Pulua Kapas
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Golden walk way which you can walk from one end
of the island to the other |
Pulau Kapas or Kapas Island is off of the east coast of Malaysia and is lesser known than it's neighbouring Islands, Redang or Perhentian. Luke and I decided to go to Kapas Island on a whim. We were on Langkawi Island (west coast of Malaysia) and had had enough. We were thinking about going to the Perhentian Islands but heard a lot of mixed reviews about them. Whilst we were mulling this over we randomly came across a passing comment about Kapas Island in a blog. Our minds were made up. We were going to the island the next day.
*We would still like to go to the Perhentians but unfortunately due to pre booked flights it wasn’t going to happen this time.
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| One of the many secluded beaches on the Island |
Kapas Island is by far our favourite place we have been to (thus far at least). To get there from Langkawi we caught a ferry to Kuala Perlis, 12.80 AUD pp. From Kuala Perlis we took an overnight bus to Kuala Terrenganu bus terminal (23 AUD pp) and caught the local 301 bus to Marang Ferry Terminal. Here we bought return ferry tickets with MGH to Kapas for 14 AUD pp. Just quickly can I say that this was our first overnight bus- and we survived! Although, I did manage to get the only seat on the entire bus that didn't recline. Thanks to Luke for being the ultimate gentleman and giving me his seat so I could sleep the night away. Meanwhile Luke was cramped in sitting position for the 10 hour journey (my bad).
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| Perfect day on the beach |
Kapas Island has minimal information online and you can’t book any accommodation before you get there. Once you get off the boat you have to go for a walk and choose where you are going to stay. This is easy enough as everything was within walking distance and all accommodation is on one side of the island. Apparently it takes 30-40 minutes to walk from one end to the other (but we never did this as we kept getting distracted and going for a snorkel or a swim instead, our bad). We chose to stay at KBC and this was another fantastic decision. You can choose one of 3 different types of bungalow depending on what comfort level you desire and your budget. We chose mid range which was 25 AUD a night. The bungalows were simple and clean. But what makes the place is the people that work there, the atmosphere and the owner.
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| The beach in front of our bungalow |
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| Bungalows at KBC |
Our days were filled with mainly snorkelling - we figured out that we went on 10 snorkels in 3 days. We also went in between swimming, hanging out in the hammock, reading our books and eating. After we had enough of our time lazing on the beach on the first day we came back to the accommodation. Here we were asked if we would like to go on the owners boat and go round to the other side of the island to pick up some rubbish and then go to some snorkelling spots. It was a big yes from us!
We were taken on the boat to the back of the island into a rocky cove. It was a stark difference to the pristine sandy beaches at the front of the island. It was sad to see how much rubbish gets washed up onto the island in the monsoons. There was plastic covered in oil in some of the coves at the back of the island. We were able to pick some of it up and put it on the boat where it was collected the following day and taken back to the mainland. This is something that they do at the start of every season to help preserve the beautiful ecosystem around Kapas. It is the first place we have been that people have actually cared about what is happening to the environment and are taking action enough to help. There are bins on each beach and all the litter is removed from the island daily. It’s so refreshing to enjoy pristine beaches. KBC is also taking action in only having water refills so they don’t contribute to plastic waste.
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| One of the many snorkel adventures |
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| Our favourite beach on the island |
Anyway enough about that and more about the snorkelling. After we helped with the clean up we were dropped off at two different snorkelling sites. The second one was my favourite and was where we saw our first turtle of the trip. Others saw a black tip reef shark but we didn’t see one until the following day. What blew Luke and my minds about the snorkelling was the number of clown fish. I am genuinely not exaggerating when I say that Luke and I would have seen over 1000 anemones each with many clown fish in them. We have never seen so many in one location in our lives!
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| Chilled out Turtle |
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| Black Tipped Reef Shark |
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| Hey Nemo! |
I forgot to say the other part about how if you stay at KBC you get free snorkels to use whilst you are there. And unlike other islands we have been to, there is good snorkelling if you just walk from the beach into the water. This is especially useful if you are backpacking as snorkel hire and snorkel trips can definitely blow the budget.
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Tough life for Luke, when the toughest thing is to decide between
lazing in the sun or swimming in the sea |
Whilst we were in Kapas Island we made some fantastic friends and as corny as it sounds have had some unforgettable experiences. We will be back!
Love,
Claire and Luke (Luke was drinking coffee whilst I wrote this so he counts as a co-author to right?)
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Luke forever ready to smile at the camera for me
Koh Tao, Thailand |
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