Natural beauty: A group of hikers at Heaven’s Gate in Pulau Mawar near Teluk Penyabong, Mersing. Island resort operators have rescheduled their activities to ensure guests are protected amid the extreme heat. — Picture courtesy of Fahmi Abd Malik
MERSING: Island resort operators here have been forced to reschedule their activities to adapt to the current extreme heat and ensure that their guests are well protected.
Mak Su Chalet Pulau Tinggi owner Norashimah Sharom said programmes outside the resort had been cut short and postponed to late evening.
“For island hopping activities, we will usually depart from the island at 9am and return at around 1pm.
“But due to the hot weather, we are now cutting short their time until noon and offering visitors a trip around the island instead from 5pm onwards,” she said in an interview.
Norashimah added that her monthly bills had skyrocketed as more guests opted to stay in their air-conditioned rooms.
“Those without air-conditioning are provided with an additional fan, but guests tend to not choose this type of room unless they have no other choice.
“We are also using an ATV (quad bike) for the round trip around the island so they will not have to walk,” she said, adding that the guests would also be brought to the nearby durian plantation to taste the famous Pulau Tinggi durian.
Jom Ronda Pulau owner Murni Saderi said she no longer offered island hiking programmes in her island hopping packages and focused solely on water activities.
“We wanted to focus more on the water programme so that our guests would not be affected as much by the extreme heat.
“We also offer more rest time between activities, especially on the islands that have a lot of trees for them for shade,” she said, adding that customers were also given extra mineral water to keep them hydrated.
The island hopping activities were conducted in Pulau Besar, Pulau Hujung, Pulau Tengah and Pulau Harimau, she added.
Murni also said there was low demand for island hopping activities in Mersing as more people opted for staycations in Pulau Tioman in Pahang and carried out their activities at night.
Meanwhile, Teluk Penyabong Resort Mersing manager Fahmi Abd Malik said the resort had scheduled its activities to be conducted early in the morning and evening to ensure that guests had a comfortable stay.
“We have two main activities in the resort, namely island hopping and hiking. The island hopping will be conducted twice a day – 9am to 10am and 4pm to 5pm.
“For hiking, we would guide visitors to Pulau Mawar during the low tide in the morning and evening,” he said, adding that it rained in the district for the past few days, so the heat had not affected their activities.
Fahmi said the island-hopping activities were conducted on the nearby islands, which are located about 10 minutes away (by boat) from the resort, namely Pulau Tenus, Pulau Acheh, Pulau Layar and Pulau Pelanduk.
“The guests are usually given around 20 minutes to swim and snorkel at Pulau Acheh and Pulau Layar.
“The other activities are just island tours and photo ops,” Fahmi added.
