28 Sep 2009: Berjaya's new website launched

Berjaya Resorts has just launched their new improved website today and it's certainly gone through a makeover compared to the old one. Check out their site which has more pictures of the resort and their beach at Teluk Dalam.

I'll be leaving for Redang tomorrow night for my last dive of the year before monsoon season. This will be the second trip this year with Tango and Jules and hopefully we'll get to do the trek from Pasir Panjang to Teluk Dalam this time. While we're leaving by coach, we're returning by Firefly on 3 Oct. It'll be the first time for all of us taking Firefly from KT to Singapore so check back later for our impressions. My family trip has also been brought forward to 10-13 October. As usual, if any of you readers/forum members happen to be there during these dates and want to meet up for chat and drinks, just let us know - we'll be over at Laguna.

15 Sep 2009: Season closing dates

With just a month and a half to go before Redang visiting season 2009 draws to a close, those of you eager to catch some sun, sand and sea should schedule your trips soon and take advantage of September and October closing season low rates. Apparently, some of the smaller resorts have already closed. Most of the others will close by mid-October with Laguna, Berjaya and Kalong holding it out till end October. Five Stars will stop their coach services between Singapore and KT by end September while Konsortium will end their services about 3.5 weeks later though bad weather could end services earlier than scheduled.

If all goes as planned, I'll be making 2 more trips before end of season, a dive trip at end of the month and a family (snorkelling) trip from 13-16 October. The last family trip to Redang was in 2006 so it's something we're looking forward to. I know there are some forum visitors asking questions about whether it's still fine to visit in October. While weather is hard to predict, the fact that I'm planning my last trip of the season in mid-October should answer those questions somewhat. My past visits in October have taught me to expect cloudy skies, slightly bigger surf with some showers in the evenings, and much fewer people on the beach (and in the Marine Park Centre). If you're not prepared to take a chance, then best to wait till March 2010 when the new season begins.

Whale sharks in Tenggol

Apparently, there were 3 whale sharks hanging around Tenggol island a few weeks back. They were there for some time and ranged in length between 5 to 8 metres. I was supposed to go see them but the plan fell through. One of my dive buddies was fortunate enough to be there. Suffice to say it gave me 'creature envy' after seeing his photos on Facebook. I've always wanted to see mantas and whale sharks, but never got the opportunity. It must be such an unbelievable experience to be swimming next to these gentle, plankton-feeding giants. On one hand, it might be a good thing not to experience them so soon as it keeps me diving, hoping to see them. After all, will diving still be interesting when divers have seen all the marine creatures they want to see? On the other hand, at the rate some of these creatures are disappearing from the earth, encounters may just get rarer and rarer. It'll truly be a sad day if just a decade or two from now, the only place to see whale sharks are in aquariums like Okinawa's Churaumi, Osaka's Kaiyukan and Atlanta's Georgia aquarium. These mighty creatures belong in the open ocean, not in a glass tank - though it's a very big glass tank, that's nothing compared to the thousands of miles of open ocean water these creatures journey through each year on their migration routes.

Hari Raya long weekend

It will be a long public holiday weekend in Malaysia and Singapore this weekend as Muslims here and the world over celebrate the end of Ramadan, a whole month of fasting. We would like to take this opportunity to wish all our Muslim friends, readers and visitors Selamat Hari Raya Aidil Fitri. Stay safe on the roads.

23 Aug 2009: Waterproof camera reviews

It wasn't long ago that folks visiting beach destinations like Redang were talking about specialized plastic bags like Digipac to keep their cameras dry while taking pictures underwater at snorkelling depths. At that time, only vendors like Canon and Olympus were seriously into underwater housings for their consumer digital cameras, so scuba divers on a budget were basically limited to these brands. Fast forward to today and it seems that most major camera vendors have woken up to the fact that there is a large market for waterproof cameras. Below are 3 reviews I've found recently:

• DPReview.com's Waterproof camera group test (Q2 2009) which reviewed standalone underwater cameras (3-10 metres depth) including the Canon D10, Fuji Z33WP, Olympus Stylus Tough S6000 and S8000, Pentax Optio W60 and W80 and Lumix DMC-TS1.
• Backscatter.com's Best Underwater Point & Shoot Cameras for 2009 which reviewed dive camera systems (camera, housing and strobe) and recommends the best in each price category
• TrustedReview.com's Underwater Cameras - Group Test Review which reviewed 4 standalone underwater cameras from Canon, Olympus, Fuji and Panasonic.

With prices of underwater cameras below S$600 - the Canon D10 was the most expensive in the underwater camera group and currently priced at S$599 in Singapore - you can now bring your camera everywhere with you in Redang, in and out of the water.

Desagreen Resort now known as Sari Pacifica Hotel, Resort and Spa, Redang

It appears that the resort at Pasir Panjang previously known as Desagreen now has a new name and website and has been rebranded as Sari Pacifica Redang resort. The Sari Pacifica group is managed by the family of ex-Malaysian tourism minister (1999-2004), Tan Sri Abdul Kadir. So it looks like they have decided not to sell the resort but to run it themselves. According to their website, they have 'full-spa facilities, including in-room service' and complimentary wifi service. It looks like the resort will be opening soon. For enquiries or bookings, call them at +603 8942 8888 or email to 'reservations@saripacifica.com'. Apparently, they have a similarly named 47-room resort at Lang Tengah island too.

Meeting with an old friend

Jules, Khairil, Tango and me at the Raffles Marina.

At the end of June, our Forum moderators Tango, Jules and me called on Khairil, who had stopped by in Singapore at the Raffles Marina. It was good to catch up with Khairil whom I last met a few years ago at Redang when he was still a dive instructor at Wisana. Since then, he had moved to Perhentian, left the island and is now a certified commercial diver. I had not met commercial divers before so it was interesting to learn about the kinds of things (and risks) commercial divers go through. Not for me though, I'd rather stick to leisure diving to photograph fishes and other marine life than the hulls of ships or industrial underwater structures!

12 Aug 2009: Wide web format

Cathedral dive site, Anilao.

This website has been completely updated to a wide format. It's taken me some time to redesign the pages and make the switch but I think it's well worth the effort. Looking at my site's visitor analytics, this is probably a good time to make the switch as over 90% of visitors are using screen resolutions of at least 1024x768 pixels. Not many are accessing this site from mobile internet devices like phones and PDAs but even screen resolutions on those devices are increasing all the time. The wider format allows me to use a slightly larger font for better readability (I'm getting 'old eyes' now, so it's more comfortable for me too) and also bigger images. I figured that with many users these days having broadband access, page loading times are now acceptable even with more graphics and images. While I've always avoided having ads on this site for a cleaner look, I've decided I should at least give Google Ads a try to see if the pennies add up to at least cover my hosting plan for this site at Dreamhost - if it does, it'll be a bonus! Also new are Google maps like those found on the Transport and Resort pages. I've edited my own public maps of KT and Redang island, putting in information relevant to this site.

I have also posted my 2 trip reports to Lembeh and Anilao this year. Both were good dive trips with both sides offering similar kinds of critters such as mimic octopus, wonderpus, pygmy seahorses, many varieties of frogfish, scorpionfish and other strange and wonderful marine inhabitants. Anilao can certainly give Lembeh a run for its money and has the bonus of beautiful, pristine coral reefs as well. You can compare both sides in my Lembeh photo gallery and Anilao photo gallery.

Back in mid July, Firefly started flights between Singapore and KT and with their attractive fares (about S$75 one way), they should give the coach companies a run for their money, especially since its a 80 minute flight time versus 9 hours on the coach. If all goes well, I will be trying out Firefly when I make another trip to Redang in October.