Aur Island

The rich pelagic action also attracts numerous sport fishermen, hoping to try their luck with the marlins or sailfish outside the marine park island. Many private yachts anchor at the calm waters between Pulau Aur and Pulau Dayang.

Rayner’s Rock : Towards the north-eastern tip about 200 metres off Pulau Dayang is Rayner’s Rock, a solitary large boulder breaking the surface about 4 metres high. Diving is good around the eastern portion with a mixture of both hard and soft corals providing shelter for a profusion of marine life. You can expect to encounter schooling yellowtails, rainbow-runners, and trevallies. Closer to the reef, there are usually groupers, damsels, butterfly fish, scorpion fish and lots of shells.

Pinnacles: This submerged reef is located towards the South Pulau Aur and Pulau Pinang. The top of the reef begins at about 12 metres and slopes in excess of 25 metres.

If diving in right conditions with slight currents, a large number of prelagics including jacks, fusiliers, barracudas and black tip sharks can be sighted. Among the hard corals and scattered soft corals are wrasses, puffer fish, damsels, lionfish, snappers and in between rocky crevices, lobsters.

HOW TO GET THERE

Pulau Aur is located 65km east of Mersing, off Johor’s east coast. There are boats to the island from Mersing jetty or Sedili. The long boat journey takes about 4.5 hours, and most operators opt to depart in the late evening, traveling through the night to arrive the next morning on the island. If the seas are rough, the boat ride could take a little longer.