AUR ISLAND, JOHOR

-        Situated on the east side of Mersing, Johor is Aur Island. Together with Pulau Dayang, Pulau Lang, Pulau Pinang and Pulau Pemanggil, its belong to to the Johor Marine Park. The Aur Island is bigger compared to the other four islands mentioned. The population is spread along the coastline in small kampungs. The main kampung in Aur Island is Kampung Teluk Berhala. The main industries of the island are fishing and supporting the few dive resorts on the island. 

-        Aur island is surrounded by warm crystal clear seas with various species of marine life underwater. Its deep clear water with a good visibility and a high chance of encountering large pelagic or possible whale sharks and manta rays. This tropical waters offer world's best scuba diving. Divers also can also hover around immense coral gardens and walls, or dive on shipwrecks. Because of the beautiful scenery, there is some yacht anchor near Aur Island to enjoy the nature beauty. Besides that, aur island is a stopping point for the fisherman. 

HOW TO GET THERE?

      Drive yourself to Mersing Jetty which is located in Johor. It will take you approximately 3 hours if you are from Singapore whereas it will take almost 6 hours if you drive form Kuala Lumpur to Mersing. From Mersing Jetty, it will another 4-5 hours to reach Aur Island. It will longer if the sea is rough along the way. Other alternative is you can go by speedboat service to Aur Island in 1.5 hours.. Speedboat service comfortably seat 14 passengers and are scheduled to depart from Mersing in the morning.

    

WHERE TO STAY?

      Do in mind that most of the resort on the islands are owned by these weekend dive operators or have joint-partnership with the locals which means that often when the weekend crowd returns home, the resorts will close for the week. There are of course a few locally owned resorts at the village where you can stay.

ATLANTIS BAY RESORT

Atlantis Bay is situated on its own private beach, a long stretch of powder-white sand perfect for sunbathing and lazing in the sun. It located at Teluk Ba'ai in Aur Island. Distances from Kampung Teluk Berhala around 5 minutes by boat and 1/2 hour by walking. Take a dip in house reef, rich with coral life, including resident baby Black Tip Reef Sharks. Schools of bumphead parrotfish often venture close to shore at evening time, making it perfect for night dives. The calm waters and clear visibility make the Atlantis Bay House Reef perfect for snorkelers and divers alike.

This resort is comfortable and provide a basic accommodation at the island such as air-conditioning. It has 8 or quad sharing room with attached bathroom. The resort itself provide a restaurant with delicious oriental and western food. Every Saturday evening, they serve guest with BBQ, satay, lambchop and curry chicken. 

Below is one of the package offer by this resort through travel agency.

DIVER'S LODGE

The Diver's Lodge formerly known as Batu Kembar Resort and it operated by a Singaporean diver. It is located facing of Batu Kembar in the northern side of Pulau Aur. A perfect getaway resort . A total of 18 chalets are perched staggeringly along the hill slope with fascinating view of the ocean. Guests can relax from your own private room breezy veranda over looking the island channel. This is best resort with good facilities. The resort can accommodate about 70 guests at one time based on twin or quad sharing. Each rooms comes with air-conditioner, comfortable beds, attached bathroom with hot shower and etc. There is one eating outlet at the resort, form which you can extend your meal time at the open air terrace.

Since the resort is operated by a Singaporean diver, rates are quoted in Sinagaporean Dollars. All inclusive 3D2N dive package is priced at SGD330 per person or SGD230 for non-diver. Boat departures are from Tanjung Leman not from Mersing Jetty. The weekend 3D2N dive package departs from jetty at Tanjung Leman right before midnight and estimated to arrive around 4 hours later.

DAYANG ISLAND RESORT

Dayang Island Resort is also a Singaporean-operated resort resort which is run by Gill Divers Pte. Ltd in Tanjung Pagar in the city-state. This resort is quite well known among diving fraternities in Singapore. It can accommodate up to 300 guests at any given day. All most the guests are soon-to-be certified divers.

Dayang Island Resort provide a most standard and basic rooms facilities which are quad-sharing beds. The management can switch the bed arrangement to twin-sharing or tripe-sharing upon requests. There are no attached bathrooms in the resort. The operator has provided at least 20 units of outdoor bathroom behind the resort. 

There is one small restaurant near the reception counter where certain selections of a la carte meas can be ordered such as simple nasi goreng or char kue tiaw. Sometimes the meals are served on a open-air patio some distance away from the beach. 

As this resort fronting the Pasir Putih Beach, it view is fabulous and beautiful, with a hive of beach activities day and night. The sands are typically powdery soft and the full length of the beach.

ACTIVITIES TO DO IN AUR ISLAND

There are some activities can do in Aur Island. First think first, of course scuba diving. As the island has a lot of marinated life with beautiful coral and shipwreck, so it a waste to not diving in this island. Besides that, you can go to fishing. Other than that is take your time to enjoy the beautiful crystal waters around island by having a snorkeling or swimming.

Below is some pictures of unique marine life at Aur Island.

Fishing activities at Dayang Island.

The fascinating and tremendous experience is wreck dives. A boat will bring you up to unchartered wreck off South China Sea to explore pieces of history. Here's your chance to look more than 50 sharks in one dive, sand rays.