Bidong Archepelago

Pulau Bidong

The Pulau Bidong archipelago consists of Pulau Yu Besar, Pulau Yu Kechil, Pulau Gelok, Pulau Karah, Batu Tengkorak and Pulau Bidong. Pulau Bidong is located about 5 miles south of Redang, a 15-20 minute speedboat ride away.

From the late 70's till 1991, Bidong was a camp for Vietnamese refugees (boat people) fleeing from Communist persecution and hardship after the fall of Vietnam. As many as a quarter of a million refugees spent some time at Bidong throughout those years. At its peak, there were as many as 40,000 people living here. Today, all the refugees have been resettled in other parts of the world or have been repatriated home. After the last Rela Home Guard members left in 1999, travel restrictions on visiting the island were lifted.

Today, all that's left are decaying and dilapidated remnants that once belonged to a community known as 'Little Saigon'. It holds many memories for those who lived and worked there and there is rising interest for tours to the island by those who once passed through its doors.

Map of Bidong dive sites. The islands of Pulau Yu are shown inset as they are outside the scale of the Bidong map.

Snorkelling and Diving

Bidong and its surrounding islands are fairly new diving destinations since visiting restrictions were only lifted in 1999 and due to their distance from Redang, are not as easily accessible as dive sites around the Redang Archipelago. Not many dive operators will bring divers out here unless special arrangements are made.Such arrangements of course are provided by our experenced divers.

For those who've had the opportunity to dive here, word has it that there is good visibility in the deep clear waters around Pulau Yu and the submerged reefs between Pulau Yu Besar and Pulau Yu Kecil, making this one of the better dive sites providing common encounters with schooling batfish and other reef life.some evenspotted Whale shark swimmng under,

The other notable site is Batu Tengkorak with a shallow depth of around 14 metres, providing opportunities to encounter schooling trevallies and barracuda, and a wide variety of other reef life amidst dense and scattered coral formations. For snorkelling, head for Pulau Gelok with its gently sloping coral reef off the beach, providing chance encounters with black tipped reef sharks.

And check out Pulau Karaks wide range of aquatic life,with all kinds of coral from the diversifying Chirstmas tree to many more reef life. this is the best place for snorkeling with clear water and low current able to see clearly under the underwater galery.