Tioman

Tioman (Pulau Tioman) is a small island, 39 km long and 12 km wide, located off the east coast of peninsular Malaysia. The densely forested island is sparsely inhabited, and is surrounded by numerous coral reefs, making it a popular scuba diving spot. There are also a lot of resorts and chalets around the island.

Most visitors arrive by ferry from Mersing on the mainland. There are a number of ferry operators and three types of ferry. The largest, (approx 1 hour 20mins) ferry is the most economical; the smaller and faster catamaran costs more; the smallest and fastest (approx 1 hour) outboard speedboats are the most expensive option. Blue water express has a monopoly here to get both to Tioman and from beach to beach while you are there. Bluewater Express charges RM 35 for an adult ticket, RM 20 for a child ticket (babes in arm free, as of last info), and departs from Salang at 08:30 and at noon, and picks up travellers all the way down the coast. It should be noted that apart from the first sailing of the day, ferry operators tend only to leave Mersing when they deem that there are sufficient passengers. This has the effect of making the timetables vague at best. Even if there are enough passengers, the operators are general chaotic and hence the timetables can be thrown off very easily. If you are planning onward journeys based on these timetables, then leave sufficient buffers (1-2 Hours). In between there are speedboats (e.g. at 09:40), but one has to pay RM 45. If you already posses a return ticket for the Bluewater ferry, RM 10 surcharge applies.

Juara, which is a very quiet beach at the east coast (especially in the off season, when almost nobody is there), has some special things to offer. There are three rivers coming from the mountains, delivering cold freshwater to the beach - a chilling alternative to swimming in the sea, and a path leads to waterfalls in the jungle, which again is nice to take a swim and climb over the large rocks.