A short taxi journey, a short flight and you’ve exchanged metropolitan Kuala Lumpur for Perhentian paradise and the white sands of Redang, Nigel Wong found it a very satisfactory exchange.

Getting to Redang island via the 'scenic' route means a six to seven hour road trip from Kuala Lumpur all the way up to Kuala Terengganu. When the highway is finally finished the journey time should be reduced to five hours but it will still involve KL traffic, working with your travelling buddies' schedules and even worse, the prospect of a really late (or early in the morning) drive to catch the ferry to the island.

To avoid the hassle we flew with Berjaya Air. This proved to be an easy undertaking. We arrived at KL’s Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah airport an hour before the flight and took our time checking in. Boarding was quick as there are only 48 passengers on each flight.

The plane we boarded was a Canadian-made Dash 7 and is designed specifically with short take-off and landing (STOL) capabilities - perfectly suited for islands where land is scarce and runways short. We took off without delay and before we knew it we had already touched down at Redang Airport - the flight takes just over an hour.

The flight was very pleasant - reminiscent of movies where jet-setting high-flying folk used to fly private charters to remote Caribbean island hideaways!

By road and by boat

The most common way of getting to Redang is to drive or take a bus to Kuala Terengganu and, from there, board a ferry to the island.
Driving from Kuala Lumpur is now easier with the partial completion of the East Coast highway. Simply follow the highway from Karak all the way to its end and, from there, follow the signs pointing to Kuala Terengganu. The last leg of this journey takes you through a number of coastal towns and villages where you can stop for a breather and a bite to eat.

Depending on what time you arrive, you can opt to spend the night at one of the local hotels (I'd recommend the Seri Malaysia hotel which is conveniently located next door to 'China town' and only 10 minutes from the jetty), or head straight to the jetty if travelling overnight. Ferries normally depart in the early morning up until lunchtime .

Redang in general

Redang is renowned for good snorkeling and nice wide beaches.

Snorkeling

One can find quite a diverse range of hard corals around Redang island. This usually means a lot of very colourful, very active, reef fish. I didn't do any diving on this trip but went to quite a few places to snorkel - Paku Kecil and Paku Besar, Turtle Point, Mak Cantik, and a very satisfying Tanjung Lebah. The photos you see on this page are a result of my snorkeling acitivities. Keep a lookout for moray eels, black-tip sharks, and small schools of squid swimming in the shallows. Please note that it is also a law that non-divers who are snorkeling are not permitted to wear fins for fear of damaging corals especially in shallower waters.

Diving

Although I did not do any diving on this trip, dives around Redang island are generally quite pleasant. Keep your eyes peeled for bumpheaded parrotfish, Titan triggers, large-ish wrasse and turtles.

Wildlife conservation

Redang island is a gazetted marine park - meaning that no fishing is permitted and tourists are not allowed to remove coral, shells or other marine treasures or artifacts from the sea. There is an ongoing turtle conservation project located on a beach at the aptly named Turtle Point where volunteers and researchers act as guardians and custodians of turtle nests - this sometimes involves relocating nests to the government-owned beach to protect them from poachers and natural predators.

Convenience

Long Beach is home to quite a number of holiday resorts ranging from luxurious to budget. Convenience stores, dive shops and restaurants can be found attached to many of these resorts as well selling everything from local fare to Western-style breakfasts, snacks, mobile pre-paid and calling cards, toys, trinkets, beachwear and watersport gear.

Nightlife

 Not content to just sit and gaze up at the stars? Long Beach also boasts a number of 'clubbing' spots and bars along the beach where one can unwind after a 'hot, hard-day' on the beach - most of the resorts sport 'beach bars' and the Holiday Resort at one of the extreme ends of Long Beach boasts a scenic, waterside bar complete with deejay.

Go wherever you like!

Most travellers are quite happy to go along with the itinerary specified in their holiday packages. For those who want a little more adventure though, chartering a small outboard-motor boat may be the better way to go. Many of the local island residents, fishermen oringinally, will rent their boat to tourists complete with driver and, in many cases, a local guide (again one of the islanders). A trip round the island in a speed boat will take about 45 minutes, it’s not a big island.

We were fortunate enough to hook up with Amirul Bot Service, a private enterprise that now boasts 2 boats - an 8-seater and a 12-seater. I was already very impressed with the condition of his boats (both well maintained, clean, with recently upgraded, brand-new engines) and was pleasantly surprised to learn that one of the boats was nearly 8 years old!

A word of caution to those who would charter a boat - boat operators need to be licensed and each boat is licensed to only carry a maximum number of passengers, a driver and a guide. Licensed operators are also insured should any unforseen problems arise. As a rule Malaysian martime law requires all boat passengers to don a life jackets throughout the duration of the journey or ride. Needless to say, through personal experience, Amirul Bot Service satisfies all these requirements.

Boat charters usually pick up passengers from their respective resorts and can drop passengers off at almost any point on the island depending on weather conditions and whether a particular beach is private property. Most charters also provide taxi services to the nearby islands of Lang Tengah and Perhentian as well as ferry services to and from Merang jetty just south of Kuala Terengganu town.

The resort

Berjaya Redang Beach & Spa Resort sits in a sheltered bay at the northern end of the island. A private beach front for the exclusive use of guests virtually guarantees a level of privacy unmatched elsewhere on the island - perfect for those romantic getaways or an escape from the stresses of daily life. The resort is well maintained, the staff friendly and the service without par - I'm not kidding, I'm a stickler for service. Guests can choose from a wide range of accommodation options and even the cheapest rooms are well appointed.

The calm waters of the bay itself make it possible for a wide range of water sports and activities. The white, fine, sandy beach gently slopes into the waters of the bay where it continues in a gentle gradient outwards into the wide blue yonder. This has made it possible for the resort to offer a very wide selection of water-sports and activities which include snorkeling, banana boating and wind-surfing.

For the more adventurous, the resort boasts a well-organized and well-maintained PADI Gold Palm 5-Star certified dive centre. The centre is manned by dedicated professionals and offers a wide variety of diving packages and courses. Every year the dive centre, under the management of Mr Vincent Toh, invites qualified participants from all over the world to participate in PADI Instructor Development Courses (IDC). To top it all off, the resort in collaboration with the dive centre, organizes a yearly Redang Clean-up day under the banner of PADI's Project Aware - here divers and 'green' minded beach-goers converge from all over the world to clean beaches and reefs. It's a fun event with plenty of after-hour activities - barbeques, photography competitions, visits to turtle sanctuaries, gala dinners and lucky draws. For more information about Project Aware see www.projectaware.org

The resort operates a restaurant which serves a combination of local and western fare. Breakfast and dinner are normally buffet affairs whilst ala-carte is available from early in the morning to late at night. The food is good (better actually since my last visit in September 2007), hats off to 'Joe' the F&B chief and his team for their efforts to continually make things interesting in the gourmet department. Twice a week the restaurant organizes a barbeque buffet dinner outside under the stars (weather permitting of course) complete with candlelight and a three-piece band.

For more information see www.bigblueholidays.com