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Date Posted: Sat, Jun 25 2005, 9:56:27
Author: Ed
Subject: Lang Tengah

Hi.. my son and I just came back from Pulau Lang Tengah and thoroughly enjoyed our stay for three nights (wished we had one more night!).

I booked our stay at Blue Coral Resort directly and our coach tickets through Enjoy Holidays. We arrived at the merang jetty at about 7.30 am and the boat leaves at 10 am.

The water at the Blue Coral resort is so clear and full of life - fishes that is.. most of the corals nearer the beach are dead but there are lots of living corals around it and further out.

Both of us snorkelled the whole time we were (morning and afternoon ie) and after snorkelling at various places including Redang Marine Park, I still find the Blue Coral resort area the best. I was a bit dissapointed by the Redang Marine Park and probably will not go again. Apart from the fishes, most of the corals are dead.

At the Blue Coral, the best place to snorkel is the rock outcrops at the left side of the bay and also the stretch between Square Point and Blue Coral Resort. There the corals are alive.. insteresting formation.. varied depths. In fact, new corals are growing in that area and they are discouraging snorkellers. Both of us were very careful not to step on the corals but to snorkel above them.

There we saw Black Tip sharks (at least 6 of them 2ft long), two Hawkbills Turtles (one on the second day and 2 on the third morning), two Blue Spotted Rays and of course lots of the usual marine fishes. The sighting of the Turtles excited me and my son till no end. Infact we went back the third time hoping to take a picture of it, but couldnt find it. The Hawkbills are not very big turtles (about 2ft long) and they were eating something from the corals.

Around the end of rock outcrop at Blue Coral resort( we called it the Pride Rock)is probably our best spot and most beautiful coral cave. The only problem is that it goes real deep very quickly. But if you stay close to the rock, there's lots of interesting coral formation and marine live there. It is as good as my only dive trip I had. There we saw two giant large groupers, puffer fishes, interesting fishes and large school of small fishes.

But I dont think such beauty will last for many years more. The resort next to Blue Coral ie the Redang Lang owns a larger boat to ferry people. But they were discharging oil near the jetty area. The boat men are the ones that needed education on conservation. They threw cigarettes and coke cans out into the sea and also oil. And their passengers followed suit. My worst part of the trip was to go with them to Redang Marine Park to witness environmentally unfriendly habits.

ed

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Replies:

[> Re: Lang Tengah -- tango, Sat, Jun 25 2005, 19:19:16

Hi Ed,

Thanks for the write-up about Lang Tengah. We stayed at Blue Coral Resort in August 2004 and the resort was sort of let down compared with the other resorts we stayed. Glad to hear that you did not have any complaints about the resort.

Other than that, I could not agree with you more. The snorkelling can hold its own and the blue coral formation is quite something else. It has it own uniqueness compared to Redang Pasir Panjang housereef.

We were in Redang this year in May and saw many marine creatures that we did not encounter before. We revisted Redang again and just returned on Wednesday night, this time it I went sightseeing at night during the low tide under a full moon and saw crabs, prawns and partial view of an octopus for the first time! I was elated. Barefooted and from 12:40AM to past 3AM by myself, no one, no waves, just the rocks, baby lagoon and marine creatures. Alas, I saw quite a number of rubbish, I managed to clear 2 beers cans and a 1.5 litre soda bottle filled with beach sand. Strange, this June trip I saw at least 3 vistors filling 1.5 litre soda bottles with fine sand at Pasir Panjang beach. Also this trip, we encountered black oil on the beach. The first time for me at Redang, our group had 5 adults and 2 children and 4 of us had oil on our sandles or flip-flops walking at the Redang Beach resort area to Laguna resort.

Like yourself, I fear the same that one fine day, Redang will be like Tioman where the Berjaya Beach resort is located. Oh well, let's hope for the best.

Oh, one really ugly scene, a visitor whlist sitting on the blue-plastic floating platform at the Marine Park actually scooped up a striking blue fish into a plastic bag and was showing it off to his friends to their delight. Their resort operator obviously did not tell them about the 20 thousand Riggit fine or 3 years imprisonment for endangering marine life - of all places at the Marine Park. Our Laguna host for the snorkelling trip to Marine Park took at least 20 minutes to brief us the DOs and DONTs. Why people are so destructive lies within our very soul and human nature...

The Sea People are so simple minded and carefree compared to the urban cities and modern living that most of us are accustomed to. They too, like the marine life, are victims of modernisation and in the name of development.

Peace.

[Edit]

[> Re: Lang Tengah -- Khairil Anwar, Tue, Jun 28 2005, 19:32:16

I enjoyed your writeup on Lang Tengah. Hope there are actually more of it here. If only those people that asked all those questions earlier b4 their trip could come back and write about their trip.

The black oil that you found Tango are actually tar that was discharged from big ships that uses the South China Sea.
It is bilge water (water from inside the ship) + engine oil that has evaporated. That is one thing that i really hope the govt is able to do something about. The problem is as usual enforcement and surveillance. The Govt just do not have and have not allocated enough resource to fight enviromental catastrophies(!) such as this. For them there are more pressing needs other than preserving the environment for our future generations. I am actually very very afraid that by the time our grandchildren grows up, there will be nothing left of the island to look forward to except all those man-made attractions (i.e.-Langkawi). Even if 1 person cares, he/she can still make a difference.

Khairil Anwar,
diveredang(at)gmail.com

[Edit]

[> [> Re: Lang Tengah -- Alex Kang, Wed, Jun 29 2005, 2:36:08

Khairil,

Well said! I'd hate to have to bring my grandchildren (if I have any and I live that long) to an aquarium one day and tell them that 'a long time ago (but not in a galaxy far far away) we had corals and fishes like these in our seas...'. It's beyond us to stop the onslaught of development & commercialization, but those of us who share a common love for our marine environment can do our part now to motivate, educate, protect and preserve our beautiful reefs. There's more than one of us who cares :)

Alex.
Redang Island Rendezvous.

[Edit]

[> [> [> Re: Lang Tengah -- Lex, Mon, Jul 04 2005, 7:38:22

In September I am planning a visit to Redang and Lang Tengah with 2 friends to witness the beautiful (as I assume) and fragile Marine Park. Now I find that there are 2 out of order e-mail adresses of the D'Coconut Lang Tangah resort on their website.
Does anyone have a valid e-mail adress of theirs and tell me what the resort is like? Because I live in Holland, calling isn't an option due to the time difference.

Regards,

Lex

[Edit]

[> [> [> [> Re: Lang Tengah -- Khairil Anwar, Mon, Jul 11 2005, 17:03:38

Hi Lex,

I got this email from their website http://www.dcoconutlagoon.com/
1. dcoconut@tm.net.my
2. dcoconut@dcoconutlagoon.com

I also have a phone number of the resort itself when I called to send one of my guest there. +609-6977120. Speak to Miss Zaleha and I am very sure she will be able to help. One other option is for you to give me your email address so I can maybe forward your address to them for further action.

Khairil Anwar,
diveredang(at)gmail.com

>In September I am planning a visit to Redang and Lang
>Tengah with 2 friends to witness the beautiful (as I
>assume) and fragile Marine Park. Now I find that there
>are 2 out of order e-mail adresses of the D'Coconut
>Lang Tangah resort on their website.
>Does anyone have a valid e-mail adress of theirs and
>tell me what the resort is like? Because I live in
>Holland, calling isn't an option due to the time
>difference.
>
>Regards,
>
>Lex

[Edit]

[> [> Re: Lang Tengah -- tango, Fri, Jul 08 2005, 1:23:27

I agree man.

My father said that as recent as the 50s, Singapore's own Pasir Panjang beach had clams, clown fish, anemones and sea horses! Not any more, in the name of modernization and development, over population and meeting expectations killed all that natural stuff in exchange for work and financial security. I regress...

Did you guys encounter sea horses? If so, was it only during diving? Can snorkellers like myself get to see sea horses?

When my 2 year plus daughter grows up, I hope she will tell her friends or children (if and when) that it is exactly how it was when she first visited Redang in 2005 June. I dream, hope and pray.

Also hope that Lang Tengah and Perhentian Bersar and Kecil remain un-spoil. We have yet to fully explore Land Tengah and sadly we did not see any turtles when we were there. Mostly because we were snoozing after lunch ;) The Orang Laut folks told us it is a sure thing if we went out at 2pm to 3pm, that's when the turtles will be feeding. Still remember my first encounter with Christmas Tree worms at Lang Tengah. Awesome.

Only this May and June at Redang, did I get really close up with the worms to fan them to retract and take macro shots. What a rush of excitement to be able to see this with one's own eyes! I had played with the worms before but in an aquarium tank when I was little. Now it is the real deal in the natural habitat :)))

[Edit]

[> [> [> Re: Lang Tengah -- Ed, Sat, Jul 09 2005, 1:14:04

The two times I saw the turtles were 5pm on the first day and 10 the next day. We snorkelled the area quietly for quite a while before spotting them. But the also swim away real fast.


>I agree man.
>
>My father said that as recent as the 50s, Singapore's
>own Pasir Panjang beach had clams, clown fish,
>anemones and sea horses! Not any more, in the name of
>modernization and development, over population and
>meeting expectations killed all that natural stuff in
>exchange for work and financial security. I regress...
>
>Did you guys encounter sea horses? If so, was it only
>during diving? Can snorkellers like myself get to see
>sea horses?
>
>When my 2 year plus daughter grows up, I hope she will
>tell her friends or children (if and when) that it is
>exactly how it was when she first visited Redang in
>2005 June. I dream, hope and pray.
>
>Also hope that Lang Tengah and Perhentian Bersar and
>Kecil remain un-spoil. We have yet to fully explore
>Land Tengah and sadly we did not see any turtles when
>we were there. Mostly because we were snoozing after
>lunch ;) The Orang Laut folks told us it is a sure
>thing if we went out at 2pm to 3pm, that's when the
>turtles will be feeding. Still remember my first
>encounter with Christmas Tree worms at Lang Tengah.
>Awesome.
>
>Only this May and June at Redang, did I get really
>close up with the worms to fan them to retract and
>take macro shots. What a rush of excitement to be able
>to see this with one's own eyes! I had played with the
>worms before but in an aquarium tank when I was
>little. Now it is the real deal in the natural habitat
>:)))

[Edit]

[> [> [> [> Re: Lang Tengah -- tango, Sat, Jul 09 2005, 13:18:55

Yeah, one would think that turtles are slow but man when they are in the water, they can swim as fast as torpedos!

Thanks, will take note of the timings (10am & 5pm) and yes from our May Redang trip, one thing I learnt after so many snorkelling trips is to be still or 'hovering', instead of thrashing or fast swimming, will reveal many more fishes or sea creatures to one's eyes. You see, I tend to wait only a few seconds before swimming to another location.

Learnt this by accident from our friend who just hung for a minute or two and that's how he manage to motion us to spot our first giant grouper and of all places, at the housereef of Redang Bay Resort! That's what so special about Redang, Lang Tengah and Perhentian, housereefs are full of marine life (even with the inital 10 to 15 feet of dead corals).

Cheers :)

[Edit]

[> Re: Lang Tengah -- Serene, Thu, Mar 09 2006, 21:52:09

> I am interested to go to Lang Tengah for my holiday. But between D'Coconut and Square Point resort, which beach has a better snorkeling spot?

[Edit]


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