Pulau Besar Johor: A Private Island to Getaway

Pulau Besar which means big island in English is once known as Pulau Babi Besar or Big Boar Island. But you can't find any boar on this island now, in old days I am not too sure. If you google, there is another island at Melaka with the same name. Hopefully, you don't mix up both. I'm talking about Pulau Besar, Johor which situated at Mersing district. 

To get to this small town where the jetty located, you need to drive at least an hour journey from Kluang. The road is not as smooth as we see in KL, it is narrow, bumpy and crooked. There are hills of palm oil plantation along the road thus advised to clear your urinary bladder before you drive down as no toilet available. Once we reach Mersing town, there is a toilet available at Mersing Harbour Centre that charged a few cents per entry.

The island, which is surrounded by Rawa, Sibu and Tinggi Island, is characterized by quiet, clean stretches of beaches of powdery white sand and pristine-clear azure waters. To preserve the unspoiled marine life, the government has gazetted it as a marine park to protect around 60 species of marine life from any activities that can harm their natural habitats within 2 nautical miles (3.7 km) around the island. (source: Wikipedia)

This is how the jetty looks like.

I was not choosy about the boat but experience told me to ride on a bigger boat (less bumpy) and the side of the boat is not exposed. So I waited for all to board first and I went to the yellow boat in the middle as advised. 

That's the interior of the boat we boarded. The engine in the boat is new and thus could run pretty fast compared to other boats. Well, I chose the covered one as the water would not splash on our bodies as the boat moved.

But honestly, I bit regret the boatman drove so fast. Imagining our boat was the last to leave the jetty but first to reach. So that's my photo together with Alexandra who screamed with me along the journey. We sat at the front seat and the waves sometimes too strong till we jumped up from our seats. The total journey spent about 15 minutes and the normal ride is about 30 minutes.

This picture was taken by Ujay Said. He used drone that could fly that high to take this beautiful aerial view of Pulau Besar or specifically Bayu Lestari Island Resort. I wish to get my own drone too.....anyone wanna sponsor me? 

Have a look at my video clip on Pulau Besar and Pulau Tinggi too!

From the bridge, we saw a group of black fishes at the stone. It is bit hard to see from the picture due to reflection of strong light. But the black part was all fishes.

I came to this island 2 years ago. I was weird at first for why it looks so different from previous time. After a while, I noticed it is a new resort. The jetty I disembarked this time was different too.

I was arranged to a room sharing with other 11 people. If you travel with a big group of friends, this villa at Bayu Lestari Island Resort is a good option.

There are swings, chairs and hanging beds here and there. 

We took a leisure walk that evening towards the end of the island along the coast. We found many rustic resorts on this island. Interestingly before this island known for holiday, there are villagers staying on this island as fishermen. Now some run resorts for a living. However, the villagers need to travel to the mainland to buy groceries and settle bills. No post office, hospital, school, bank and car at the island.

5 resorts currently running in Pulau Besar includes:

ーBayu Lestari Island Resort

ーMirada Island Resort

ーASEANIA Beach Resort

ーBesar Bague Place

ーD’Coconut Island resort

The island is divided into 6 villages, which are:

Teluk Bakau Village

Teluk Kampa Village

Teluk Penaga Village

Atap Zing Village

Batu Hitam Village

Busong Village

There are no boundaries for all the village. What attracted me the most for the evening walk would be the beautiful flowers grown wild on the trail.

It was half an hour walk until the point (above picture) where we were informed that's the end of the pathway. I saw it is a bushy jungle there which I also think unsafe to walk in.

We could simply find things like that at the beach. Is that a fossil? I really have no idea.

The local said these fruits are edible. We tried one and it tasted like cotton.

Beach volleyball, cycling, kayaking and swimming are among the activities you could do at Pulau Besar.

Or having some small talks at the beach overlooking the blue sea is awesome too!

We back to the resort for a high tea. All of us include my Japanese friend likes the keropok lekor (first picture) too. 

Keropok lekor or fish sausage is a traditional Malay fish cracker snack originating from the state of Terengganu, Malaysia. It is made from fish and sago flour and seasoned with salt and sugar.

Next, we were brought to a fishing boat for sunset cruising. Kak Ros who managed Bayu Lestari Island Resort was welcoming us on board with her great smile.

The boatman was an old man. His eyes are greyish blue but his skin is dark. Being a fisherman is one of the tough jobs in the world I think. You need to endure the hot sun, the sweat plus the unpredictable weather!

No proper seat at the fishing boat. We just sat at the box placed at the front watching the sunset and enjoying the sea breeze gently blew to our faces.

The fishing boat did not bring us to other places but just along Pulau Besar mainland. Another view perspective we see from the sea looking at Pulau Besar.

BBQ dinner

Yummy satay in the making during our BBQ dinner that night.

Early in the morning, someone in the room screamed saying there were crabs at the shore! Getting excited, immediately carried my camera and run to the shore to snap the photos. They run too fast into the water and sand which by the time we were there, they were gone. We did not give up and continued to search for it. Finally, we spotted a sea crab playing at the water. Here came the shot of it.

That's one of the villas of Bayu Lestari Resort.  I will talk more about it in my next post.

That's my sharing on Pulau Besar after paying 2 times visits. Do leave me a comment if you wanna know more about this place :)