Rawa Island in Three Days
Driving to Mersing
Rawa Island or Pulau Rawa is a tropical paradise in the South China sea, about a half hour boat ride from Mersing. The drive to Mersing from Singapore can take anything between two hours to four depending on traffic conditions. The immigration check points in Singapore and Malaysia often are bottle necks, especially on weekends and holidays. But we have done this route many times and hence know how to by-pass that hurdle. We choose to travel out of weekends and holidays. We also made an early start from home. The checkpoints were a smooth glide as was the causeway that forms the land connection between the two countries over the small strip of sea lying in between.
The boat ride
Rawa is said to be owned by the Sultanate of Johor and has a total of two resorts. We always stay at a Beach Front Chalet in the Rawa Island Resort. We drive up to the booking office of the resort near the Mersing jetty. There, we confirm our boat ride and park our care at the secure parking within the premises. They charge us a fee for that, but that is not a consideration because the other option is to leave the car at the mercy of car thieves and vandals for three days.
The boat leaves for Rawa from the private jetty owned by the resort. As there was more than half an hour left till our boat’s departure we go for a walk around the main jetty area. We had left home without breakfast before day break. So we walked over to a nearby eatery to have a bite of the local fare available along with tea (teh in local parlance) and coffee (kopi). We sit sipping our drinks as we watch people getting on and off boats heading to other small islands that lie all around.
At the designated hour the three of us walk down the jetty and board the small speed boat that will take us to our destination. IB and R stay standing at the back open area while I go in to the covered seating area. The boats takes off and cuts through the blue sea leaving a trail of white spray in its wake.
Reaching the island paradise
We reached the island by about 11am. We were welcomed with a cool welcome drink and then directed to our chalet. Beach Front was a slight misnomer, the chalet stood on the beach itself with sand reaching up to its doorsteps. Our luggage had reached the chalet before we did. So IB and R quickly changed out of their travel clothes and made a beeline for the sea.
The sea at Rawa is a pristine shade of blue and crystal clear. The sand on the beach is white and feels soft and smooth under your feet. Schools of colourful fishes swim right up to the beach. We lazed around in and out of water till lunch time. Lunch at the resort is a three-course buffet served at the main thatched roof deck. After that we headed back to the chalet for an afternoon nap.
As the sun went down
When I came out to the beach again the sun was already on its way down. The white sands shone in the long dying rays of the day end. I sat there feeling at one with the sun, sand and sea watching boats going by near the horizon. A few kids from the neighbouring chalets were building sand castles while their parents sat lazing like me or took dips in the sea.
We went for a walk around the island in the early evening exploring the Dive Centre located at one end of the island. Then we looked in to a carpentry workshop before we climbed up the steps to get a hill top view of the surroundings. By then we were feeling quite hungry, so we walked down to the main deck again for dinner.
A day on the beach
The next morning, we got some bread from the kitchen after breakfast and waded into waist high water near the jetty to feed the fish. And they came in huge numbers – fishes of varied sizes and myriad colours to eat the bread off your hand. They also nibbled at your fingers while doing so. We stood there till we ran out of bread and the fishes slowly swam away from us. It was high tide and water levels had risen, so IB and R took turns to come hurtling down the water slide and land with a splash into the sea. R became a bit more adventurous and did a few jumps off the jetty into the water as well.
I went back to the beach area in front of our chalet to laze around with a book till lunch time. There were a few people swimming around. We stayed in after lunch as the sun was very hot, but ventured out for short dips in the water and a long walk on the sands once it cooled down enough.
Water activities
On the third day of our stay, we fed some more fish. Then we rented snorkels and the men went adventuring a little farther into the sea. My swimming skills are almost non-existent, so I do not venture into deep waters. I kept myself happy with observing fish swim around me as stood dipping myself in shallow waters.
Our tranquil sojourn came to an end after three blissful days and nights and it was time for to head back to the bustle of city life again. We boarded the same speed boat which took us back to the jetty in Mersing. We walked up to our car which had collected a coating of dust in these few days, hauled ourselves and our luggage and started on the three hour drive back home. As IB drove along the smooth Malaysian highways, I started planning for our next beach sojourn.
