White sandy beaches, clear blue skies, water so clear you can see the bottom…sounds like a taste of paradise isn’t it? Yup, I had a taste of paradise during the weekend at Pulau Redang as part of my company trip. And like my friend, we didn’t want to go back home. It was so much fun just swimming at the clear shallow waters, lazing around, snorkelling, more snorkelling and did I mention snorkelling?
The excitement started on Thursday night when I boarded the coach which will take us all the way to Marang Jetty. We reached the jetty at about 6am on Friday morning and dozed off while waiting for the first boat to depart which was around 9.30am. The trip on the ferry to Redang took us about 45 minutes so we looked at the beautiful scenery outside through the little port hole windows. When we finally arrived at the Laguna Redang Island Resort where we were staying, we registered at the lobby and while waiting, the first thing we did was to explore the beach. My roommate and I were so excited at the sight of the tempting clear waters that we couldn’t wait to jump in!
We dumped our bags and quickly went for lunch. The first snorkelling trip would be at 2pm so after lunch we rushed up to change and went to get our snorkelling gear. Our first snorkelling spot wasn’t too far and I thoroughly enjoyed the speedboat ride. We stopped at the open sea not too far away from the resort and pretty close to the shore as well. Since I was a “virgin snorkeller” I swallowed quite a lot of sea water, until my nose and throat was in pain but I really enjoyed myself and was just amazed at the different kinds of fish and corals under the sea. I don’t know most of the names but I learnt quite a bit along the way. Hehe..so clever!
The next snorkelling trip was to the Marine Park which was further away on Pulau Pinang (this is a different island from Penang). We departed at 9.30 the next morning and collected some bread when we reached there to feed the fishes there. The moment me and my friend waded into the pool, we could see schools of fishes swimming around our feet. We screamed in delight and excitement and started feeding the fishes with the bread. The fishes were so fierce when they saw the bread that one even bit my finger which was holding the bread! So “ganas”! Actually one of my friends even got bitten by a baby shark which was swimming about. Since he was so bony, the shark didn’t actually managed to get a bite out of him! But the baby shark actually took a bite and tried to shake a piece off of him…can you imagine what an adult shark would do? I don’t even want to begin to imagine. My friend didn’t provoke it but must have smelled blood on him or something.
It was pretty crowded near the jetty and I even saw a school of glass fish swimming around me in circles. I was so excited and tried to touch them but they kept their distance while still keeping together in a school…reminded me of the school of fish in “Nemo” which grouped themselves to shape words and arrows. I decided to explore further at the ship wreck
and managed to take underwater photos, a service by the resort people actually. Wish I had a underwater camera as well, just to capture all that beauty under the sea and take it back with me. Words are just not enough to describe all that I saw.
We came back from the Marine Park to have some lunch before going for the next snorkelling trip after lunch. My room mate and I were pretty tired but we still wanted to go and we didn’t regret it.
The last snorkelling trip was the furthest and we even saw a school of silver fish jumping in and out of the water together on the way. This time we could see a lot of soft corals especially “nemos” hiding among the anemones.
The excitement started on Thursday night when I boarded the coach which will take us all the way to Marang Jetty. We reached the jetty at about 6am on Friday morning and dozed off while waiting for the first boat to depart which was around 9.30am. The trip on the ferry to Redang took us about 45 minutes so we looked at the beautiful scenery outside through the little port hole windows. When we finally arrived at the Laguna Redang Island Resort where we were staying, we registered at the lobby and while waiting, the first thing we did was to explore the beach. My roommate and I were so excited at the sight of the tempting clear waters that we couldn’t wait to jump in!
We dumped our bags and quickly went for lunch. The first snorkelling trip would be at 2pm so after lunch we rushed up to change and went to get our snorkelling gear. Our first snorkelling spot wasn’t too far and I thoroughly enjoyed the speedboat ride. We stopped at the open sea not too far away from the resort and pretty close to the shore as well. Since I was a “virgin snorkeller” I swallowed quite a lot of sea water, until my nose and throat was in pain but I really enjoyed myself and was just amazed at the different kinds of fish and corals under the sea. I don’t know most of the names but I learnt quite a bit along the way. Hehe..so clever!
The next snorkelling trip was to the Marine Park which was further away on Pulau Pinang (this is a different island from Penang). We departed at 9.30 the next morning and collected some bread when we reached there to feed the fishes there. The moment me and my friend waded into the pool, we could see schools of fishes swimming around our feet. We screamed in delight and excitement and started feeding the fishes with the bread. The fishes were so fierce when they saw the bread that one even bit my finger which was holding the bread! So “ganas”! Actually one of my friends even got bitten by a baby shark which was swimming about. Since he was so bony, the shark didn’t actually managed to get a bite out of him! But the baby shark actually took a bite and tried to shake a piece off of him…can you imagine what an adult shark would do? I don’t even want to begin to imagine. My friend didn’t provoke it but must have smelled blood on him or something.
It was pretty crowded near the jetty and I even saw a school of glass fish swimming around me in circles. I was so excited and tried to touch them but they kept their distance while still keeping together in a school…reminded me of the school of fish in “Nemo” which grouped themselves to shape words and arrows. I decided to explore further at the ship wreck
and managed to take underwater photos, a service by the resort people actually. Wish I had a underwater camera as well, just to capture all that beauty under the sea and take it back with me. Words are just not enough to describe all that I saw.
We came back from the Marine Park to have some lunch before going for the next snorkelling trip after lunch. My room mate and I were pretty tired but we still wanted to go and we didn’t regret it.The last snorkelling trip was the furthest and we even saw a school of silver fish jumping in and out of the water together on the way. This time we could see a lot of soft corals especially “nemos” hiding among the anemones.
This last spot was the best but we had to swim pretty far from the boat to see the exotic soft corals. My room mate accidentally brushed her hand against the anemone and got stung. She ended up with red rashes along her forearm. She was concerned and asked the guide who said that it was not venomous and not to worry because he was stung many times before and that makes them “blood brothers”! Our guide was a real joker too…haha!
I nearly brushed against a sea urchin and that could have been serious though. We finally called it a day and I went back with a heavy heart.
I also discovered a favourite past time activity while I was in Redang during the nights. My room mate and I walked to the neighbouring resort through the beach and discovered some hammocks there. So we decided to try it out and slept there under the coconut trees. We were so comfortable and didn’t want to leave until we discovered that we spent about 2 hours on that hammock already. I could have slept there all night! Hmm…another feature to add to my dream house. The scuba divers also fascinated us and we even met friendly Mr Squirrel among the scuba diving gear. This is as natural as you can get.
Finally we had to say good bye and I was reluctant to leave because there were still so many things I have yet to try. There was the archery, the banana boat, the scuba diving, the kayaking, the beach dancing, the Jacuzzi….I must come here again. Or at least go snorkelling again so next stop would be Langkawi or maybe even …the Great Barrier Reef! Now I understand how Steve Irwin could be so passionate about wildlife….it’s so fascinating.
My snorkelling "kaki"
Look at the size of that brain!
The soft clam...saw some giant hard ones too...
This Christmas tree closes up and hides when you touch it!
I nearly brushed against a sea urchin and that could have been serious though. We finally called it a day and I went back with a heavy heart.
I also discovered a favourite past time activity while I was in Redang during the nights. My room mate and I walked to the neighbouring resort through the beach and discovered some hammocks there. So we decided to try it out and slept there under the coconut trees. We were so comfortable and didn’t want to leave until we discovered that we spent about 2 hours on that hammock already. I could have slept there all night! Hmm…another feature to add to my dream house. The scuba divers also fascinated us and we even met friendly Mr Squirrel among the scuba diving gear. This is as natural as you can get.
Finally we had to say good bye and I was reluctant to leave because there were still so many things I have yet to try. There was the archery, the banana boat, the scuba diving, the kayaking, the beach dancing, the Jacuzzi….I must come here again. Or at least go snorkelling again so next stop would be Langkawi or maybe even …the Great Barrier Reef! Now I understand how Steve Irwin could be so passionate about wildlife….it’s so fascinating.
My snorkelling "kaki"
Look at the size of that brain!
The soft clam...saw some giant hard ones too...
This Christmas tree closes up and hides when you touch it!
Comments