Goodbye to the Islands

We are now back in Kuala Terengganu, after almost two weeks of enjoying the clear waters of the Redang and Perhentian Islands, and preparing for our departure to Borneo.

One of the first tourist boats to arrive

The morning we left Redang we decided to stop off at the small island of Pinang, just across the channel on the southwestern tip of Redang. There is a very good snorkelling area there and we hoped to beat the daily tourist rush on the area. Unfortunately, we were already a bit late at 9:00 and the hordes had already started to arrived.

A few of the tourist boats

We had a quick snorkel on an old wreck before heading for the other end of the reef to drift back with the current. Drifting along, we viewed lovely coral gardens with clams and heaps of fish with the most notable being a very large cod - grouper or garupa, depending on where you come from! He was next to a large bommie looking very relaxed with his big mouth open to allow the feeder fish entry to clean his teeth. We also saw a large, khaki-coloured eel wrapped around some coral. We had seen an even bigger one a couple of days before when snorkelling in a small bay at Redang.

View of the wreck and some of the snorkellers under the jetty

Back at the wreck another large cod was spotted (and he was spotted, too) but he was a bit more active and disappeared before we could get a good look at him. By this time the water was becoming distinctly murky. All the day trippers had come loaded with bags of bread to feed the fish and with hundreds of them dispersing the contents of their bags, the water was nowhere near as clear as when we arrived. Time to say goodbye to the islands and continue on our way to Kuala Terengganu once more. It has been an unforgettable few weeks and it will be a long time before we have the luxury of swimming once more in clear waters.

Just Cruising, Still

After nine days anchored around the Redang and Perhentian Islands we returned to the marina in Kuala Terengganu for a few days to get some jobs done and buy some more food. Also enjoyed some meals out including a steamboat at one of the local Chinese restaurants.

While in Chinatown we have discovered that the Chinese delicacy, bird nests, are actually 'farmed' in converted shophouses or swiftlet hotels. It can be a very lucrative business, returning between 4000-18000 Ringgits per kilo, and one estimate of 200 new business per per month.

One species of wildlife which we have noticed both in Tioman Island and now in the river at Terengganu is the Water monitor lizard (Varanus salvator). We have seen them in other places but these ones are the biggest we have ever seen and must be at least two metres long. They certainly look well-fed. This one has been seen quite often at the marina.

We were soon over being back in the marina and after five days set off once again for the Redang and Perhentian Islands. Sailing up the coast we managed to get a shot of the Terengganu State Outdoor Stadium. Barely a week before the roof had collapsed, just one year after completion at a cost of RM300 million. Miraculously, no-one was injured and luckily (?) the building is still within its 2-year warranty period! You can just make out the collapsed roof sections in this photo.


While at Redang we did a jungle walk from the bay where we were anchored through to a bay on the east side of the island. It took about an hour each way and it was lovely to be in cool shade for most of the walk, crossing cool, freshwater streams along the way. We found ourselves at the Coral Redang Resort where we enjoyed a morning cuppa and noticed a Plantain squirrel (Callosciurus notatus) in the rafters.

Reading, Relaxing and Reanchoring

The islands off the state of Terengganu are mainly composed of granite and sedimentary rocks and a distinct contrast to the islands in the Phuket/Langkawi area which are predominantly limestone karst formations. On arrival at Pulau Redang (Redang Island) on 22 May we were met by beautiful white beaches, and rocky headlands and shores where the granite boulders and cliffs fell steeply into the clear waters. On a dinghy ride along these shores, wide cracks in the rocks could be seen continuing on beneath the water, the aquamarine colouring darkening to deep turquoise as the depth quickly fell away. Most beaches have a fringing coral reef out from the shore and the snorkelling was stunning with all types of corals and hundreds of fish to be seen. It was turtle breeding season during our visit and one evening we counted at least six turtles cruising around off the beach near us. We had seen some tracks on the beach but most of them are robbed fairly quickly by large monitor lizards - or, disappointingly, possibly humans as there were lots of turtle eggs for sale in the Terengganu markets.

Our first anchorage was just off Pulau Pinang, on the south western end of Redang; 05 deg 44.80 N, 103 deg 07.860 E. This would give us protection from the prevailing SW monsoon as well as the NE seabreeze. However, on the second night it did not give us any protection from a SE wind and after bouncing around all night we left early the next morning to anchor in the big NE-facing bay which is home to the Berjaya Resort, 05 deg 27.230 N, 103 deg 01.170 E. This bay proved to give excellent protection against the SE breeze which continued to blow for the next couple of days. As well as a resort ashore there was also access to the road which runs down the centre of the island through the local village. We did a walk to the village to pick up some fresh veg and a chicken as we had not caught any fish to supplement our freezer! Apart from swimming, snorkelling and beach walking, we spent a lot of our time just plain relaxing and reading. During the day up to 8 fishing boats would come in the bay so Jon approached one of them to buy some fish or squid and came back with three nice pan-size fish which the fisherman gave to him.

After four nights we decided to move along to the Perhentian Islands where we anchored off Long Beach on Pulau Perhentian Kecil (Small Perhentian Island), 05 deg 55.045 N, 102 deg 43.520 E. This was another exquisite sandy-bottomed bay with backpacker-style resorts ashore and of course the accompanying noise - not the worst we have ever anchored off though and the music in the evening was actually quite relaxing. Most of the activity was caused by smaller local power boats racing out to meet larger ones ferrying holiday makers to their resort. They would be off-loaded onto the smaller ones and pay two Ringgits to get ashore. At the approach of one of the ferries, between two and four smaller boats would race to be the first one to pick up the passengers!

Again, snorkelling in the clear waters was very good with the highlight being when we saw a school of at least 14 large Bumphead parrotfish (Bolbometopon muricatum). They slowly moved ahead of us chomping at the coral with their large prominent front teeth while at the same time excreting large clouds of processed coral - and we were swimming in it!! They soon turned and suddenly disappeared into the murk.