Where: Trengganu, Malaysia
Place : Gemia Island
When : 21 Sept - 24 Sept 2010 
A yet discovery of another island - Gemia Island. Only 1 resort on the island i.e Gem Island Resort & Spa. Resort is open only from March to October and thereafter close for the monsoon period. I made my booking tru Regent Star. Depart from Golden Mile Complex at 2200hrs and pass tru 2nd Link for immigration clearance. Reached Yong Peng for stop over at 0015hrs. After 30mins break, proceed with journey. Another toilet break at 0400hrs at a petrol kiosk and we reached Marang jetty at 0630hrs. It's quite difficult to identify where to check-in for our boat services bcos our Five Star Tours in Spore do not know what's the name of the boat operator in Marang. 
Could this be the jetty? :/
And so we just 'gamble' and walked to a spot where the jetty looks promising. Heheeee....And we're right! 
Next, which company should we approached for the voucher exchange. We asked one pakcik and he directed us to a correct person. Anyway, the boat operator for Gemia Island is Suria Link. Boat scheduled to depart at 0900hrs, but our speedboat left at 0825hrs cos there's only four pax in total. Within 15mins, we've reached Gemia Island. 
We had a very warmth and friendly welcome by few staffs. Check in was a breeze. And the resort looks very very private. I stayed in the Water Villas at room number 22. The room is named Treasure Chest. 
We were so lucky. It was full moon for all our three nites stayed on Gemia Island
What greeted me when I entered the room....spa like ambience. I love the room and I love the balcony facing another island. There's a swinging rattan chair in the balcony. Cool! 
The unique part about this island is that it has a turtle hatchery programme. It will collect,incubates and hatch the turtle eggs. Each year the resort would release 1500 to 2000 hatchlings to the sea. 
The resort is built on a rocky coastline and there's no fresh water available. Fresh water obtained from the nearby island. The resort also powered by generators. So from 1500hrs to 1700hrs daily, there will be no electricity because the generators need to be service and rest. The resort has spa services as well as activities like snorkeling, kayaking, diving, jungle trekking, telematch and candat sotong. In the package that I took which I paid SGD450 nett, it's a full board package inclusive of 1 guided snorkeling, 1hr kayaking, rental of snorkeling gear for the entire stay, and the marine park conservative fee, to and fro boat ride fm Marang to Gemia and my to and fro coach fare. What I learnt...there's three timing for the boat departing from Gems Island; 0930hrs,1100hrs and 1500hrs. There's only one restaurant on the island i.e Samudra Restaurant. It serves local,Chinese and western cuisines. Opening hrs; 0700hrs - 1030hrs for breakfast, 1230hrs - 1430hrs for lunch and 1930hrs - 2230hrs for dinner. 
My favourite dish - Curry prawn!
My partner's fav dish - Cashew chicken!
All meals are inclusive in the package. However, I extended one night but extension nite only includes breakfast. So....how to I survive one day w/o lunch and dinner? Well....read this book. 
Hahaaaa...! Just kidding. This book is just my reading material during the trip. Gemia Island is my most memorable island resort trip!!! I snorkelled on my own in an open sea from boat to shore and return!!! I'm so proud of myself and credit goes to my diver, Mr Roni. Terimalah kaseh Cik Abang oiiii kerna memberi semangat dan konfiden to me! So adek2ku....set date for Krabi yeaa.. Wakakaaa...!!! 
All troughout our stay with meals provided, it's all 'prepared' ala carte meals except on our first day where we had buffet lunch. This is bcos that day, there's a group of students from the international school visited the island for a short trip. But well...I must say that ALL the meals served are sumptuous!!! Kudos went to the chef(s)! I must say this also; excellence staff award should go to my snorkelling guide - Mr Roni for all the personal coaching till I can and keep dipping myself into the water to snorkel cos I have so much confidence. And to Mr Mazlan for the ever warmth smile he projected as a waiter. So...to summarized; 22 Sept is the date. Gems Island Resort and Spa is the place. Roni is the name. And if that all were to be sum up....it would only means one thing. A marks to a start of a new beginning - a serious snorkeling trip in the future to come! 
Labels: malaysia, malaysia beach, overseas
My heartfelt "TANKIU" dedicated to "BoNa FiDe" for all the help in building this blog. Muakkksss
