Day 4/Part 1: Redang

The morning started with our breakfast, as usual in Bayu Restaurant. Then we headed back to the room to clear our system (Naufal had reminded us yesterday that there would be no toilets in case we needed to poo!!).  Got dressed then headed to the excursion center to meet up with the group. We were the initial 4 to sign up and were told that the excursion would not go on (even though we offered to pay for the 5th person so that the trip can go on). The staff worked hard to sell the excursion and in the end, another family of 4, a couple and a gentleman signed up for the trip. Yay!

Our marine biologists for this trip were Naufal and Sara. The boatman was a new, but equally as friendly man.

After a boat ride of around 40 minutes we arrived at Turtle Bay to swim with turtles. Before jumping into the water, Naufal briefed us. He reminded us not to touch the turtle and not to feed the turtles, although other boat operators will feed the turtles so that they would come nearer to the snorkelers. 

Up close with the turtle

After a while, we headed back to the boat and chatted a while with the boatman. He was telling us about how the fishermen and island villagers survived during the movement control order in the past 2 years and how the economy is now that we have opened up. Ko-ko stayed in the water with the intent of doing a pee.. but try as he would, he could not pee.. *laugh*

Next stop is Pulau Lima. Before arriving, Mei-mei looked a little green. So she asked if we could go to the island. Daddy brought her along. Boy was that a rough swim. The waves were strong and it was rocky to reach the beach. Ko-ko also went to the island as he needed to pee. I thought to follow but daddy told me to go back to the boat while was safer. Sara went with you all (the single gentleman also went to the beach).

After a while, Ko-ko came back to snorkel and then later after much struggle, daddy got Mei-mei back to the beach where she snorkeled with me a while and daddy went back to the boat to rest. He suffered some cuts and when he looked, his fins also had gashes. Thank goodness for the fins!

Next stop was  a placed called Sand Bank. It was open and hot, but everyone hopped off the boat while daddy rested in the boat and ate his energy bar. 

Beautiful strip of sand

Can you spot daddy in the boat?

Kiddies playing in the beach. Trying to skip corals and pebbles

Daddy later joined us and after many tries, managed to get this shot of the two of you:

Yup, Mei-mei obviously felt a lot better 

We scrambled back into the boat and then headed to the Redang Marine Park. Here we were to go swim in the shipwreck just outside the marine park. The ship was intentionally sunken there to serve as an artificial reef for the sea life. Naufal jumped into the sea to check out the condition of the sea before beckoning to the rest of us to jump in. 

Can you spot the top of the wreck?

Beautiful corals

Table top coral

We swam for quite a while in the sea. Daddy was telling me that it was beautiful to swim just above the ship. And I told him to bring Mei-mei with him so that he can navigate with her. Ko-ko joined me. He told me that it felt like he may have been stung by jellyfish on his neck. Then we spotted a jellyfish and swam away from it towards out boat. By then Naufal came looking for us, saying that there were quite a number of them in the water. We quickly got back into the boat and found out that daddy had been stung on his forearm. 

Later we found out that you were both heading back to the boat and there were jellyfish. Daddy tried to protect Mei-mei by kicking them away with his fins. Mei-mei on the other hand was screaming and tried to scramble up the boat sans the ladder (the ladder had come undone), and one of the others in the group helped to pull her into the boat. 

When everyone were safely back into the boat, we headed to Pulau Lang Tengah. Here we had our lunch. It was a packed lunch of rice, chicken and some vegetables. The kids played in the beach again while the rest of the group just sat around and relaxed. 

We then clambered back into the boat and went to the final snorkel site. It was just a 5 minute boat ride. Here was the site of a plane which was intentionally sunken to be a reef. This plane was just sunken a year ago. Too bad the waters were rather murky and we could not see anything from the top. Ko-ko did a dive and said he could see something. Daddy tried and said he probably saw the wing of the plane. 

After a while, everyone went back into the boat. We were too tired to want to snorkel much. Then we headed back to the resort. As usual, Mei-mei slept all the way back with daddy keeping her safe (and not falling off the boat!).

An interesting trip, and like Ko-ko said: We've done 2 islands in this trip. No need to plan for Redang anymore.