Redang...

[Born2Dive]

Hi all!
Just came back from a trip to 7 skies,... weather was damn bad, cause of the typhoon off Jap. Spent most of the time *puking*. Din manage to see any pelagics, though the wreck was majestic! Dived a new wreck on the way back. So i guess the trip was rewarding.

Planning another trip in Oct to Redang, for abt 4-5days. Never been there, though I've heard good things about it; so was hoping for some recomendations. Where are the good dive centers/ resorts to stay in, and any dive sites that has to dived when I'm going there. And while we are discussing this, is it worth the trip there to dive? Or is it like another Tioman/Aur dive?

Also, for those S'porean divers; has anyone made a trip there by themselves? How do i arrange that?? I heard the bus ride gonna be 10hrs *groAn*... Hope i dun get DVT with all that inactivity. :blink:

Thanks all! Cheers!!

 

[the_cat_keeper]

We normally go to Redang Kalong (www.redangkalong.com) when we visit Redang. The accomodation is basic but comfortable. The rooms have its own hot water shower, clean sheets and are air-conditioned.

On our last trip, we took a bus from lavendar street to the Kuala Terengganu Tanjung Bus Terminal, and then Redang Kalong came to pick us up and drop us at the jetty for the short boat transfer.

Redang is different from Tioman/ Dayang/ Aur, and I like Redang more than the other 3. I am not sure if Redang really has more variety of marine animals or if the dive masters at Redang just know the sites a lot better. When we went there recently, we saw tiny little file fish (about 1 cm) at a new dive site (still yet to be named), black tip, turtles, many blue-spotted rays, lionfish, shrimps, eels, puffer...

The journey to Redang is much longer than to Tioman/ Dayang/ Aur so a 4-5 day trip is a good idea. Plus you get to dive when there are less divers around...

The only complaint I have is the food.

 

[Evil]

Guaranteed to get the best diving in Redang if u go to Redang Kalong...plus u get to visit new dive sites that other dive operators do not know about!

As for the food...there's slight improvement over the last 2 yrs but they still havent learn how to cook the veg properly.

 

[Born2Dive]

We normally go to Redang Kalong (www.redangkalong.com) when we visit Redang. The accomodation is basic but comfortable. The rooms have its own hot water shower, clean sheets and are air-conditioned.

On our last trip, we took a bus from lavendar street to the Kuala Terengganu Tanjung Bus Terminal, and then Redang Kalong came to pick us up and drop us at the jetty for the short boat transfer.

Redang is different from Tioman/ Dayang/ Aur, and I like Redang more than the other 3. I am not sure if Redang really has more variety of marine animals or if the dive masters at Redang just know the sites a lot better. When we went there recently, we saw tiny little file fish (about 1 cm) at a new dive site (still yet to be named), black tip, turtles, many blue-spotted rays, lionfish, shrimps, eels, puffer...

The journey to Redang is much longer than to Tioman/ Dayang/ Aur so a 4-5 day trip is a good idea. Plus you get to dive when there are less divers around...

The only complaint I have is the food.

Hi, could I have more details abt where to take the bus from? Like the company, and would you know how frequent the bus runs to Kuala Terengganu? And how much would it cost?

Also, i've emailed them the resort but have not yet recieve a price,... was wondering the last time round, how much you guys spent and for how long.

Thanks again.

 

[Washy]

My wife and I have just finished two great weeks diving Redang, Lang Tengah and the Perhentians and I was planning to post something about Redang when I spotted this thread.

We spent five days diving, staying at (although not diving through) the Laguna Redang Island Resort. The resort is the most recent addition to the island and most of the regulars and ex-pats that we spoke to seemed to view the resort as a bit of a sore point. It is much bigger than the other resorts and seems a bit “club-med” with organised fun for those who pay for the packages.

Most of the other resorts on the island follow the cabin approach, whereas the Laguna is a no-bones hotel - built from concrete and two-tier. That said the rooms are well appointed, good AC, comfortable beds, in-room safe, nice shower and decent toilet. Where the Laguna falls down by a long, long, long way is that the service is sh*te. I'm not kidding, my wife and I have been on the road for the best part of 7 months, we have travelled through south and central America, China and Thailand and we have yet to see apathy on this scale (certainly for the amount of Ringgit being handed over). Service is non-existant, on our arrival, the temp was 35C and we were told there was no bottled water (still or sparkling) when we tried to get a drink, so we had to drink the borderline brown **** from the taps. When the staff could be bothered to serve in the restaurant, with exception of one guy, they ALWAYS got the order wrong. They couldn't be arsed to write it down and so it would be nonsense when it arrived (separately served, sometimes by a gap of 20-30 mins, but then that seems to be standard in the Malay islands).

The staff would lie or make things up when they couldn't be bothered to look for things, for example: “Can we have a bottle of white wine?” - “No we're all out” - “But I've seen it in the fridge” - cue puzzled look. I would then walk over an point it out through the glass, even then they would pick the wrong one - but then I suppose there were 2000 Chinese guests to serve who were in the buffet section who clearly took priority.

Sorry to rant, but it really was arse. The island is great, we dived with Coral Redang and had they not been full we would have stayed there too.

The staff there were great and even though we weren't guests, after two days, the staff knew our name and would run daily tabs for water, diet coke (Laguna didn't have any DC!) etc. and then we would settle at lunch after diving.

The diving a Coral Redang was very well set out. Everyone gets their own crate, so if you have brought your own gear then it won't mixed with someone else - on the other hand if you're hiring from Coral Redang, it means you keep the same gear for all your dives; avoiding the time wasting BS before each dive.

Every dive is well briefed and is a max of 6 divers per DM. The DMs were very knowledgeable and seemed to find everything on the dive. They wanted you to enjoy the experience, the complete antithesis of Leisure Divers on Redang, where we also did some dives.

Leisure Divers were real amateurs. After sticking my wife in the biggest wetsuit I have ever seen and insisting “yeah, that'll be ok” despite the massive folds of neoprene and the extra kilos to get her under the water, they bombed around the dive sites, leaving no time to see anything. The staff were totally disinterested in selling me a dive. I hung around in their “shop” for 20 minutes whilst staff chatted in the background ignoring me. Finally someone came in and tried to help us - too little too late guys, you were arse. Post dive they seemed to be more interested in making sure that you washed their crappy rental gear than offering any intellectual debrief.

It's very late and I apologise if these seems harsh - but I speak as I find, and I'm tired of places taking money from people just because they want a good dive and haven't visited before.

Dive wise, the viz was pretty poor (end of Aug beginning of Sep) sometimes as low as 3 or 5 metres. Gua Kawah was the worst dive, with (according to my log) viz dropping to 3m, even if it had been great there would have been little to see. The other dive sites we excellent, and the state of the reefs were fantastic, my only criticism being that dives we scheduled for 10am and 3pm, this just took up too much of the day (I more of a 2-tank, 45-min surface interval sort of person, but then that's why God invented Nitrox).

Whether it was the time of year or just one of those things, despite good dives with Coral Redang, Lang Tengah and Perhentians were much better.

In summary though: Stay and dive at the Coral Redang.

 

[kywash]

Just thought of a few points to add about Redang.

I note from your post that you're planning to go in October, you do know that this is pretty much the off season by then? We left the Perhentians yesterday and many of the DMs were already leaving in prepartion for the off season.

You may find your options limited by the time you arrive, so it may be woth checking what will be offered when you arrive. All resorts have telephone so that will be the best way to check (rather than email).

Regarding getting there and away, it's worth knowing about AirAsia they offer EasyJet style flights from KL to Terrengganu for about 40-70 RM. A taxi will cost 30-40 RM from Terrengganu to Merang pier where all the ferries depart. Most of the big resorts have their own ferry (usually included in the price of your stay) and will take you from their hut meeting place in Merang to the island resort.

Enjoy.

 

[the_cat_keeper]

Hi, could I have more details abt where to take the bus from? Like the company, and would you know how frequent the bus runs to Kuala Terengganu? And how much would it cost?

Also, i've emailed them the resort but have not yet recieve a price,... was wondering the last time round, how much you guys spent and for how long.

Thanks again.

The buses usually leave from Golden Mile Complex on Beach Road (try www.yellowpages.com.sg for maps). You can book your tickets from the bus companies there.

I am not sure about the price... I did a quick search on google and found this: http://www.journeymalaysia.com/ptakualaterengganu.htm
You are better off going down to beach road to take a look... a lot more choices there plus you get to see the buses.

 

[fishnchips]

October is off sesson for the islands on the East coast of west Malaysia due to the monsoon season. Don't go.