Tioman Island - Sharks and Cuttlefish

The route to Tioman from Kuala Lumpur is long and tiring to say the least. The bus journey takes about 6 hours and the ferry is on time only if the bus is late. The jetty for the ferry is about 10 minutes away so expect the cab guys to fleece you when you are in a hurry. We managed to make it to the ferry with minutes to spare but the 2 hour ferry ride in cramped spaces will definitely wake you up as people with a sea sickness discovered all around me. After a total travel time of over 9 hours, we finally reached the resort and our room, but stepped back out again for the sunset on the beach.

 The next morning was a quick boat-ride on a glass bottom boat got us close to Renggis island which was a tiny piece of land with a few terns on it, but is quite popular for dives and snorkeling. A couple of dives in the afternoon and the next day morning had fairly good visibility and minimal current so were quite comfortable. The most popular location is Renggis island, though there are multiple other nearby spots as well. We saw a couple of small wrecks but the wildlife kept us busy most of the time. The best spotting was of a cuttlefish that kept changing its colors as we followed it around, though large puffers, a couple of turtles and nudibranchs were also visible easily. I managed to snorkel around Renggis island on the last day before we left to spot 3 black tipped reef sharks. Chasing them around for 15 minutes, I was still not able to getvery close, at one point it just felt like they were taking me on a tour of the place.

We did spend an afternoon and an evening in a 4X4, going around the island as well. The thick forest has a beautiful waterfall hidden away and as we got off to see it, a monitor lizard scampered away. The other side of the island had another beach with more resorts, but the area close to the jetty was where the crowds were. The island being duty free has a few low cost souvenir shops for people to buy stuff and a marine center where people sell bread to feed the fishes. The long journey back was even more hectic on the way back as this time both the ferry and the bus were late but comfortable nonetheless as the boat this time round was a lot bigger.