Wow! What a holiday we had. I enjoy beach holidays in Goa where I love the sun, beach, food, and vibe , but I don't go into the water. I've visited beaches worldwide, in the US, Singapore, Australia, Dubai, etc., with similar experiences. We had a unique experience visiting Tioman Island on Malaysia's Eastern coast in mid-April. We decided to visit our daughter Charisse in Singapore and thought of including a nearby place in the plan. RCI did provide options in Philippines, Malaysia and Thailand but Tioman seemed the closest to Singapore and available when we needed it.
Rengiss Island in the background
Tioman used to have both flights and ferries from Singapore, but now the only way to get here is to catch a bus to Mersing from the Singapore flyer compound at 30 Raffles Avenue. A four hour bus journey will take you to Messing where another two hour plus ferry ride will take you to Tejek. A shuttle service can take you to Berjaya Tioman Resort, possibly the island's best resort. Even here the RCI timeshare is at the Tioman Condotel which is two kms away from the main resort. Thankfully, we requested and were provided two rooms at the main resort. The resort is next to the beach with mountains surrounding the golf course and other amenities. It has a huge indoor sports halll, a proper golf course and water sports. The swimming pool overlooks the pristine sands and the lovely seas with its ever changing colours ranging from the azure blue to sparking green. The only time it turned a dull grey was when there were some showers one afternoon.
Carol and Rochelle went swimming the first two days and I also dipped my feet in the water. We decided to take a land trek on the third day to visit Juara Village. Our first stop was at a waterfall in the forest enroute and before you knew, Rochelle and Carol were swimming in the water. I did my customary water dip and took the photos. Next, we made our way to the mouse deer farm, which requires an entry fee of RM15. The deer are really short and feed on hibiscus flowers. Mouse deer are found in the wild but these were kind of domesticated.
Joe the Blind Turtle at Juara
Our next stop was Juara Turtle farm where an NGO is doing its best to save sea turtles. There are different kind of sea turtles e.g. green, olive ridley, leather back, hawksbill etc. Sea turtles have lived millions of years on earth and are faced with threats of extinction. Turtles are hunted for their meat but the more dangerous issue is that their eggs are consumed as food. Turtles live in the sea but breathe oxygen from the air. They can live underwater for up to an hour. Only five turtles amongst a thousand eggs make it to the age of thirty, at which point they can reproduce. Stefan, a German teacher of cartography and GIS at Johor Bahru University, and his Chinese spouse guided us around the site.. The project also supports would have difficulty surviving at sea. For more information, do visit the site: Juara Turtle Farm
The highlight of the Tioman trip was our snorkeling tour to see the corals. We were joined by Charisse and our first visit was to Coral island where the corals are visible at a depth of two meters. Even with a life jacket I was not comfortable in the sea. Carol, Charisse and Rochelle enjoyed the sea and snorkeling. The view of the sea bed with the different colours of coral as well as the different fishes swimming next to you blows you away. A short boat ride away were the Malang rocks which perhaps has the most awesome coral in the sea bed. They will be forever etched in memory (the absence of an underwater camera also helps). The last stop was Rengiss island a mere 100 meters from the resort, which also had corals.
Do make it to Tioman when u can.
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