Friday, July 31, 2009

Putri and I @ Pulau Payar Marine Park


– Putri and I are downstairs getting ready for our bus to pick us up to bring us to Jetty Point, Kuah Town.

-- We’re pretty excited about heading to Pulau Payar! One of the most highly anticipated adventures. Have really high expectations for this trip.. I hope its not disappointing!

Pulau Payar Marine Park is located 19 nautical miles south of Langkawi Island. If coming from Penang Island, it is located 32 nautical miles north of Penang Island. It is also approximately 15 nautical miles west of Kuala Kedah. This island still remains unspoilt until today due to its status as a marine park and is South East Asia’s first 1 stop snorkeling, diving and water activity floating platform. In a form of a massive two tier floating platform, due to the government’s tireless efforts to preserve marine life around the place, the fish in and around Pulau Payar seem to be totally at ease with tourists!

Booking day trips usually include pickup from your hotel, lunch on the island and use of snorkelling and diving equipment. Two dives are arranged. Total time that you need to allocate for this trip is from 8am to 4:30pm.

Once we had arrived at Jetty Point, Putri and I along with the rest of the tour group were escorted to the boat docks to where we were ushered into a large ferry boat with both indoor and outdoor seating. I must admit.. it looked pretty swank! J

A short 40 minute ride later, I noticed the boat starting to slow down, and out of nowhere, an overly excited Puteri (who chose to sit outside) ran into the indoor seating area where I was calmly reading my book screaming ‘Woooh! Where here! Come see!’

I must admit, the Pulau Payar Marine Park platform looked like something out of Star Trek! Anchored in open sea, just around 200 metres away from the island shore, the massive structure had a bridging area where boats can connect, a huge area (resembling a food court seating area) with round tables scattered everywhere, a diving centre and an equipment hub and even an underwater observatory!



Wow.. I was so excited I had to stop myself from screaming ‘BEAM ME UP, SCOTTY!’

Sun, Snorkeling, Sea, and Sci-Fi. My dream has come true.

After being led to our designated tables, we were briefed by our tour guide/dive instructor on the guidelines following the island. And they went a little something like this;

No fishing or killing of fish.

No collecting of corals or other marine organisms.

No collecting of sand, dead shells or dead corals.

No polluting or littering.

No anchoring on reefs.

No building or erecting any type of structure on the water.

Keeping strictly to these rules and regulations will ensure that this park will remain unspoiled for many years to come. Comprising of numerous uninhabited islands such as Pulau Lembu, Pulau Kaca and Pulau Segantang, this park is surrounded by coral reefs and many kinds of endangered marine species. Payar Island is the biggest island in this park measuring 2 km by 1/4 km.

Snorkelling, swimming and scuba diving are the main activities on the island. Being a marine park means that most of the marine life and vegetation in the sea are still thriving. The most popular diving site is known as Coral Garden and is located at the south-west of Pulau Payar where bright and multicoloured soft corals can be seen. The fascinating feature of this park is that there are many artificial reefs built from old boats, concrete blocks and tyres that have developed into mature reefs with plenty of sea creatures around them. Baby Shark Feeding is also a memorable experience, as we literally were able to swim with these baby sharks in about 4 feet of water!


Jungle Tracking is another activity that you can do over here as the island is a self-sustaining island with virtually no concrete except for walkways, and changing areas at the beach area of the island. I think it was great how they try to avoid over “commercializing” it at the cost of taking away some of its charm!


The moment I reached the island shore (via flippers!), I was reminded of that old TV show “The Swiss Family Robinson” with vast stretches of white sand, punctuated by rocks towards the shores, crystal clear water and a hilly (and very green!) zone just off the cost! Ok! excuse my overdone use of movie examples.. at least I’m not ranting on about food!


After a full on day of snorkeling, shark feeding, jungle trekking and photo taking, Pu
teri and I were pooped and ready to head back home to rest up for dinner.
I must say my trip to the Pulau Payar Marine Park definitely lived up to my expectations and is definitely one of the highlights of my trip. I felt like a little kid in a big, wet jungle gym all over again! It was really something else.
For those keen on doing something fun and memorable in Langkawi Island, the Marine Park is definitely on to go for.

Till The Next Post..Harith The Trekky Beach BumKindly Sponsored by Rahsia Estates Sdn Bhd


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