blurpenguin

We had planned this trip for over half a year... and was wholy anticipating it...WOO HOO! Super clear waters, soft white sands, tons of fishies to see... Redang Island here we come!

Early in the morning after breakfast and checking out of Sutra Resort, Merang we headed to the Merang Jetty nearby and parked our car at the carparks there. they charged us RM30 for 3 days parking ... total rip-off, but no choice (plus it's at your own risk)


Our boat was sceduled to leave at 9.30am, and boy there were tons of people at the Jetty already and more were pouring in, a quick check at the boat schedules... and we saw 4 boats at 15 minute intervals to Redang island, presumably packed with people. Fooh! overheard from the people manning the place... about 400+ people would be joining us for the 3day/2 nights... and the previous group before us was at 600+... wah... talk about Super Peak Period!

We also met Yin Sern's parents minus himself on the Jetty... who helped us take the family photo shot... yeah! Julie's parents and Sis from US also joined us... so a big group from our side too... all crammed in our car... keh :p


The people behind Laguna are pretty organised... everything runs like clockwork and very efficiently, i guess they are used to handling large group... from Ferry to Arrival , to check in , makan time and even the snorkeling events they did it all very well. Our ferry ride was uneventful... it's an airconditioned 100+ seater and it's closed, they don't allow u to go out on deck...


Upon arrival there is a quick briefing on the do's & don'ts on the island since its situated within a marine reserve and then we were ushered to the main lobby for welcome drinks... after registration... Lunch Time!

The place is really nice... very well maintained and beautiful architecture, very well kept gardens, awesome pool and the beach front... impressive!



It was my first time seeing clear sea waters in real life! The sea was blue! unfortunately the sky wasn't up to par during our stay... But God was very favourable, only having rains at night...



Collecting our keys after lunch, we quickly got ready for our first snorkeling trip... an open water snorkeling thingi... as it was my first time doing snorkeling... i really had a horrible time swallowing quite alot of salt water... eeyuuck! But wah... first time seeing so many colorful fishies swimming all around... not forgetting the tons of people also! After getting the hang of snorkeling it wasnt too bad... but hannah had a tough time... open water + first time didnt go to well with her... thankfully with my new underwater pack to take photos and videos, i could later show her what she missed...

We went straight to the pool upon reaching back... to firstly just swim around and check the pool out, secondly to practice the snorkeling style. It was here... that i lost the underwater pack + camera... boo hoo! one minute of unawareness... and poof... it was gone... sigh! all the photos and videos lost! reported to the lost and found counter but heh... malaysians are not that honest lah...


anyways... wow for a first day experience...

We had opted for full board, so all our food was included... so it was all buffet. No point having the non board... u end up paying more cuz even all the equipments and such are charged differently. The Food served is not bad at all... not like super duper good... but good nevertheless...


Second day, a trip to Redang Marine park (rm5 entrance)... beautiful! There is a 15 minute boat ride to a coral bay and here u are greeted by schools of fishes ... kinda tame fishes, if u have bread... they will flock to u... compared to the fist day trip... this was like worlds apart... this time Hannah had gotten used to the sea and enjoyed herself floating and looking under the water to see the fishes. Thankfully with grandparent along, we had enough people to go around taking care of phoebe so we could all enjoy watching the marine life.

In the afternoon we decided to skip the 3rd snorkeling trip out and just go to the fronting beach to snorkel... the corals and fishes were interesting too... hannah already had her fill, so stayed at the beach and played with the soft sand... so did phoebe... heh.



The next day our trip back to the mainland was a bit choppy since it rained the entire night. Before we left Hannah also had a small tiny airbrush tatoo... keh! her reward for being so brave! All in all this first trip to the seas of the Malaysian East Coast was certainly an eye opener... and we are now planning our Tioman trip... maybe next year... maybe...