Malaysia has some of the best and finest scuba diving spots in the world and it will be a shame if we don’t see it for ourselves. We have heard and seen so many great scuba diving adventures and we felt it was time for us to learn and experience it ourselves. The first step is always the hardest, we wanted to learn scuba diving for years and only lately we decided to learn with a recommended scuba diving instructor. Many might think scuba diving is tough and hard, but trust us it is easier than we thought. However there is also health risks involved so having a strict and mature instructor is very important. We learnt from Lo Kean Leong (lkeanleong@yahoo.com), an experience scuba diving instructor with many years of diving and teaching experience. Thus, for our PADI Scuba Diving test, we decided to do it in Pulau Tenggol (Island) in Terengganu via Dunggun town.

We drove to Dunggun from Kuala Lumpur and it took us around 5 hours with legal speed limits. Drive to Karak Highway and follow the sign to Kuala Terengganu, exit near Kuantan and pass thru Cherating. In Dunggun town, ask around for the jetty as the road signs are quite confusing. The jetty is located near the huge bridge in Dunggun and it is a private jetty for Tenggol Island Beach Resort only. I am not sure whether the other resorts are sharing the same jetty. We parked our car at the private jetty.

We were told that the tides were high and sea was rough so we had to keep our bags inside the boat compartments to keep it dry.

Without even 15 min sailing into the sea, we were treated free splashes and sea water. I always wanted a sea-salt spa but this was not I expected. This was the effects or tail of typhoon Ma-on which hit Japan, Taiwan and Philippines a few days earlier. We got wet and cold due to the strong winds but we liked it.

After an hour of sailing, we reached Pulau Tenggol, the southernmost island in the state of Terengganu, Malaysia.

The water was crystal clear and you can see clearly how strong was the sea waves.

This picture looks similar to many postcard pictures available out there. This picture is not taken from Maldives, Fiji or Mauritius, this is Pulau Tenggol in Terengganu Malaysia.

While many can afford to pay thousands to visit exotic countries, we can have experience similar beauty in our home country, Malaysia.

Pulau Tenggol is very laid back and popular for scuba divers. The real reason we chose Pulau Tenggol for our PADI Open Water exam is there are more diving sites around and also the beach is just next to the resort. Thus, we don’t really need to walk far with our BCD and tank behind our back. Since we are beginners, let’s do the thing the easy way.

The Tenggol Island Beach Resort is a small resort with a few wooden chalet rooms with a coffee shop.

With a book or coffee, many would enjoy the breezing winds and the sun at the resort.

There is also a hammock there were often guests were caught taking a nap in the afternoon.

Right after we reached Pulau Tenggol, we prepared ourselves for our first open water diving. That’s me with the tight suit.

That was us before our virgin open water dive session.

Before we go to the sea, we went for our first open water diving at Turtle Point near the island. We practise there until the instructor is satisfied with our progress only we can proceeds for our first sight-seeing or leisure dive. Hence, before this we had two scuba diving lessons in a swimming pool in Cheras, Kuala Lumpur.

Why is it better to learn in swimming pool first? Rachel is a good swimmer but I am not. In addition, I can’t “stand” in the water surface properly so I did have some fear about the whole scuba diving thing.

Before I start, I talked to a few season divers and they agreed that it is the best to learn at the pool first rather than doing the whole thing on the beach/island. We had a long discussion with our instructor before we start the course and he gave us a lot of explanations and details about it. After two lessons in the pool, we did great and we had the confidence before the real dive.

My first drop to the sea was anxious but fun. As expected, I took quite a number of deep breaths but I wasn’t panic.

We practise all the exercises we did in the pool at Turtle Point. The feeling is similar but the environment is different. We can dive in to 18 feet and practise our “hovering” there.

We also practise all the steps we needed as from the PADI license requirement. The first dive was unexpectedly fun.

Though we were practising but we were still able to see the underwater sea life like never before. We were on our own and we were at a different “universe”. All the stress and the unhappiness can be well forgotten here as it is dead silence down there. No sms, no Internet and no calls. It is just you and your buddy diving underwater, it is your world!

The first dive was good and promising. However due to my physical size, I was having trouble taking my fins off.

We did two dives on the first day and we took break in between and this is a must for scuba divers to prevent decompression sickness. A person can do a maximum of three to four dives a day based on the depth and the duration of each dive.

Pulau Tenggol Island Beach Resort offers three meals and a tea time a day. The tea time is in between lunch and dinner and usually served with delicious Malaysian desserts. All the meals are cooked by the Malay staffs.

The sunset view at Pulau Tenggol was a beauty. We had our dinner with the backdrop of the beautiful sunset. We took the PADI written exam and I managed to finish it within 20 minutes. The max time for the written exam is one and half hour. The passing mark is 75% and I scored 90% and Rachel scored 80%. For the practical exam, our instructor will initiate all the steps and evaluate us during our dives. Yeah, we passed our exams and now waiting for our PADI license.

The second day we did four dives, three dives near the island and one leisure dive. We went to Turtle Point, Five Sisters and Gua Rajawali. Both Five Sisters and Gua Rajawali are deeper than 10m so we had to make sure not to go deeper than our limit. We did get the chill when we couldn’t the bottom but with our practise dives, we had no problems. With the guidance of our instructor, there was not even a single bad incident during the whole trip.

On third day, we left Pulau Tenggol with a few new friends. They are seasoned divers Ahmad Zaki and Amardeep. Thanks for sharing the amazing scuba diving stories as well as those magical underwater pictures.

We departed Pulau Tenggol with a heavy heart and we are looking forward for more diving trips in the near future. Our instructor Lo Kean Leong (lkeanleong@yahoo.com) went to Sipadan after that and planning their next scuba diving trip to Christmas Island.

For those who wants to learn from an experience PADI certified scuba diving instructor like us, please contact Lo Kean Leong (lkeanleong@yahoo.com).

For all the pictures of our Pulau Tenggol Island trip, please click HERE.

About PADI

The Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI) is the world’s largest recreational diving membership and diver training organization founded in 1966 by John Cronin and Ralph Erickson.

It is one of the best resorts in Redang, no doubt about it. I’m talking about the Berjaya Redang Resort. Redang Island is one of my favourite destinations in the region apart from Bali and Phuket. I had been going there almost in yearly basis.

We reached Berjaya Redang via coach from the Redang Island airport.
My recent visit to Berjaya Redang Resort was in April for a friend’s wedding there. Together with our friends, we flew to Redang via Berjaya Air for the first time.
Upon reaching the Redang Airport, a coach was already there waiting to pick us up. Then we drove past the Redang village and reach the resort.

Then we queued up for our room check in. The lobby looks good on my first impression.

The ambience was good through it was slightly dark even though with the soft lighted chandeliers. Even from the lobby, we can see the beautiful private beach.

Then, we spotted the garden suites beside the main hall. Well, we would love to stay there but we got a cheaper room at the Redang Hillview.

The garden suites, just few steps away from the beach

Unlike the suites near the beach, the Redang Hillview is nearer to main entrance of the resort. To walk to there, it will take around 10 min. However, the resort offers small buggies round the clock to ferry their guests.

PLEASE CLICK BELOW TO PROCEED TO THE NEXT PAGE.

This one of the moments that when it happened without me. Rachel went to Redang Island a few years back with her buddies in an all girls trip and had a great time snorkeling around Turtle Bay. Luckily, Rachel is a good swimmer and she enjoys snorkeling without a life jacket, something which I couldn’t do.

There’s always a reason a place is called Turtle Bay, obviously there’s a lot of turtles. Well, it’s not by pure luck, so far I bumped to the wild turtles on each of my trips to Turtle Bay. In fact there are also sightings of baby sharks near the beach off Redang Island Beach resort.
As amazing Redang could be, Rachel experienced a much more amazing sight. Three turtles were spotted together at once.

Two turtles were mating and the last one was chasing them. The whole “drama” lasted at least 15 to 20 minutes.

Mating session, please do not interrupt!

Can you spot the ****?

The two turtles were cuddling and kissing while the envy third tried to interrupt them. With the help of the “beach boys”, Rachel managed to capture the mating sequences on picture and video. Well, swimming and taking underwater pictures and video is not an easy task.

Check out the video captured by Rachel!

Well, that’s my wife, Rachel.

It was one of the best travel moments for Rachel. And this is one of the more reasons why Redang Island remains my favourite island getaway!

Thanks for reading!

It could be an amazing experience of Berjaya Redang Resort after a two nights stay there. However, the excitement turned ugly when we got told that our flight delayed to 4.30pm through our friends. Then it got delayed again until 7 pm. Well let me explain how it happened.

The flight from Kuala Lumpur to Redang was smooth. Kudos to them. However the return flight today was disappointing.

Our initial flight to fly from Redang to Kuala Lumpur with Berjaya Air was 12.30 pm. We were supposed to check out our Berjaya Redang Resort room by 11.3o am. At 11.30 am, we received call by our friends telling us our flight got delayed. The announcement here was conveyed by our friends instead of the airline representatives or the hotel representatives. We were told by our friends, the flight got delayed to 4.30pm and our rooms were extended to late check out until 2pm and we supposed to leave Berjaya Redang Resort by 3.30pm.

Okay, until 12.30pm, we received no phone calls from them telling us the flight delay. Imagine if our friends didn’t call us, we would miss the plane. Since the flight delayed till 4.30pm, we went for lunch at a  restaurant nearby. At 2pm, we received another call that we could board the 3 pm flight. Again, why is the 12.30pm flight delayed till 4.30pm while the 3pm flight remained? Nobody knows.

So then, we went back to the lobby and asked about the availability seats for 3 pm flight, she told us it was full. Then, to make matter worst, she told us the flight got delayed furthermore till 6 pm. Then, she told us there was lunch available for free until 2.30 pm after we had our lunch. We got really upset.

1. NO ONE from Berjaya Redang Resort or Berjaya Air bother to inform us about the initial 4.30 pm flight delayed.

2. NO ONE from Berjaya Redang Resort or Berjaya Air can explain why that we could not take the 3pm flight.

3. NO ONE from Berjaya Redang Resort or Berjaya Air bother to tell us that we got FREE LUNCH in the hotel.

4. NO ONE from Berjaya Redang Resort or Berjaya Air bother to inform us the flight got DELAYED AGAIN till 6pm.

The person in charge kept arguing that she has informed us, called our hotel room and such. What a big liar and bullshit I’ve heard. They got my mobile number records, she could have call us if she wanted to and we were in the hotel room until 12.30pm and there were no calls.

So then, we requested for an extra room and free meal which they agreed. However, while taking order for our free meal at 4pm, they created a mess again stating we can only have cakes and tea while the other group can order what they want. Everyone got really upset and only then, they agreed to what we were promised.

After wasting our valuable half day in the resort, we went to the airport for another 1 hour wait. We reached Subang at 8 pm. We couldn’t arrange transportation because they kept changing the timing.

I wouldn’t mind 6 hours delay if they could inform us properly. No phone calls or notices in the lobby showed how irresponsible they were. It was really a sour note to a great holiday.

Our 2008 trip to Redang was a good one. It was actually Wilson’s first time to Redang Island. We didn’t stay at one of the top resorts, we opted for an average resort which was averagely good. Our package includes snorkeling trips to Redang Marine Park with the additional fee of RM 5 (US$ 1.8) only.

The island is well maintained, crowded by tourist but it was very clean. We were advised to snorkel around the island and it was indeed one of the best snorkeling site we’ve been.

It was Wilson in front and Angela (my sister) at the back.

Check out the Tiger Fish.

Up close and personal.

Feeding time, we brought some bread to feed the fish, they loved it!

There were also other different types of fish there. Can’t really name what fishes they were, but they were very colorful.

That’s us! Wilson and I!

Amazing, well preserved and beautiful corals.

Can you spot “Nemo” (clown fish) down there?

I bet you can spot the baby shark! Don’t worry, they won’t bite and attack humans. What a sight!

Check out the video of the school fish, awesome!

The colorful fish at Redang Marine Park. The moment underwater was so nice, cooling and stress free. Wish I could go there more often, hearts Redang Marine Park. Awesome!!

Many apologies as lately there had been lesser food posts. But do assured, it will be always here. Our last trip to Cherating, Terengganu brought to new places like Chukai, Kemaman. We wanted to go to the popular Restoran Tong Juan but our odd timing around 4pm left us no choice but to Restoran Kemaman.

If not mistaken, it’s located at the same row of Restoran Tong Juan facing the river. The restaurant itself was already packed with Muslims salvaging the famous stuffed crabs. Looking at the size of the crowd, we knew this place must be good.

We ordered the Stir Fried Squid with “Kung Po” style. The well stir fried squid was rich in flavour. Wasn’t the best, it was sure decent.

Stir Fried La La with ginger and spring onion was next. Our love for La La can be spotted here again, as we love to order la la with any cooking style.

Right, the main dish that we have been waiting for, the stuffed crabs.

Some would wonder why the stuffed crabs are so popular. The generous amount of crab meats stuffed altogether into the crab shell will make one to imagine how addictive this could be. Though the taste wasn’t that spectacular, yet the experience was something that’s worth going for.

In general, the food was decent, service was okay but the cleanliness of the place could be improved. The pricing was  quite reasonable.

Ratings:

Food Type: Chinese Food

Price: Reasonable 4/5

Environment Cleanliness Vote : 2/5

Food Votes : 3/5

Halal : Not sure, PORK FREE

Address:

Jalan Sulaimani,
24000 Kemaman, Chukai
Terengganu Darul Iman

My first visit to Redang Island few months back was a good one. Like many first timers, I did a google search for which best value resort to stay in Redang. I chose Redang Beach Resort. For the price I’ve paid, I expect nothing spectacular from it.

We were given a few minutes walk from the small little jetty on the island as I didn’t expect anything from it…

But from the way we look at it, I knew the resort was good….

The canteen, 3 plus 1 snack meal a day… One BBQ dinner with lovely food…

The surrounding area within the resort…

From the resort overlooks the lovely beach and sea…

The service was good, and the rooms were clean. Air conditioned with water heater without TV though. Individual safety box in the room also provided as we were always out on sea.

The resort is value for money and foods served were pretty fairly good. Decent room and snorkelling tour provided by resort was good either. Cheeky tour guide who provided the laughs for everyone. No complains and I will go back to this resort again.

Redang Beach Resort Contacts & Address: