Island hopping Tour - Langkawi

Day 24 - Friday October 5.

We had heard about some great island hopping tours you can do while staying at Langkawi so today we took the opportunity to do a tour. Langkawi is part of an archipelago of 104 islands  and we didn't want to miss seeing some less touristy areas with pristine beaches.

A small bus came and picked us up from our hotel and the guy was quite terse and didn't even say hello which I thought was a bit strange for a tourism business. The pic below is where we waited at the beach to commence our tour. Well actually we weren't told anything, just dropped here without an explanation so we were presuming that this was where our tour was starting. :)

There were quite a few other boats as well and tourists around waiting to get on so we knew we were at the right place.

It took awhile for the tour guide to get everyone organised on the boat and to begin with it didn't look like there were enough life jackets for everyone. None of my kids had one and many other families didn't either. I didn't mind not having one but I was quite concerned that none of the children did.

I very politely asked the tour guide if there were anymore and he told me just to sit down. The boys from England in the photo next to me then had a conversation with me about the whole safety thing and that they wouldn't be able to get away with it back home and I was quite cross at how blase the guide was. He was very abrupt and rude to everyone and there was no welcome to everyone, thanks for coming, introduction to the tour or explanation of where we were going. It was all a bit strange but I wasn't surprised at the attitude. People in Malaysia I found were either really friendly or really not.

Once the boat had set off, he found some smaller lifejackets and tossed them at everyone. Why he couldn't explain that in the first place, I don't know. 

As the boat sped into the Andaman Sea, I soon forgot about the surly tour guide as we took in the breathtaking scenery around us.

This is  Dayang Bunting Island or better known as the Lake of the Pregnant Maiden, as the outline of the hills look like a pregnant lady lying on her back. Her head is in the right of the photo. When you are actually going past it, it really does look like a pregnant lady and the legend is that if you bathe in the water there, you will fall pregnant if you have been experiencing difficulty doing so.

This is the pregnant maiden island from a distance, where you can see 'her tummy' a bit more.

Our first stop was the Pulau Singa Besar – literally translated to mean Big Lion Island. After a little walk through some rainforest, we came out into a clear fresh lake.

The lake was in a large gorge and had a man-made pontoon around it so you could go for a swim.

We saw some huge fish in there so at first were a bit hesitant but in the end, Sarra, Hallie, Ollie and I got in while Simon took Jonty and Flynn on a peddle boat.

The backdrop of the gorge was spectacular around the lake.

Back out in the ocean we saw so many beautiful fish swimming around.

Our last stop was Beras Basah Island or Wet Rice Island where we were able to get out and relax on the beach and swim around in the ocean. This is looking out from the beach to where our boat came in from.

The beach didn't have alot of expansive sand area as you can see in the photo but the water was very clear and calm and warm.

There was quite alot of rubbish on the beach but luckily there was none in the water.

I had plenty of helpers who wanted to take Flynn for a paddle.

I loved that none of the tourists brought towels. We all just knew that the weather and water was going to be so warm. There was never a breath of wind and it was nice to know that no matter what activity you were doping, you would never feel the cold, not even a tiny bit. It would be strange to live like that always. I asked some of the locals what they thought about the weather being 30 degrees day and night all year round and many of them said they found it quite boring. I can imagine how they would love our vibrant season changes.

I'm hoping that in the future, if they are going to get lots of tourists with many kids that the below sign will change. The tour went for about 4 hours and the kids were wanting to go to the toilet by the end of it. I hate to think how many went in the ocean. ;)