A trip to Paradise Island, Pulau Redang

Sunrise at Redang Island

I started dreaming of water during my teenage years, clear blue sea water...it has been a dream of mine, a quest to find a place on this beautiful planet where the sea water is crystal clear, where you can see the sand beneath your feet. Finally...my dream became a reality.

We left Kuala Lumpur at 5 o'clock in the morning. We took the DUKE highway and joined KL-Karak Highway. We stopped at Genting Sempah R&R to pray Fajar. It was still too early to get breakfast as the restaurants were shut. We continued our journey and joined the Lebuhraya Pantai Timur. We stopped at Temerloh R&R for some breakfast.

The R&R are big pit stops with petrol, restaurants, surau (praying area for Muslims) and toilet facilities whereas the smaller stopover areas do not have petrol stations. The last ferry from Shahbandar Jeti, Kuala Terengganu to Redang Island leaves at 3pm. We had to get there in time. The journey was smooth. We reached Kuala Terengganu at 12.30pm. We managed to get a parking inside the Jeti compound and had to pay RM10.00 per night. At least, it was secure.

We had lunch and prayed Zuhur/Asr and caught the ferry at 3pm. The sea water within the Jeti was dirty grey but as we got further away from the shore, the water became dark blue. The journey on the ferry took around 2 hours and we needed to change to a smaller ferry when we reached Redang Island to get to Redang Lagoon Resort.

We were greeted by this view at Redang Island

We checked into our room which had a double bed and another double mattress on the top floor. It was a cozy little room with basic amenities. The resort was made out of wood and looked pretty exotic.

Redang Lagoon Resort

The children immediately rushed to the beach and jumped into the water. The water was the bluest shade of blue and crystal clear like glass. We spent the entire evening at the beach until it was time for dinner. The package included three days and two nights, with breakfast, lunch, dinner and snorkeling activity.

The next day, we joined the snorkeling group. The lifeguards took us to a marine farm to swim amongst the coral fishes.

The lifeguard told me that the Island is only open to the public from March until October. It is closed during the monsoon season (November - February). This is because the waves are too dangerous for swimming. The water is slightly murkier during March as there are still strong underwater currents and in September, the waves start to get stronger. Hence, we had chosen the best time to visit this beautiful Island.

Leaving Lagoon Resort towards the Marine Conservative Area for snorkeling

Marine conservation area - swimming with the fish

Baywatch

We spent around two hours swimming amongst the fish. We had our life jackets on as the water was very deep. Although the lifeguards were jumping into the deep end from the Jetty and made it all look so easy. I couldn't quite get the hang of the snorkeling breathing apparatus and decided to simply use the goggles. We went to the deep end and saw a variety of colourful fishes, yellow stripey ones, blue ones, small ones and larger ones. Fortunately, we didn't come across any scary fish. It was the most beautiful feeling on earth. It felt like we were in one of those National Geographic under water ocean scenes.

We got back to the resort, had lunch and rested whilst the sun was directly above our heads. Later in the day, we went swimming again. There was a small coral reef near the resort and we went swimming there, there were a few fishes and we were just swimming away like dolphins without our life jackets as the water was shallow. It is important to consider safety as it was still an open sea (South China Sea) and the currents can easily drift one away from the shore. We spent our time swimming and lazing by the beach until sunset.

Unfortunately, my baby developed high fever. I was fortunate that I brought some liquid paracetamol with me although the lifeguard told me there is a clinic at the Island. I thought I could manage his condition, so just gave him some medicine and tepid sponge him. That night he kept waking up every so often with bouts of coughing. It reminded me that even though I felt like I was in Paradise but this is no Jannah, this is still earth...a place of test, of illness, of disease, of pain, of hurt, of sorrow.... Alhamdulillah.

The next day, he was feeling slight better. We had breakfast, packed our bags, sat by the beach and relaxed waiting for the ferry to arrive at 11am.

The crystal clear blue waters of Pulau Redang

We were loaded onto the ferry and was so exhausted that we all fell asleep for an hours journey ride. We felt so relieved to get back to the car and took a detour to Masjid Kristal to pray Zuhur/Asr before making our long journey back to Kuala Lumpur.

I dosed myself up with coffee to keep me awake during the 7 hours drive. The journey back towards Kuantan was a mixture of double and single lanes and was dangerous at places. It is better to have patience and be stuck behind a bus. Once we entered the Highway things were smooth sailing. We stopped again at Temerloh for dinner and to pray. The scariest part of the journey is just before reaching Genting Sempah as the roads are winding and there are slow moving vehicles. It is best to go slow along that stretch of road. We finally reached Kuala Lumpur at 10.30pm.

This was the best holiday ever...we definitely plan to go back to Redang Island next year InshaAllah.