» Diving

My first Reef Check at Pulau Redang; Part I

Meun — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 14:12:53 +0000

My favourite - Nemo the clown fish

Come to think of it, it was 8 years ago that I last set foot on the beautiful Pulau Redang. I don’t think Redang needs much explanation, unlike my last Reef Check trip to Pulau Aur.

It was a very last minute trip. The Reef Check coordinator called me a week before the trip and asked if I’m interested. Of course! That was my 1st response, but somehow after my logical mind came to work, I told her I need to check with my boss first. Yes! I got the green light! So my decision to switch to a 25-day-annual-leave job was not a bad move after all!

3 of us decided to take the agonizing 8 hours bus ride to Merang jetty, where we would meet up with the rest who drove. Despite claiming itself to be the leader of the express bus industry and provides safe, enjoyable and affordable travel, Transnasional absolutely failed to deliver. In fact it was not the first time I got disappointed with their service. I told myself this would be my very last time using them, if I have alternatives.

The bus was late for an hour without any explanation from the bus operator. Then we realized that we couldn’t sit according to our seat number as they crammed passengers who held ticket for 9.00pm till 11.00pm into two 69-seater jumbo coach. So there were more than 2 people holding the tickets of the same seat number with different time. We paid for a business class ticket but definitely didn’t get the service.

Picture taken from upper deck of Transnasional

Anyways, we arrived safely at Kuala Terengganu bus station at around 5.30am. Thanks to McD 24-hour service, we had a light breakie before the resort van picked us up at 7.00am to Merang Jetty.

I think it was my first time going to Redang from Merang. It’s interesting to see how the jetties are owned individually by the resort instead of having a common jetty like most places. We waited for our boat at 10.00am.

Redang Kalong's Jetty

Boarding the ferry

So after about 11 hours and 45 minutes from the time we left KL, we finally reached our destination, Redang Kalong Resort. It’s a very organised and well maintained resort with basic but clean and comfortable room. They even have a chill out area with facilities like karaoke, carom, chess etc etc. Besides, the food was abundant and tasty. Hmm… yummy, that’s the most important right?

Redang Kalong

Redang Kalong’s Dive Centre

Redang Kalong Resort's rooms

After signing our lives away, we went to our rooms to get ready for our first dive at 11.30pm. Oh, how I wish Keong came with me because the couples got twin shared room but the rest of us gals got a quad shared! Not fair! Anyways, no complaints for free dives.

by Meun

Diving at Pulau Aur; Part II- FINAL

Meun — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 13:23:00 +0000

One thing for sure, all of us were very excited about diving at Pulau Aur. While most of us caught some sleeps before our first dive @ 9am, a couple of us sat @ the veranda, chit chatting & munching on the rambutans & mangosteens that were bought from mainland… hmm.. yum yum….

Breakfast was served @ 8.30am. The portion was more for 20 pax than only for 8 of us! I thought more people would join in but only to find out that we had the whole island to ourselves on Friday!!! The Singaporean groups will only arrive on Saturday. Wow, that’s the 1st time ever I felt so exclusive on an island.

Breakfast was really awesome

After our scrumptious breakfast, we were ferried to the pontoon by a small boat to gear up while waiting for our dive boat, an old fishing boat. We (or more like the boatmen, a pakcik & his assistance, Awang) loaded 10 over tanks of air & our gears into the boat before setting off to our first destination, Pulau Pinang (not Penang Island) for surveys. Another 3 survey sites that followed for the next 2 days were Diver’s Lodge House Reef, Rayner’s Rock & Pulau Lang.

On the boat heading out to our dive site

These surveys are done by Reef Check Malaysia’s certified eco-divers. Since my eco-dive certification in March this year in Perhentian, I’ve done surveys @ Perhentian and this trip – Aur and I definitely plan to go on many more. What is more rewarding than being able to do something you’re passionate about & contribute back to the ecosystem?

On the floating pontoon on Pulau Aur

I am glad that I invested in an underwater housing for my camera. Though they are no ‘National Geography’ quality, I am still very much happy and satisfied knowing that these pictures were taken by myself. Take a look…

A Batfish

A table coral

Simply beautiful!

Amazing marine creatures

The following is an excerpt from the Reef Check website:

“Reef Check is an international volunteer programme that works with communities, governments and businesses to scientifically monitor, restore and maintain coral reef health. In 2001, Reef Check appointed a National Coordinator for Malaysia, to promote Reef Check and carry out training and surveys. With the support of funding from the British Government, Reef Check is now being established in Malaysia as a non-profit organisation, active in coral reef conservation and promoting the key goals of Reef Check: Research, Education & Conservation. “

You can google ‘reefcheck malaysia’ to find out more.

Eco Divers doing their survey at one of the sites at Pulau Aur

Diving at Pulau Aur has been a great experience for me. While the highlight of the trip was the deep ocean and it’s inhabitants, I would say the company of co-divers added colors to the trip as well. I enjoyed it totally and can’t wait for my next dive.

p/s: So have you found out where Pulau Aur is?

Click here to read the 1st part of Meun’s diving trip at Pulau Aur.

by Meun

Reef check dive at Pulau Aur; Part I

Meun — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 01:50:54 +0000

“Pulau Aur? Where’s that?” That’s the response I got from 8 out of 10 friends who asked me where I went for diving last weekend. Well, I’m not surprise at all as Pulau Aur is not very well known among non-divers. In fact, I myself came to know about the island just last year. Kinda ashamed actually. Aur is different from the other islands in Peninsular Malaysia that I’ve been. The hill is made up of rocks & big boulders.

The Diver’s Lodge at Pulau Aur

The chalets of the resort, Diver’s Lodge we stayed at were actually built multi-levelled on rocks. Luckily ours is at the bottom. My friends & I started our journey from KL @ 5.30pm. After our dinner stop @ Ayer Keroh Jejantas, we had a surprised gift – a flat tyre! We’re travelling @ about 120km/hr and luckily we managed to bring the car to the side of the road safely. It was caused by a nail. Trips to Aur for Reef Check survey were always filled with adventures. I knew the last group who went there a month ago had to wait @ a floating dive centre (basically a pontoon where tanks are kept) for more than 2 hours because the tide was too low for them to cross to the resort. Phew… anyways we managed to change the tyre & continue our journey.

We were supposed to arrive at The Jetty @ 11pm to catch the midnight ferry. However, due to the earlier incident, our F1 driver had to put his driving (speeding) skills to test to catch up with the lost time. He was zig-zagging on the estate road with no street lights, in slight rain & light mist. My leg stepped on the imaginary breaks for countless time and I held my breath everytime he swerved a corner! Luckily we’re not underwater where holding breath is a big no no. The call from the ferry operator @ about 10.50pm who threatened that he wouldn’t wait for us didn’t help at all.
Finally we arrived safely @ the jetty @ around 11.30pm. After meeting up with another group of people who’re going for Reef Check as well, all the 8 of us hopped onto the ferry which was already waiting with some passengers (locals of Aur which we later found out) on board. We chit chatted for a while before we hit the sack. The double decker bunk bed was beneath the deck with air-cond. It was surprisingly comfortable, or maybe I was just too tired after the long adventurous night.

Low tide at Pulau Aur jetty at 1130pm

My watch showed 4.30am when our ferry moored. My sleepy eyes were all cleared after I saw the scene in front of me. I didn’t expect the tide to be so low and definitely didn’t expect the big ferry to moor just by the pontoon (floating dive centre). There’s no jetty. Seeing that, I was all prepared to stay on the pontoon for another 2 hours like the last group. But I guess lady luck was on our side because a small boat came by & the boatman asked us to leave our dive gears on the pontoon and grab our other belongings to be transported to the resort, merely 150m away. It’s hard to imagine how one side was deep enough for the ferry to moor & the other side was so low tide where the corals actually showed within the 150m right? I later found out that the channel (between Aur & Pulau Dayang) is V-shaped like a valley. The deepest is actually as deep as 45-50m!
Getting to the resort was no easy task. You might think that 150m is nothing, but first the boatman had to maneuver through the shallow water to as close as possible to the resort. Since the tide was so low, we had no choice but to walk the remaining 50m. We’re like being placed in a minefield half blind folded as we had to walk through the reefs in the dark with only dim lights from the resorts and try to avoid stepping on mines (corals). Do you know that corals are actually animals??!!!
Final challenge was to climb up the stairs to the resort’s first platform. I felt like going through the obstacles of an army camp! We had to lug our heavy luggage up the 45 o wooden stairs. Phew… but we passed! We checked into our room @ around 5am. 4 pax in a room with double-decked queen bed. The rooms are equipped with very basic amenities. I would consider it as quite small for 4 pax. I guess with close to 100% of the guests are divers, rooms are just for the night sleep, so the operator didn’t invest much in the room.

Written by Meun.