Travel stories: Beach, bum and beers at Pulau Tioman

Hubs and me, we *heart* beach bumming ever since the bug bit us during our honeymoon to Railay beach in Krabi. Hence when a couple friend of ours, Ivan and Pink, asked if we were keen to go to Tioman with them during the recent Merdeka-Raya long holiday, we went "why not" since we were already planning to go to Kluang to visit my parents.

This is my 2nd time to Tioman after some 20 years hiatus. And it hasn't change much from what I remembered. Although there are now more chalets and better infrastructure, Tioman still has the laid-back fishing village feel to it.

We stayed in Kg. Genting where another friend, Gary co-runs a dive center. These are pictures in and around Kg. Genting.

A group of student divers trooping off for their off-shore dive lesson while we contented ourselves with sea creatures that's visible to us at low tide. A sea cucumber, mud skipper, some mussels and ahem, some fresh fishes that Gary manage to get from the local fishermen

We also did some snorkeling close by and manage to spot the usual suspects - clown fish, few varieties of parrot fish and even a couple of angel fish.

Come night fall, what else there is except for more beers! And Hubs had a close encounter with a blue genie :)

One major turn off about Tioman is the unreliable ferry services. Unlike Redang/Perhentian where most of the resorts there provide complimentary boat transfers to the islands, all visitors of Tioman have to rely on third-party operated ferries, of which their erratic service left an unpleasant experience. We got detoured twice!

First was going to Tioman, where the operator told us we could hop onto an earlier ferry, but only to realise that operator failed to remind the captain to stop at Kg. Genting jetty and the captain for whatever reasons also decided not to stop at Kg. Genting jetty, when he was supposed to. We had to wait for an hour before catching another ferry that was making its way back to Mersing. Second was leaving Tioman, where we also hop onto the 10am ferry, failing to notice that the destination bound is Tg. Gemok/Endau, some 20km north of Mersing, bordering Pahang. The operator also did not inform us of our mistake when he cross-checked our tickets. In the end, a good samaritan took us in her car to the Endau bus stand where we caugh a taxi back to Mersing to pick up our car.

Perhaps it was a blessing in disguise, because when Hubs texted our friends to inform them of what happened, we found out that the 1130am ferry bound for Mersing actually skipped Kg. Genting jetty altogether because it was filled to the brim. The next ferry scheduled for the stranded visitors was only at 7pm. Gosh!