Perhentian Islands & Redang
The Perhentian Islands and Redang sit about 20–45km off Terengganu on peninsular Malaysia's east coast, inside gazetted Marine Parks run by the Department of Fisheries. This is a training destination first. Water is 27–31°C year-round, most sites bottom out between 8m and 24m, boat rides are 10–30 minutes, and an Open Water course here is among the cheapest in Southeast Asia. Green and hawksbill turtles are the reliable draw — Redang's Chagar Hutang beach records roughly 700–1,700 nests a year, monitored by Universiti Malaysia Terengganu's SEATRU since 1993. Blacktip reef sharks and brownbanded bamboo sharks are seen in the shallows. There are no dependable big pelagics: whale-shark reports exist but are occasional at best and rest on operator accounts, not survey data. The season is hard-edged — the northeast monsoon closes resorts and boat services from about November to end-February, and almost everything reopens in March. Reef condition is the honest problem: the 2024 bleaching event hit Redang with 100% bleaching and 63.6% coral mortality at surveyed sites, and Perhentian's Seringgih with 54.9% bleaching and 24.9% mortality. Redang skews toward packaged resort holidays; the Perhentians skew backpacker.
What makes it special
- Chagar Hutang Turtle Sanctuary on Redang — roughly 700–1,700 green and hawksbill nests a year, tagged and monitored by Universiti Malaysia Terengganu's SEATRU since 1993; the beach itself is off-limits to casual visitors
- The Sugar Wreck off Perhentian Kecil — a roughly 90m cargo ship that sank in the monsoon in 2000, lying on its side in about 18m; now partly collapsed and closed to penetration
- Tokong Laut (Temple of the Sea), an offshore pinnacle off Perhentian Kecil topping out shallow and dropping to about 24m, with the most fish life in the region
- Among the cheapest places in Southeast Asia to certify — Open Water courses commonly RM1,200–1,900, in 29–30°C water
Price range
$
Trip length
3–7 days
Diver level
Open water
Trip type
Land based, Day trip, Shore dive
Price is per person for a typical trip, excluding international flights ($ = under $2,000).
Cheap by dive-travel standards — a week here rarely approaches $2,000 per person excluding flights. PADI Open Water courses in Malaysia typically run RM1,200–1,900 (roughly $260–410); Perhentian resort course packages including accommodation start around RM3,200 for 5 days. Ferries are RM50 or less one way from Kuala Besut to the Perhentians and about RM55 one way from Merang to Redang. The Marine Park conservation charge is separate and cash-only at the jetty counter: RM30 for foreign adults, RM15 for foreign children 6–12 and over-60s, RM5 and RM2 for Malaysian ID holders. Redang is sold mainly as full-board resort packages with transfers included; the Perhentians are booked piecemeal.
Best time to dive
- Current
- Mild
- Water temp
- 26.5–31.7°C (coldest Jan, warmest May)
- Visibility
- 5–25m — Typically 10–15m. Operators quote 8–20m through the March–October season, up to 25m on the best days, and often only 7–8m on the wrecks. Figures are operator-reported, not instrument data.
- Getting there
- Moderate — Reachable but with some friction: 1 domestic flight.
- Experience
- One of the easiest destinations in Asia to learn in, and priced accordingly. Sheltered house reefs and lagoon sites at 3–12m are used for confined and open-water training. A handful of sites need more: Sugar Wreck (18m, partly collapsed, current-exposed), Big Mount at Redang (20–35m), Tanjung Gua Kawah and Terumbu Kili (strong surface currents in the channels) are advanced-only in practice.
Nearest airports
- KBR — Sultan Ismail Petra Airport, Kota Bharu (Nearest airport to the Kuala Besut jetty for the Perhentians, about 48km / roughly 1 hour by road; served by domestic flights from Kuala Lumpur)
- TGG — Sultan Mahmud Airport, Kuala Terengganu (Nearest airport to the Merang jetty for Redang, about 35km / roughly 1 hour by road; also used for the Perhentians at about 85km. Domestic flights from Kuala Lumpur)
- RDN — Redang Airport (Small strip on Redang itself; Berjaya Air flies roughly three times a week from Subang (SZB), seasonal and suspended over the monsoon)
Permit required
Both island groups are gazetted Marine Parks under the Department of Fisheries Malaysia. Every visitor pays the conservation charge at a counter in the ferry terminal before boarding — cash. Diving is through licensed operators, who pay a separate RM150 per month scuba operating fee. Fishing, coral collection and anchoring are prohibited inside park boundaries.
Conservation charge under the Fees (Marine Parks Malaysia) Order 2017: RM30 per foreign adult, RM15 per foreign child aged 6–12 and senior over 60; RM5 and RM2 for Malaysian MyKad holders; disabled visitors free. Same rate across Perhentian, Redang, Lang Tengah, Tenggol, Kapas, Tioman and Payar.
Marine life
Sightings are never guaranteed — the bars show typical likelihood by month.
| Month | Likelihood |
|---|---|
| January | rare |
| February | rare |
| March | rare |
| April | rare |
| May | rare |
| June | rare |
| July | rare |
| August | rare |
| September | rare |
| October | rare |
| November | rare |
| December | rare |
Reported occasionally at Big Mount off Redang and at Tokong Laut, most often around March–April and September. These reports come from operators and local dive logs — there is no photo-ID programme, tagging study or survey series behind them for this coast. Do not plan a trip around it.
| Month | Likelihood |
|---|---|
| January | occasional |
| February | occasional |
| March | occasional |
| April | occasional |
| May | occasional |
| June | occasional |
| July | occasional |
| August | occasional |
| September | occasional |
| October | occasional |
| November | occasional |
| December | occasional |
Far outnumbered by greens — roughly 20 hawksbill nests to 385 green nests in one recent Chagar Hutang season. Commonly encountered at Terumbu Kili on Redang and around Tokong Laut, usually feeding on sponge and soft coral rather than resting. Realistically a few sightings across a week of diving, not every dive.
| Month | Likelihood |
|---|---|
| January | occasional |
| February | occasional |
| March | occasional |
| April | occasional |
| May | occasional |
| June | occasional |
| July | occasional |
| August | occasional |
| September | occasional |
| October | occasional |
| November | occasional |
| December | occasional |
Seen on sand patches and under coral ledges at the shallower sites — Stingray Alley and D'Lagoon at the Perhentians, Pulau Kerengga at Redang, which local guides call ray city. Jenkins' whiprays share the same sand flats and are easily confused with them.
| Month | Likelihood |
|---|---|
| January | occasional |
| February | occasional |
| March | occasional |
| April | occasional |
| May | occasional |
| June | occasional |
| July | occasional |
| August | occasional |
| September | occasional |
| October | occasional |
| November | occasional |
| December | occasional |
In the cracks at Tokong Laut and in the boulder gullies at Terumbu Tiga and Tunnel Point. Smaller honeycomb and yellow-edged morays are more numerous; a genuinely large giant moray is a once-a-trip sighting.
| Month | Likelihood |
|---|---|
| January | occasional |
| February | occasional |
| March | occasional |
| April | occasional |
| May | occasional |
| June | occasional |
| July | occasional |
| August | occasional |
| September | occasional |
| October | occasional |
| November | occasional |
| December | occasional |
Singles and small groups over the wrecks and the current-exposed rocks — Sugar Wreck, Terumbu Kili, Tanjung Gua Kawah. Smaller schooling yellowtail barracuda are more frequent than large solitary greats.
| Month | Likelihood |
|---|---|
| January | commonly seen |
| February | commonly seen |
| March | commonly seen |
| April | commonly seen |
| May | commonly seen |
| June | commonly seen |
| July | commonly seen |
| August | commonly seen |
| September | commonly seen |
| October | commonly seen |
| November | commonly seen |
| December | commonly seen |
Anemone patches on the shallow reef at both island groups hold resident false clown anemonefish, and they are a fixture of the training dives at D'Lagoon and the Pasir Panjang house reefs. Anemones bleach alongside coral in heat events, so patches lost in 2024 have not all recovered.
| Month | Likelihood |
|---|---|
| January | occasional |
| February | occasional |
| March | occasional |
| April | occasional |
| May | occasional |
| June | occasional |
| July | occasional |
| August | occasional |
| September | occasional |
| October | occasional |
| November | occasional |
| December | occasional |
Small groups hang around structure — the Sugar Wreck, the Police Wreck and the boulders at Terumbu Tiga. They are curious and will follow divers, which makes them a staple of Perhentian training-dive photos.
| Month | Likelihood |
|---|---|
| January | commonly seen |
| February | commonly seen |
| March | commonly seen |
| April | commonly seen |
| May | commonly seen |
| June | commonly seen |
| July | commonly seen |
| August | commonly seen |
| September | commonly seen |
| October | commonly seen |
| November | commonly seen |
| December | commonly seen |
Resident year-round in the shallows at both island groups — Terumbu Tiga and Sail Rock at the Perhentians, Terumbu Kili, Chek Isa and Pulau Ekor Tebu at Redang. Most sightings are juveniles of 60–100cm cruising sand flats and reef edges in under 5m, often better from a snorkel than on scuba. Regular, but not on every dive.
| Month | Likelihood |
|---|---|
| January | commonly seen |
| February | commonly seen |
| March | commonly seen |
| April | commonly seen |
| May | commonly seen |
| June | commonly seen |
| July | commonly seen |
| August | commonly seen |
| September | commonly seen |
| October | commonly seen |
| November | commonly seen |
| December | commonly seen |
Yellow-and-blue schools sit over the wrecks and around the pinnacles year-round in season, densest at Tokong Laut and on the Sugar Wreck. Along with fusiliers and scad, they are the main reason the wrecks still hold fish despite the coral damage on the surrounding reef.
| Month | Likelihood |
|---|---|
| January | occasional |
| February | occasional |
| March | occasional |
| April | occasional |
| May | occasional |
| June | occasional |
| July | occasional |
| August | occasional |
| September | occasional |
| October | occasional |
| November | occasional |
| December | occasional |
Found tucked under boulders and inside wreck structure at Tokong Laut, the Police Wreck and San Choi Wreck at the Perhentians. A guide who knows the ledges will usually turn one up; divers looking on their own often miss them because the sharks sit motionless in shadow. Most active at night.
| Month | Likelihood |
|---|---|
| January | commonly seen |
| February | commonly seen |
| March | commonly seen |
| April | commonly seen |
| May | peak season |
| June | peak season |
| July | peak season |
| August | commonly seen |
| September | commonly seen |
| October | commonly seen |
| November | commonly seen |
| December | commonly seen |
The most reliable animal in the region. Redang's Chagar Hutang beach records roughly 700–1,700 green and hawksbill nests a year, monitored by Universiti Malaysia Terengganu's SEATRU since 1993, with green turtles the large majority — 385 green nests to 20 hawksbill in one recent season. Nesting peaks May–July, and turtles are seen on reef dives and in the shallows throughout the March–October season. Chagar Hutang itself is a closed sanctuary beach, not a dive site. Boat strikes are a live problem: the Redang Marine Conservation Group logged more than ten propeller deaths in a single season.
| Month | Likelihood |
|---|---|
| January | commonly seen |
| February | commonly seen |
| March | commonly seen |
| April | commonly seen |
| May | commonly seen |
| June | commonly seen |
| July | commonly seen |
| August | commonly seen |
| September | commonly seen |
| October | commonly seen |
| November | commonly seen |
| December | commonly seen |
The strongest part of the region's macro. Terumbu Tiga, Terumbu Dua, Cina Terjun at Redang and the wrecks all hold good numbers year-round in season. Rubble and dead coral from the 2024 bleaching event has, if anything, increased the algae and hydroid growth some species feed on.
Dive sites
D'Lagoon
3–12m · none current
Seringgih
6–24m · mild current
Sugar Wreck
12–18m · moderate current
Terumbu Tiga (T3)
5–21m · moderate current
Tokong Laut (Temple of the Sea)
5–24m · moderate current
Big Mount (Pulau Lima North)
20–35m · moderate current
Mini Mount (Chek Isa)
8–20m · mild current
Terumbu Kili (South Point)
8–20m · moderate current
Worth knowing before you book
- The islands genuinely close. Resorts, dive centres and scheduled boat services shut for the northeast monsoon from around November to end-February, and reopen in March. A few Redang resorts open late February; a few Perhentian places close as early as mid-to-late October. There is no diving here in December or January.
- The 2024 bleaching event did severe damage. Surveys reported 100% bleaching and 63.6% coral mortality at Pulau Redang — the worst-hit location in the Terengganu monitoring set — and 54.9% bleaching with 24.9% mortality at Seringgih, Perhentian. Reef Check Malaysia recorded national live coral cover falling from close to 50% in 2022 to under 40% by 2025, and flagged a fresh bleaching watch for Terengganu in 2026. Expect rubble and dead massive corals on shallow reefs.
- No reliable big animals. Turtles, blacktip reef sharks and bamboo sharks are the realistic list. Whale sharks are reported occasionally around Big Mount and Tokong Laut but there is no photo-ID or survey data behind those claims — treat them as luck, not a reason to book.
- Heavy domestic mass tourism and boat traffic. Redang's Teluk Dalam has been photographed packed with day-tripper boats during school holidays, around 90% of them from the mainland, and the Redang Marine Conservation Group recorded more than ten turtle deaths from boat propellers in a single season. Snorkel sites are crowded and reef-standing damage is common.
- Limited variety and shallow, modest sites. Most dives are 8–20m over granite boulders and reef slope, visibility is usually 10–15m rather than the 25m headline figure, and a keen diver will have seen the region's range in three or four days.
- Redang and the Perhentians are not interchangeable. Redang is sold almost entirely as full-board resort packages with fixed transfer times and little independent food or nightlife; the Perhentians are cheaper, scruffier and backpacker-oriented, with more independent dive centres but patchier power, water and connectivity.
Sources & last checked
Checked August 2026
This is a researched draft, not yet human-verified. The seasonality and logistics are drawn from the sources below — confirm specifics (permits, fees, closures) with an operator before you book.
- Conservation Charge & Fee Rates — Department of Fisheries Malaysia
- Climate stress ravages Terengganu coral reefs — The Star
- Islanders Squeezed Out by Mainland Boatmen — Reef Check Malaysia
- Are Our Corals Bleaching Again? — Reef Check Malaysia
- Malaysia lost 20% of its coral reefs in three years — Mongabay
- Media Information: Affected Dive Sites Closed Temporarily For Coral Recovery — Tourism Malaysia
- Visit Information for Perhentian Islands Marine Park — Marine Parks of Malaysia
- Visit Information for Redang Marine Park — Marine Parks of Malaysia
- Redang visiting season, trip planning — Redang.org
- Redang dive sites, diving tips — Redang.org
- Dive sites of Perhentian Island — Lekker Divers
- Chagar Hutang Turtle Sanctuary — SEATRU, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu
- Sea water temperature Perhentian, Malaysia — monthly averages — Seatemperature.info
- Flights from Kuala Lumpur (Subang) to Redang: SZB to RDN schedule — FlightConnections
Note on the data: The November–February closure is well corroborated across the Marine Parks of Malaysia visitor pages, Redang.org and Malaysian news coverage, but it is a de-facto seasonal shutdown by resorts, boat operators and ferry services rather than a gazetted government closure order, so exact start and end dates shift by a week or two each year and by island — check with a specific operator before booking March or late October. Bleaching figures (Redang 100%/63.6%, Seringgih 54.9%/24.9%) come from The Star's July 2025 reporting of Malaysian Marine Science Society monitoring; the underlying Reef Check Malaysia 2024 bleaching impact report is a scanned PDF that could not be parsed. No evidence was found of a formal Department of Fisheries dive-site closure in Terengganu during the 2024 event — the documented national dive-site closure order covering Redang, Perhentian and Tioman dates from 2010 (until 31 October 2010), and in 2024 it was Johor that closed six islands to tourism. Reef Check Malaysia noted a bleaching watch alert for Terengganu in a recent article and raised site closure only as a possible management response, not a current restriction. Assume no dive sites are closed as of August 2026, but confirm locally. Site coordinates are approximate island-level positions, not surveyed GPS. Visibility and course prices are operator-reported. Sugar Wreck dimensions vary by source (89m, 90m, '300 feet') and its build year and nationality are inconsistently reported. Water temperature: Monthly minimum and maximum surface figures for the Perhentians; Redang, 45km away, runs within about half a degree. There is no meaningful thermocline — a 3mm shorty is enough all season, and sustained surface highs above roughly 31°C in mid-2024 are what drove the bleaching. January and February figures are included for completeness only; the islands are closed then. Access: One domestic hop from Kuala Lumpur to Kota Bharu (KBR) or Kuala Terengganu (TGG), about an hour by road to the Kuala Besut or Merang jetty, then a 30–60 minute speedboat crossing; Berjaya Air also flies Subang to Redang's own strip roughly three times a week in season.