Fun things to do in Pulau Tioman

Fishing is technically illegal but everyone’s doing it and so it probably wouldn’t hurt to engage in some fishing either. There are signs all over the island advertising for some boat fishing. Apart from being very overpriced (appx RM180 for 2 hrs), you’re unlikely to catch any fish. The modus operandi of the boatmen is to bring you to one spot out in the sea and whether or not you catch anything is not their problem. Your cash is already in their bank.

A much better option for fishing is on the piers and jetties. Large fish often roam near these structures to strike at the baitfish congregating there. One trick is to fish the baitfish using small hooks with prawn meat and float the baitfish out when the tide is going out. Snappers and grunters are common catches. Word of warning, so are nurse sharks and black tips.

Avoid using sinkers as they tend to get snagged on the corals and forced retrieval will damage the fragile corals.

You can rent fishing rods from the chalets for about RM10- 15 but many are very basic with line of 20 pound breaking strain which had probably not been changed for years. Bait can be bought from grocery shops near the piers although bait quality is usually very poor.

While I strongly recommend catch and release, you can keep your fish and ask the restaurants to grill or fry it for you.

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Kampung Tekek can be considered as the administrative and commercial centre of Tioman.

The island's public facilities - its main jetty, airport, tourist information centre, police station, clinic, school and post office as well most of its shops, restaurants and dive centres are located in the town centre of Tekek. The town is sandwiched between Berjaya Tioman Golf & Spa Resort and Tioman Marine Park, all of which are link by a partly cemented 3km road - the only road link in Tioman. A RM40million marina project complete with 175-meter cargo jetty is currently under construction next to the main jetty of Tekek. Plan is also underway to upgrade its airport to accomodate bigger planes in the future.

The beach at Tekek is said to be the longest at Tioman, approximately 2 km long. It is said that in Tekek, you can also swim during low tide unlike in other beaches in Tioman, or wade out to the reef, where you will be surrounded by colourful fish, coral and clams. Unfortunately, this may be a thing of the past once the controversial marina project completed as it would occupy most oart of Tekek's beach close to the town centre.

Those who love adventure can try jungle trekking the 7km trek from Tekek to Juara village at the other side of the island. Along the way is the spectacular cascading waterfall which would be ideal for a picnic spot.

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Kampung Juara and its beach is probbaly the most secluded place on Tioman since it is located on the eastern side of the island facing the South China Sea. However, the secluded beach promises peace and serenity, an ideal place for those who want to be away from the crowd.

Juara has a wide semicircle shaped bay with a broad sandy beach. A cement track runs the length of the crescent shaped beach, linking the various resorts, chalets, sundry shops and eateries in the village. The village is also link to the other part of the island via the 7km jungle trek to Tekek Village, passing through a nice cascading waterfall .

The northern part of the village where its jetty is located is more developed then the southern part which at time is completely deserted. A white water Mentawak River flows from Kajang mountain at the back of the village, providing the freshness and the coldness of the mountain stream which cannot be found in any other part of this island.

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The marine area around Pulau Tioman and eight other nearby islands have been gazzetted as marine parks and marine reserves, confined to an area two nautical miles from the coast. Apart from Tioman, the other islands that made up the Pulau Tioman Marine Park are Pulau Labas, Pulau Sepoi, Pulau Gut, Pulau Tokong Bahara, Pulau Chebeh, Pulau Tulai, Pulau Sembilang and Pulau Seri Buat.

A Marine Park is an area of the sea zoned as a sanctuary for the coral reef community. The coral reef community is considered as the most productive eco-system in the world containing a diverse amount of aquatic flora and fauna. Coral reefs are also important breeding and nursery grounds for many commercially important species of marine organisms and fish. The establishment of the marine parks and reserves is to conserve and protect marine flora and fauna such as fishes, coral reefs and aquatic floras from being destroyed by fishing and other human activities. Hence, we should always adhere to the permitted activities whenever we are at the marine park which includes swimming, snorkelling, underwater photography and observation/appreciation of aquatic flora and fauna.

The Pulau Tioman Marine Park Centre in Tanjung Mesoh acts as the administrative, management and information center for the 9 islands that made up the Pulau Tioman Marine Park. Once you have some insight on the operations of the marine park, you can also go snorkeling at the nearby beach fronting the Marine Park Centre where you can literally swim with the fishes. Bring along some bread to feed the fishes and your own snorkelling equipments. Alternatively, you can always rent the equipments at the nearby stalls in the Pulau Tioman Marine Park Centre.

We only tried the resort pool the one time. The beach was better.

Unfortunately the water must be mountain creek water and smelt that way. It wasn't a very pleasant smell, so we swam at the beach instead :o)

There's nothing better than going for an early morning walk along the beach when on holiday! It's good for the soul :o)

Walking along the beach on Tioman was a pleasure especially with such lovely views as this :o)

If it happens that you are really bored, or the weather is bad again, why don't you make your way to Marine Park Centre? This is sort of a museum that tells you more about the corals, and the animals around Tioman. Spend about 30 minutes there and you get a better understanding of Tioman.

Most expensive we found for this was 100RM per adult. That should give you a guideline.
Tour from 9:30am to 1630pm

Itinerary:
View Twin Peaks (Dragon's Horns) & trek to the scenic Mukut Waterfall.
Have lunch at Juara Village (at your own cost)
Snorkel at Teluk Dalam (Deep Bay)
Next Monkey Bay for snorkelling, followed by the Marine Park and then Rengis Island for more snorkelling.

Nice way to see the island if you can afford it.