Redang
10-14 Jun'01

Redang was given a publicity shot in the arm last year following the release of the popular Chinese movie 'Summer Holiday' starring Sammi Cheng & Richie Jen. This movie which was partly shot on location in Redang showed the island's beautiful beaches and clear waters. It's going to get really crowded from now on...

---

Sun 10 June
Our Transnasional coach left Singapore last night 2½ hours behind schedule and arrived in KT at 7:30 am this morning. With so little time to spare, our group of 20 had to rush through breakfast at the Travellers Cafe, then settle our payments at the Ping Anchorage office before being whisked off to Merang.

As we pulled into south Pasir Panjang, we couldn't help noticing the More More Tea Inn, a colourful double-storey timber house built for the set of Summer Holiday, a Chinese romantic comedy shot in Redang last year. It stood out in stark contrast to its surroundings on Pasir Panjang beach between Redang Reef and Redang Beach resorts. This movie had popularised Redang overnight, and we heard news of big crowds at Redang this year.

Arriving at Redang Reef, it was like coming back to a second home! This was our third visit to Reef. Elvis, the front desk manager, assigned us a top floor room in the newly constructed hostel block just behind the kitchen area. This new block housed 6 new quad rooms, 3 on each floor, and faced the quiet private beach at the back - a real treat as the scenery was gorgeous! The quad rooms here were bigger and better than those at the rear facing the hillside. Apparently, this building was a reconstruction as the original new block had burnt down just after it was constructed.

As was our usual practice, we headed straight for the house reefs after checking in. After hearing about the crowds, we feared the worst for the health of the house reefs. Coral cover at Shark Bay had noticeably declined compared to last year with more dead coral near the beach. Being in shallow water and so easily accessible, one possible cause of the damage was breakage by snorkellers standing on them or kicking them with their fins. We had observed this many times before. At least the housereef at Tanjung Mak Cantik was in better condition than Shark Bay.

It was good to see 'Wah Chai' back at Redang Reef too. We had grown used to his jolly company the last two years. 'Wah Chai' was Ping Anchorage's staff on the island and was there to help look after its customers. His real name is Anwar Abu Bakar, but more fondly known as 'Ah Wah' or 'Wah Chai'. Don't let his appearance fool you, he probably speaks better Cantonese and Mandarin than quite a number of us! If you ever get a chance to meet him, don't forget to ask him to show you his card tricks. This really talented entertainer can pull off card tricks like a polished professional!

---

Mon 11 June
Today our group size increased to 24 with Anthony's family joining us. They had left Singapore a day later. Our morning visit to the Marine Park Centre was an exercise in 'how not to bump into others' - we had not seen it so crowded before! Fishes were still abundant here despite being fed their unnatural diet of bread everyday by the hordes of visitors and the giant grouper was still living under the jetty. Across the Marine Park, Kampung Air had disappeared, its residents relocated further inland, its stilted walkways & wooden homes consigned to Redang's history book.

In the evening, 4 of us did a check-out dive at the housereef with Don Juan, the dive instructor at Leisure Divers, the dive centre operating out of Redang Reef. We saw more reef life during the shallow 10m dive than we ever did while snorkelling around this area.

Tonight was a clear night, perfect for stargazing. Joo Beng had come prepared and brought his telescope and star charts on his notebook computer to scan the myriads of stars. Mars was at its closest proximity to Earth in 2 decades and it was exciting to be able to see Mars so clearly. We even managed to spot one of its moons. Other constellations like the Southern Cross & Scorpio were easily identified with the aid of the star charts.

---

Tue 12 June
Some of us woke up early to catch the early morning sunrise. Although marred by clouds, it was still beautiful.

Currents at the Marine Park Centre this morning kept most visitors near the beach. We did a 'drift snorkel', entering the western end of the park where we spotted 2 large bumphead parrotfish, and just drifted slowly with the current past the jetty to the shipwreck, before finning towards shore. 

In the afternoon, our dive group visited Mak Cantik, a beautiful submerged reef just 2 minutes by speedboat from Pasir Panjang. The coral garden was beautiful, with many varieties of hard & soft coral, anemone gardens and lots of fishes, including a nurse shark, schools of yellowtail barracuda, trevallies, a stingray and a small moray.

While snorkelling far out at the house reef, we encountered a stationary titan trigger about 10 feet ahead staring at us. Not quite sure whether it was guarding a nest, we stopped. Then it started to move directly toward us. We backed away but it kept on coming. Bracing myself for an attack, we continued to fin backwards. Finally, it flipped sideways and swam directly under us and slowly swam away. What a relief! I'm not an expert on trigger behaviour but it seemed to me like it was behaving in a hostile manner. Or perhaps it was just waiting to be fed!

---

Wed 13 June
Did our final dive this morning at Pulau Kerengga, a shallow 40 foot dive where we saw lots of rays. David, our divemaster, had initially intended to bring us out to Pulau Lima with a max depth of about 25m. As 3 of us were basic divers with relatively little experience, we decided not to risk diving deeper than the 18m we were certified for, especially with currents. So we got David to change the destination to something more appropriate for our level of training.

Hike to Kalong
In the afternoon, we hiked from Pasir Panjang to Kalong Beach Resort about 15 minutes away. The trail started to the left of the More More Tea inn. It was an easy hike as the dirt trail was wide, used by excavators to shift sand. Along the way, we stopped by Teluk Bakau, a sheltered cove with a sandy beach that looked very private. It seemed like a good place to snorkel but we were told the cove was full of dead coral which was exposed during low tide. The trail passed through 'lalang' (tall grass) fields where we relived our younger days shooting 'lalang' arrows. There were many grasshoppers in the tall grass and we even spotted macaque monkeys.

On our way back we decided to explore the house reef in front of Redang Holiday where we encountered a giant grouper, a large trigger and a good variety of other fishes & marine life. The corals here seemed healthier than elsewhere in Pasir Panjang. We also encountered a large school of tiny anchovy-like fish which was mesmerizing to watch each time they turned and caught the sunlight on their silvery bodies!

At night, we visited Tan & Diana from Redang Holiday. They had upgraded the resort rooms and fitted them with hot showers. Over a calamari supper at the open air dining patio, Diana showed us photos of Sammi Cheng and Richie Jen during their stay there during the filming of Summer Holiday. We also talked about Holiday's expansion plans and efforts to protect the environment. It was encouraging to know that they were trying to run their resort in an environmentally responsible manner. The healthy house reef in front of their resort probably bears testimony to their approach.

---

Thu 14 June
As we packed up to leave this morning, we wondered if this was our last glimpse of this island paradise the way it currently is. With its popularity increasing thanks to 'Summer Holiday', the days ahead will see it become more and more crowded - we've already had a taste of that this year - and unless something is done, the increasing demand will continue to spur new developments on the island. Already, we've heard that the parcel of land on which More More Tea Inn stands will be developed to house a large, 200-room resort. This will certainly change the landscape of Pasir Panjang as we know it. The process of constructing the resort, and thereafter the large number of guests, might just accelerate the deterioration of the house reefs in front of Redang Reef and at Shark Bay. We'll just have to wait and see...