There is not that many places you can visit that boast to be the farthest* island from mainland peninsular Malaysia.
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| The route we took captured by the GPS |
This trip brought Relax Lah and its crew to two of the most spectacular islands we have seen yet in the Tioman archipelago. Pulau Aur is located 45 nautical miles Southeast of Tioman. Pulau Pemanggil lies midway between these two bigger islands.
We left Tekek Marina, Tioman right after fajr on Sunday with the ebbing tide. This gave us the opportunity to watch the spectacular sunrise over the eastern horizon as we left the Southern tip of Tioman. The Northeastern monsoon seemed to have died down and we motor-sailed with the aid of the Southerly-Southeastern wind.
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| We were helped by South-Southeastern winds |
We reached Kandor Bay on the east side of Pemanggil around noon. Since the settlements and resorts on Pemanggil are located in the West and Southwest side, we had the whole Eastern side to ourselves.
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| Some of the crew badly needed a refresher course on inflatable rowing |
The sandbank in the middle of the Bay plus the gradual slope of the beach made it a challenge to anchor close to the beach. We secured Relax Lah at a mooring buoy further out in the South side of the Bay.
Then we took the inflatable and found a landing spot. The narrow beach was littered with huge granite rocks, some forming natural shelter. These rocks can be seen all the way up the hilly Eastern slope of Pemanggil.
We made camp and spent the afternoon snorkelling and enjoying the food we brought. At low tide we hiked up the rock ridden hills to explore the other side of the bay. We didn't get far. The hills are too steep and the rocks unaccessible, for us at least. Sunset saw us around the campfire.
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| After lunch siesta |
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| Sunset by the campfire |
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| Free diving at the wreck at Telok Kandor, Pemanggil |
The next morning we explored a pre WW1 wreck* north side of the bay. At low water, the wreck was under less than 5m of water. This made it possible for us to explore it just by snorkelling and free diving.
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The initial approach is shown here by the red arrow. X mark the spots that the engine died and had to be re-started. Yellow arrow shows the alternate route taken.
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| Batu Berhala, lords over the entrance to Dayang Straits |
We left Pemanggil that morning and continued Southeast. By noon we reached Aur. From Pemanggil, the approach to the Jetty at the main village on Pulau Aur is straight line through the gap between Pulau Dayang and Pulau Lang. Batu Berhala, that sits on top of the Aur village looks over this gap like a hawk. We tried this route two times. In both instances the engine turned off when we reached the middle of the gap. It seemed that at that particular moment during the rising tide, water was flowing from the North of the Dayang channel southwards. Strong current was coming thru the gap Dayang-Lang gap and caused my 15hp engine to stall. In the third attempt, we rounded pulau Lang and came thru the back.
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| What awaited us at Aur |
We spent the afternoon frolicking on Pulau Aur. Got lunch, had a good swim, got our supply of kretek cigarettes and before sundown we were on our way back to Tekek.
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| Island? What island? I don't see any island. |
Footnote:
1. The distance between Pulau Aur and Pulau Jemaja in the Indonesian Anambas archipelago is 80 nautical miles. Interestingly, Indonesia staked a claim to Pulau Jemaju and the Anambas Islands only in 1956. Prior to that, it is documented that Jemaja had close relations to the British and the Johor Sultanate.
2. Nothing much was documented regarding the wreck. Some say the ship en route to Thailand with its cargo of maize and tamarind smashed onto the rocks in Kandor Bay and sank instantlyin 1966. Some say it is a pre-WW1 wreck.
3. Aur and Pemanggil have always been a stop over place for weary fishermen and merchant sailors. There are stories about these islands being used as a pirates' den. These are evident in the wrecks found in the waters off Pemanggil and Aur. It is also documented that the waters off Aur was witness to the encounter between the British East India fleet with the French Napoleonic fleet in Feb 1804.
