yeah, okay, so motorcycle goes… She  

Wants you to take the motorcycle through that. And  she said, “Oh yeah, all you got to do is ride   through this little tiny narrow corridor because  you’ve gone the wrong way.” Yeah, and I was like,  

“I don’t know if you’re going to fit.” But you  did fit. Heck yeah. There were hoses and boxes. Do I got it? Yeah, you got it! But yeah, that little 250 is just so like,  “Jack be nimble, Jack be quick.” Yeah,  

Very maneuverable. And we weren’t looking  for a proper hotel or anything. This was   a homestay. This is someone’s property  that they just opened up to tourists. It   was very local and community-oriented,  and that was exactly what we like. It  

Was awesome. I saw it. We booked it for one  night, and as soon as I saw it, I was like,   “Is it available for tomorrow night too?”  And he was like, “Yes.” I said, “Okay,   why don’t you just go ahead and book us again,  because this is going to be absolutely amazing.”

[Tajau Laut Guest House – 6.9712˙ North 116.8151˙ East] Wow, look at this. Oh my gosh, how cool. We got the romantic honeymoon suite cabin,  with our own little balcony to   look out at beautiful stuff. And our own little  temporary cat it came with, that  

Followed us everywhere, and let us pet it.  And it was just as soon as we saw what it was,   I was very, very, very excited that we  were going to be spending a couple nights there. No air conditioning, extremely rustic,  

No hot water in the shower, but who needs  that? You are on the beach. The waves can   come right underneath the house itself. I  mean, how cool was that? It was perfect. This is the story of two foreigners  coming across an unexpected, yet  

Magical gem of Borneo, leaving us with a  lasting experience we will never forget. Hey everyone! Nice to have you here. We are  Tim, and Marisa Notier. I ride in the front.   And I’m in the rear. We travel the world and  we pack too much gear. Oh, all the places we’ll  

Go! Through rain and through sleet and through  mud and through snow. Oh, all the things we’ll   see! We’ve been to a country or two. Or three!  Oh, all the fun we’ve had! To have you along,  

Would make us real glad. So give us a like, and  hit subscribe to join us along our epic ride. [This episode is brought to you by Doubletake Mirrors.] [Foldable, indestructible… www.DoubletakeMirror.com] We were given these little biscuits. Yeah,  from I believe her name is Zubaida. And  

She is the person running this  awesome beach place. And look,   it’s homemade! Bean dip. I think it’s mung bean paste.  I have yet to try one. Can I have one? Please? I’m not the biggest fan of  things in the ocean. Yeah,  

But it’s so beautiful. But Jason told us that  story of a fish biting on his nipple. Oh yeah!   That was the stuff of nightmares. I got  some fish bait going on here.   No snorkeling for me. But pretty stuff. Mhm. The  tide was all the way out. Yeah, and it was a very,  

Very far distance that the tide went out to. Yeah.  But it exposed a lot. That’s the part of the   ocean I like, the part I can see, the stuff on  the bottom. Nothing’s going to get me. 

We’re going to take a little walk along the  beach as the tide comes in. See what we can see. And as we’re walking through, there’s…  I didn’t think starfish got much more   exotic than like the weird ones. Some  of them get like 40 legs. It’s creepy.  

Yes! There’s neon blue ones and then there’s  like the king of all starfish. It looked like,   I’m going to say, Patrick from SpongeBob, and I’ve  seen that, like, one time. This huge pink starfish   thing! With super spikes. With super spikes,  like super power spikes. Wowzers. It’s amazing,  

Yes. But I had done my research and I knew  that this type of starfish is not poisonous.   Most starfish are not poisonous, and so  we wanted to inspect it close up. Yep.   Oh, not my favorite side. No? That is  sandworm side. Wowzers. This is cool.

Marisa is much braver than I am. I won’t  even touch this side of it. There’s no way I was   going to get bitten by a starfish. You can’t  get bitten by a starfish. They turn into  little boa constrictors… And just start eating you?  

They just eat you. Starfish are fascinating  creatures. Like Tim said, they can have up to 40   arms, and can lose arms and regrow them. They have  no brains and will extend their stomachs outwards   to swallow large prey. Starfish can live up to 35  years, but can’t live out of water for very long,  

So we made sure to put them back in the ocean  right where we found them. And one thing that   starfish and I have in common… What is  that? Expanding stomach and no brains. Oh yeah, I guess two things.

This water is so warm and nice. It feels like  the air temperature. It’s amazing. And we finally   get to the little dead coral island, which had  some live coral on it too. But it was just…  It was like an island made out of  coral bones or whatnot. Yeah, it was  

Really cool. That was kind of our destination. We  wanted to get out to this low tide island of dead   coral. Look, this tidal island that we’re on is  completely made out of coral, like an atoll. Look   at this. It just crunches under my feet. But  even the island itself also had some strange  

Living creatures on it, including this green blob  thing. Spider egg sack! It looks like it was,   yeah. Ooh, look at this green thing. Oh my gosh,  check this out. Green and reds and purple, like,   you don’t touch stuff like that. Bright green!  Weird little patterns. So bizarre.  

The under the ocean life, and we’re talking about  inches, is crazy to me. We haven’t even dived   deep, but I’m like, “There’s some exotic  craziness this far underneath the water.” There is. So we made our way back to the beachside  cabin and saw the most beautiful sunset.

Over the ocean, skies of pinks and  oranges and purples. And the clouds   streaking across the sky… It was really nice. Completely ruined, though, in my opinion, by…  the seafood dinner. Oh, Tim  doesn’t like fish or seafood. Yeah, pretty much every meal you had there was  rice and a fried egg and some vegetables. Because  

Watching you eat your meals was like, no way. I had  some of the greatest seafood meals of my life. If   you are a fan of seafood out there, you’re going  to be salivating over the meals that I had at this  

Beachside cabin. Maybe not by the looks of it  though because I really don’t know how to eat   crab properly and I just made a huge mess. I think  that crab that I had that night was the messiest  

Meal of my life. But so worth it. She was like a toddler  eating chocolate ice cream. Like, “It’s so good!” “Help me!” Oh, that’s good! I’m sorry to everybody. This is not how you eat crab but it’s really good. [Southeast Asia Journey – Day 124]

So the next morning we woke up and  it was still cool in the morning. The whole night, the tide had come in and it  physically came in underneath our little abode.   So we hear just the water splashing underneath us. Most people have little  

Machines that make wave sounds and we had…  The real thing. We had the real thing. Good morning, this is amazing! And we wake up  and we look outside, and we went to sleep to a   beautiful sunset, and now here we are rising to  a beautiful sunrise… And… Perfection. Perfection. Wow!

We’re going to sit here and have tea and  coffee and just watch the ocean roll in   right underneath us. It’s amazing.  And to make it even more perfect…  This is where I can agree food-wise – the homemade  fresh donuts! Is that what you were going with? Yes,  

Exactly! They made their own baked goods at  this place. And to have that gorgeous sunrise   with the ocean right in front of you and then  be offered a platter of freshly baked donuts? Ah! It’s heavenly! Good morning, everyone. So this has been a  fantastic morning so far. We watched the sunrise,  

Then we took a little nap. Right now, it  is apparently the height of high tide,   and so it’s the perfect time to go snorkeling.  So we’re going to get some snorkeling equipment   and see what is below the surface of the waters  out here. So the owner of the beachside cabin  

That we were at offered us a chance to go  out on a boat to go snorkeling. All right,   so we are getting a boat to go to the place to  go snorkeling. I’m so excited! Here we go! And  

We had made a friend there, our Scottish  friend Mark, and he said, “Yeah, I want to   join this boat snorkeling experience.” And even  though we are not so familiar with the ocean,   we wanted to really see more. After that walk  on the beach the night before, we were like,  

“Wow, this ocean is amazing. Let’s check  it out by snorkeling way out in the ocean.” Yay! Yay. Woo! The level of where Marisa and I are on our  snorkel level experience… We don’t even know if   they’re called fins or flippers. I know!  Some people say flippers, some people say fins.  

And I don’t really know how to use them  very well. You have to like walk backwards and   stuff. It’s very awkward when you’re on land.  But yeah, I kind of like “flippers.” Yeah,   

Flippers. So if we’re wrong you can tell us in the  comments but I call them flippers. We put those on,   we put our mask on. Yeah, I got this  beard, it’s not very manly, I know.  But it’s still there. But it’s just enough  to not make a flush mask, and I’m not going  

To shave. It’s hard to snorkel with a little bit  of facial hair because it doesn’t make a really   good seal. And so when I’m underwater I kind of  have to hold the mask against my face, and  

Then I have to plug my nose. So I’m like giving  myself the Vulcan death grip on my face. It’s so beautiful! And what’s weird to me,  and I’m not under the water very often,   as you all kind of assumed by now, but  there’s this radioactive crackle. And I’m  

Like, “What is that?” Yes, there is. The sounds  of the ocean is really interesting. Yeah. And that coral was so beautiful out there.  I mean, huge brain corals and weird kind of   fan things coming up. And then the fish  darting in and out, yellow fish, blue fish,  

Black fish, all sorts of different colors.  One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish.    Blue fish! Beautiful! The coral is so cool. The Sulu  Sea, which is part of the Pacific Ocean, is a   fairly small basin, covering only 260,000  square kilometers, or 100,000 square miles. But it’s  

Extremely biodiverse, as we were figuring  out. Because it was gorgeous down there. So here’s an interesting fact. Bonus fact! The  Star Trek character Hikaru Sulu is actually named   after the Sulu Sea. Apparently Gene Roddenberry  said that he wanted a name to represent  

All of Asia, and not a specific country.  And so he chose the Sulu Sea. But our time snorkeling in the ocean came to an   end, and we got out and back into  the boat, and headed back to shore. Oh my God.

I’m a Klingon! Oh my gosh. Wow.  That was so cool. We had a little bit more   planned for the day after our exciting  snorkeling. We wanted to go to the Tip   of Borneo, and there were more beaches to come in  our immediate future. With a very very different  

Type of beach experience. This is true. One  that we had never done the likes of before. So thank you so much for watching this video. I  hope you liked it. If you did, please give us a   big thumbs up, and hit the subscribe button below,  and we’ll be seeing you next time. Stay  

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For Tim and I, diving into the ocean is like arriving on a distant planet – it’s full of strange and exotic creatures that are completely unknown to us, some of which can be quite dangerous. So as we found ourselves on the shores of the Sulu Sea, one of the most biodiverse expanses of ocean on earth, we were apprehensive to go into the waters where there were spiky and bizarre marine creatures living just below the surface.

But it was the beauty of our rustic beachside cabin in East Malaysia (a place with a view to die for) that finally drew us into the Sulu Sea. Because we might only be here once in our lives…

And so why not?

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