Did you know that Malaysia has campsites by the beach? That spells perfect vacation for me.
Kapas Island is a relatively unknown island, compared to those that are frequently visited - Redang, Perhentian, Tioman etc. Also because it is really near to the mainland, many chose to visit it for a day trip instead of staying over.
The island is not too big, but enough for you to do some simple water sports activities like snorkeling, kayak, and also diving!
How to get to the Marang Jetty?
Three ways to get you directly to the jetty:
1. Fly to Kuala Terengganu Airport, and then find a cab/land transfer to Marang (40 minutes), price I suppose should be around RM 50 -80
2. Drive there, takes you 4 hours journey
3. Get on to a bus that allows you to drop of at Marang (Pejabat Tanah). Price: RM 45/way
The most economical, I suggest would be driving, especially if you're in a group!
If you're taking option #3, after alighting, just walk alongside the road and turn into the shop lots on your right. You will be surpassing the market, and then take another right at the junction. You should be able to spot road signs here and there. If you are there early, be sure to check the beautiful sunrise! I was there at 5 AM lol so yeah I watched the sky gradually changed colours and reminded me so much about KK. I miss that city!
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| Sunrise viewing nearby the jetty |
As the first boat starts around 9.30 AM, you can drop by their local market to grab some local delicacies, or even buy your raw ingredients to cook at the campsite!
How to get to Kapas Island?
At around 9 AM you'll see the shops around the jetty start opening and these shops provide boat transfers, accommodations, and also snorkeling trips around Kapas and Gemia Islands.
You can get the boat transfers from around RM 35/two ways.
Where to camp?
There are actually a few campsites located around Kapas Island, but I took the one with the most reviews online and this was where I stayed.
Longsha Campsite
Longsha is owned by Longet, a really nice local who was very accommodating. But what I really like about him is that he is forever picking up rubbish by the beach. Whenever I am having a conversation with him, he would be picking up plastics, cigarettes butts, etc.
I have personally seen a lot of people (locals or not) that have bad habits of throwing rubbish around the beaches (major eye roll) ESPECIALLY cigarettes butts. Please, for the love of god, stop littering. Not even at the beach, just anywhere.
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| The perfect welcome board for you |
I have zero expectations, and I did my research well (google/ask friends who had experiences/read up) so I do have a brief idea of how it's going to be like.
Quoted from a friend who have been - Everybody there dresses like nobody cares i.e ugly and they just chill all day all night.
I actually laughed at that and yeah I mean being by the beach quite often I really don't care much about my appearances anymore, with all the tangled seawater hair, sun kissed skin....
You get the idea.
Facilities:
1. Tent rental for RM 15/pax
2. Campsite renting (own tent) for RM 10/pax
3. Open showers but closed toilets
4. Shared kitchen with all the utensils you need
5. Hammocks, swings, beach chairs all day all night
6. Volleyball
7. Mini game station and library
We brought our own tent!
Waking up the next day feeling accomplished as camping by the beach was one of my bucket list.
Volleyball court, and there was a game going on featuring players from worldwide, and honestly quite nice to watch as they really can play.
Mini library and game station!
Playing self-made checkers!
How cute, they made the checkers from nut shells (?)!
No picture of the shared kitchen but the food cooked in it. Lol
The table is quite messy as there were quite a lot of people when we were there.
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| I actually can just sit here all there, enjoying that #hammocklife |
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| They put up a lot of swings and hammocks so don't worry about having nowhere to chill |
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| Ultimate sea view that do not require additional payment (Cos, you know how chalets/hotels charge you extra few hundreds sometimes for sea view) |
What to do in Kapas Island?
When I was doing some research online, a blog popped up and the tagline absolutely amused me,
"Kapas Island - the perfect Island in Malaysia to do nothing."
It is only accurate to a certain extent.
Ground Tour
We booked a snorkel + hike trip with Longsha, and the boatman brought us to Batu Singa/ Lion Rock which was a brief 5 minutes walk to foothill and another maybe 5 minutes hike.
But the 5 minute hike.. was quite horrifying for me.
Can you imagine how steep it is? The steepness is at least 70 degrees no?
When I asked the locals there they said oh easy peasy hike just 5 minutes, which was why I said yes at first. And when I was there my jaw just dropped.
But I was there already so I just went ahead and did it. Hiking up isn't hard, trust me.
What's hard is coming down, as I had to sit all the way down, and try not to slip.
Adventure of a lifetime!
Can you imagine watching those little rocks fumbled down the hill when I was sliding my way down......
Yeah. And I was like. That's a rock falling down. And the rock might be me too. LOL
So I held on to those bigger rocks for my life and slowly made my descend.
#intense
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| View at the top |
Apparent it's called Lion Rock because the rock formation looked like a lion sitting down.
Can you see it from this angle?
The rock formations here are quite unique as I don't really see these kind in Peninsula.
Reminds me a lot of the beaches in Kudat and also Lombok!
After the hike and a short walk around the rock, we just jumped into the water and swam to a snorkeling point nearby the beach.
C-o-c-o-n-u-t
Unfortunately, that's all that you can do. HAHAHA just kidding, I mean besides that if you are a diver, you can dive. We didn't dive this time.
After the tour, we cooked for our lunch, and then took a walk around the island.
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| You may get some ice creams and ice blended here, good for the hot weather. |
And yes... that's pretty much it.
Expenses breakdown
Transport : RM 93 / two ways long distance bus (I recommend this bus : Darul Iman Express, super comfy double deck)
Boat Transfers (Marang Jetty to Kapas Island) : RM 30
Accommodation: RM 10
Snorkel + hike trip: RM 25
Food (6 meals) : RM 30
Total : RM 188
TIPS!
There are restaurants and bars around so you don't necessarily need to cook if you don't want to.
As for Lion Rock hiking - please bring your hiking shoes/sea shoes as slippers do not help much and you can't hike barefoot as well because the rocks are quite pointy.
Boat transfer include life jacket and snorkeling mask which you can have the whole time you're staying with Longsha!
For a better communication, please call Longet and tell them your names and how many of you are coming. They don't really have a reservation system but it's good to inform them as they have a boatman that will offer you cheaper boat transfers at RM 30.
Do keep in mind that Kapas only has electricity from 7 PM to 12 AM daily.
If you're curious about the peak season, basically all the summer holidays of the angmohs (westerns) the place would be packed! Be surprised, actually almost 60% of campers there are non-locals, and when we were there we met a lot of Germans and Central Americans.
Click here for more details about Longsha Campsite.
If you ask me if I'd go back again, the answer is yes, definitely!
But I do recommend to go with a group of friends as you can make a campfire at night while watching the stars, play games etc.
It's just a really chill island sooooo yeah! If you do go for camping here, tell me your experience!
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| Sounds like a perfect holiday for me. |
Check out a video that my friend made here!
Till next time!