Langkawi Coral is the first coral platform in Malaysia, located at the Pulau Payar Marine Park….

The coral platform was shaped in the bid to preserve the natural beauty of the marine park and to have a less impact on the fish’s population and local corals.

Having heard a lot about the Langkawi Coral and Pulau Payar, I felt it was high time I visited the place.. So a friend and I woke up early, had an early breakfast and waited for the bus to pick us up from our hotel… The bus number and reminder was WhatsApped to me, which was a great reminder…

The bus that picked us up at about 8am was pretty new and in great condition and after picking up a few more guests from other hotels, we were taken to Jetty Point in Kuah…

The ferry boat (similar to the ferry boat to Tioman Island) journey from Kuah jetty to Payar Island Marine Park takes about an hour and it leaves the Kuah Jetty at 10.30am… I guess I was lucky it wasn’t over crowded because of the COVID19 fears..

I got my experience voucher from KK Day which came with bus transfer, the ferry transfer, the activities, the food etc…

We docked at the Langkawi Coral platform and were ushered to the sitting area where we were briefed..

We were given two baskets to keep our belongings underneath our chosen tables but lockers are also available for rent at just RM10 should you bring your jewellery or plenty of money…

Once we settled down, we were given our loaned snorkeling masks.. If you are particular, you can buy a new mouth piece from them… After that we went to the back of the platform to select our life jackets before heading to the assigned snorkeling area..

There is a stainless steel platform where you can sit and relax and also feed the coral fishes bread.. The fishes will crowd around you like mini piranha wannabes… So be careful.. as they will tend to nip (harmlessly and it feels like ant bites) at your fingers or body or legs…

The Langkawi Coral has quite a number of activities… And it floats like a tiny island in the sea.. You can choose to do scuba diving, snorkeling, fish watching and coral viewing or just sunbathing…

I was truly impressed with the underwater viewing chamber where you get to experience an underwater view of a world filled with coral reefs and fishes without getting wet..

In a way the Langkawi Coral has been there for a while and I am sure the operators has done their best to keep it in good working condition, so dont expect it to be spick and span and new…

I had a fun time snorkelling the the clear water… And it was exciting seeing all the fishes crowd near you..

However most of the corals are dying or dead from coral bleaching, because of so many factors including pollution (organic and non-organic), overfishing, access into islands, disease, and climate change, such as warming temperatures as well as poor water quality from land-based sources of pollution, including residues of boat fuel… And of course thoughtless human visitors, who litter without a thought or those who did not check on   their sunblock ingredients…

Many sunblock has harmful ingredients to the oceanlife… I carefully selected and brought a safe kind but spotted many other tourist simply using those bought from drug stores that contain harmful ingredients to the corals and oceanlife..

There is a place for shower on the Langkawi Coral platform but the operators rightfully banned the usage of any soap or shampoo…

Lunch is served at about 12.30pm.. It is a simple buffet with fried noodles, fried rice, spaghetti, little bites, soup and such.. Nothing to shout about but well adequate…

Once lunch is finish, there will be a boat that will take you to the beach area where you can snorkel, swim or just sit around with the small black tipped reef sharks..

And it is an amazing experience watching them circle you and swim around you… Again, those coral fishes at the Langkawi Coral platform are more dangerous then these peaceful sharks and fishes…

After the you are done with the sharks, the operators will bring you out to the coral reef areas in a glass bottomed  boat (just the middle part of the boat) where you can see fishes and also the corals closer… It was a pretty cool experience…

Once you are done, you can just dry off and get ready to board the ferry boat back to Kuah.. The operators were thoughtful to give you a choice of sitting in an airconditioned area or just a sitting area with fan as some of us did not bring extra clothing and out clothes were still damp…

Personally for me it was a great experience and I enjoyed my trip there… It was fun swimming with the coral fishes, getting nipped by them and the feeling of those not-so- baby reef sharks swimming around me was surreal..

The underwater observation chamber was also something I really enjoyed… Made me imagine being in a submarine or something…

Like everything else in life, I always believe we should just enjoy life as it comes and enjoy all the experiences without being too judgemental (something some people tend to be)

Ask me if I would do this again, I definitely would!!!

Be sure to check out KK Day websites for amazing deals and offers on all kind of fun activities all over the world
https://www.kkday.com/en?cid=8700 and check out the
Pulau Payar Marine Park Snorkeling Day Tour here….
https://www.kkday.com/en/product/22475?cid=8700