While other islands within peninsula Malaysia seem to grab the headlines such as the Perhentians, Redang and Tioman, Pulau Kapas manages to stay somewhat under the radar to all but those in the know. I’m somewhat hesitant about even mentioning it as selfishly I don’t really want the secret to get out. Kapas is a gem of an island, indeed the small neighbouring island is even called Gem, in bahassa Kapas means “cotton” and is named after the white sands that make up its beaches.

We decided to start out our first proper holiday from KL after the easing of the lockdown restrictions in Kapas, prior to heading on up to the more famous and infinitely more busy Pehentians. Only 4 hours drive from KL we broke the journey up by staying the night in Kuantan to make sure we weren’t shattered when we got there. We rocked up in Marang just prior to getting the small little boat across to the island and our home for the next few days, the wonderful Kapas Turtle Valley.

Kapas Turtle Valley is a wonderful little resort, hidden away from he rest of the island with its own private beach and is run by a lovely South African family who took it over a couple fo years back. When we arrived they were about to host the Sultan of Terengganu for lunch which meant the team were quite busy preparing. This didn’t really matter as we were given a nice coffee and shown to our rooms and then decamped to a couple of sun loungers on the beach to get into a good book and relax. This was just as well as the Sultan and his guests took over the dining area after they had been for a dive with the local dive shop, Aqua Sport Divers. Later on, whilst the Sultan and his group finished lunch we wandered down to the dive shop and I booked up for a dive each of the two full days we were staying there, Sunday and Monday.

Having dived in Kapas before I wasn’t expecting a great deal, but after only one dive trip to Tenggol in June it was good to get in the water and ensure the skills weren’t too rusty. While peninsula Malaysia does have some great dive spots, Kapas isn’t one of them, its proximity to the mainland is one of the factors that counts against it as the water can quite often be very mirky with lots of sediment meaning visibility isn’t great. The dive on the Monday was ok, there was a reasonably large group of Malaysians diving as well and having brought my camera I knew that I wouldn’t be able to spend lots of time trying to compose the perfect picture but no matter.

We dropped in just around the back of Gem island at a site called Octopus Reef, with a name like that hopes were high, but unfortunately no octopus’s were to be seen. The guide from the shop, Boy, led us around and the usual array of reef fish, clownfish and moray eels were on display, I even managed to spot one nudibranch which I was quite pleased about. I tried using my snoot over the strobe and although my aim was slightly off I was quite pleased with the result which you can see opposite. We got back and rinsed the gear downed I walked back along the beach with my camera thinking about how lucky I am to be able to dive whilst so much of the world is under lockdown due to the pandemic. Once back I was able to find a spot on the beach and grab a nice cold beer and enjoy that warm post dive glow that only divers experience.

One of the highlights of staying at Turtle Valley is the food, Nadia, one of the owners is a chef with 16 years experience back in South Africa and ensures that some of the best food you can find on a island anywhere in Asia is served up for breakfast, lunch and in particular supper! The menu changes daily and at breakfast Nicholas will ask you for your choice. The first day we had Beef Rendang (Food fit for a Sultan - served to him earlier on the day we arrived!) while the other dishes we had included lamb curry, ribeye steak, salmon - really fantastic. The food is also backed up with a wine list too so we were able to dine in style during our stay. If you ever do make the trip to Kapas I would thoroughly recommend staying at Kapas Turtle Valley, although you need to book early as rooms are limited and they tend to get booked up quite a way in advance!

Aqua Sport divers contacted me after the first days diving to ask if I wanted picking up by boat the next morning as they felt bad that I had to walk over the hill with all my gear - I took them up on the offer and the next morning, right on time Boy turned up with the boat and took me round to the dive shop. I found out that I’d be diving with another photographer at a wreck that morning so we could take all the time we wanted to compose our shots. I was really excited at this prospect and was glad I had fitted my wide angle lens - a stroke of luck. My guide and I dropped in and although the visibility wasn’t great the wreck was moody and atmospheric and made for some great wide angle shots. After an hour we came back up and the boat picked us up and took us back.

Having washed, dried and packed up all my gear I was able to enjoy the rest of the day just lazing about, snorkelling and generally not doing a great deal which was great. The next morning would be an early start to drive the rest of the way up to Kuala Besut and the Perhentians, but for now it was just time to chill. Nadia and Nicholas were still apologising for not feeling they were attentive enough to their gusts the afternoon they had the Sultan dining with them, but we assured them this was not the case and enjoyed our last evening meal there.

While I wouldn’t recommend Kapas as a pure scuba diving destination it is a wonderful place to escape from the city and chill out and it just happens that they have a great little dive shop located on the Island. In fact, my opinion of Aquasport divers is really high as they always try to preserve the marine environment whether it be by planting coral, campaigning to limit the number of day trippers to the island or cleaning plastic waste from the beach I really respect their passion. I hope they manage to succeed, but unfortunately as word grows about this little gem I fear that they face an uphill battle.