Voices from within

Tioman Island

I had yearned for a relaxing vacation to end a rough year at work. Somewhere not too far and not too expensive. And so, we've ended up at Malaysia's very own Tioman Island, an island that is situated at the east coast of Pahang (I have always thought the island belongs to Johor, due to its proximity to the state).

The highlight of this trip was to try an activity that I have never attempted before - snorkeling.
I was not sure if I would dare to jump into the sea. My phobia list includes fear of height and water. I thought I'd give it a try and leave the worries aside till the day comes. Sidetracking a bit, I recall hearing a good quote some time back from a colleague - Worrying is like a rocking chair. It gives you something to do but doesn't get you anywhere.

On Day 1, we departed from Singapore to the Larkin Bus Station (Johor) at 6:30AM. We transited via an express bus from Larkin to the Mersing Jetty. The journey took slightly less than 3 hours. Next, we boarded a ferry from the jetty to the Paya Village's jetty. For those of you who are not aware, Tioman Island consists of 8 main villages and we chose to stay at Kampung Paya.

Mersing Jetty

Arriving at Paya Village

Paya Village jetty

Our resort, Paya Beach Resort

Paya Beach Resort

Our room

After dropping our bags in the room, we collected our snorkeling gears and departed to the beach for some self-training. I was glad that we actually did minor training because otherwise, I would be all nervous and clumsy on the real snorkeling day. I tried to put on my goggles, learned how to breathe with my mouth and tried to keep my head in the water for a few minutes.

For the record, our photography gears for this trip is none other than my faithful Nikon D5000 with Nikkor 18-200mm for all the land photographs and the Sony Cybershot DSC-TX5 for underwater photographs. Here are some of the photos from our snorkeling adventure!

Snorkeling training at Paya Village's beach

Fishes at Paya Village waters

All ready for the real snorkeling adventure on Day 2

Fishes were much bigger outside :-)

Our findings at the Marine Park waters

There was really not much to do at Tioman Island other than snorkeling and scuba diving. Hence, a 3-day 2-night trip was quite sufficient and not rush at all. Besides snorkeling, we strolled around Paya Village and sat in front of our room to enjoy the sea breeze.