The beach is small and secluded with great white sand and good reef within a few meters of the shore which provided great snorkelling with stacks of colourful fish, rays, moray eels, octopus etc.
A second beach cove can be reached either by swimming around the rocks at the end of the beach or by climbing over them.
This beach was a little more stoney with lots of great shells washed up on the strand line. The snorkelling here again was excellent with lots of clown fish that would swim up to my mask as I dived down to them and loads of blue and orange giant clams and live tiger cowries.
At both ends of the first beach were caves containing sleeping bats that could be reached by clambering over the rocks. As night fell it was a spectacular sight watching them all streaming out to feed. Although nervous of me, I was able to creep up on them in the day and get these shots.
Beyond the beach was a forest trail across the island that led to a rocky beach after about 40 minutes of leisurely walking. Kapas is only small and the interior covered in dense monsoon forest that was rather dry at the time I walked through, with little wildlife worth shooting.
I took this photo of a male Great Mormon butterfly (Papilio memnon) on the bougainvillea flowers near the resort on the way back.
Another shorter walk led from Turtle Valley to the main beaches of Palau Kapas. The name Kapas means cotton and refers to the soft white nature of the sand which feels wonderful underfoot.
The beach here was very sandy and the water shallow, extending out some way into a large area of sea grass. I took a Kayak out and managed to see a number of turtles swimming past and surfacing near me, no doubt attracted by the sea grass.
There are only a few low key resorts along the beach and it was great to walk to the end of the three or so coves at the end of a day as the sun dimmed and enjoy the sight of jungle meeting the sea with the beach practically to myself.
Definitely somewhere I would go back to.
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