Dayang, Malaysia

Island of Historical Savagery

Pulau Aur has always been a stopover point for fishermen. With a supply of fresh water and plenty of fish in the waters, a few later moved their families to the island. However Aur was never the peaceful island as we see now. The deep dark secrets of the wild days are only beginning to unravel within the historic data collected from salvaged treasures hoisted from sunken Chinese junks, sailboats and old merchants ships found shattered in its watery grave.

Historically, Aur has been known to Chinese sailors for centuries. A map printed in the 17th century, which derived its information from the famous voyages of Admiral ZhengHe in the 15th century, identifies Aur as two islands (as indeed it does appear to be from a distance) according to its two peaks, Xi Zhu Shan (west bamboo mountain) and Dong Zhu Shan (east bamboo mountain).

In the 19th Century, Aur harboured a thriving population of about 1,400 inhabitants consisting of fishermen, traders and slaves. The islands were an ideal location for pirates to run their business of pillaging, ravaging, slave trading and even sinking a great number of boats during fierce raids with foreign boats on their way to Indonesia or to Thailand and beyond. The deep dark secrets of the wild days are only beginning to unravel within the historic data collected from salvaged treasures hoisted from sunken Chinese junks, sailboats and old merchants ships found shattered in its watery grave. Apparently, a stockpile of such treasure exists on Pulau Aur (See Batu Berhala.)

Batu Berhala - The Lionhead Rock

A huge rock in the shape of a lion on Pulau Aur is known as Batu Berhala and according to legend was formerly home to an 'orang bunian' or a good spirit. The 'orang bunian' was believed to have stashed away a horde of cargo from a shipwrecked Chinese junk in a secret cave within Batu Berhala. (See Ming Dynasty Wreck)

Those who believed in the good spirit and required help would perform specific rituals to appease the sentient being and when satisfied with the offerings, a door would spring open from the face of the rock.

A tunnel led into the cave filled with everything one would wish for. The only other condition was that everything borrowed from the cave must be returned after their use had expired.

However due to the second nature of most human beings, many never returned the items taken. Disappointed with such behaviour and disrespect, the orang bunian left Batu Berhala never to return.

Tojo WW2 Aircraft Wreck

A World War II aircraft was discovered in the early 90’s at the south eastern part of Pulau Aur. The wreck was wholly intact down to ammunitions and ammo belt, in 30m of water and sandy bottom. The casual diver will not dive around here, and that isolation was what protected it for the better part of 50 years. After its discovery, the strange urge to take momentos by divers made the wreck… legendary. Wikipedia entry for the Nakajima Ki-44 Shōki (鍾馗) (Demon Queller) WW2 Japanese fighter plane.

Ming Dynasty Wreck

Tales exist of a Ming Wreck lying in 10m of water off Telok Mariam, the large southwestern bay of Pulau Aur. Being in such shallow water, no trace of it is left for exploration.

Aircraft wreck inland, Pulau Aur

An F-111G Aardvark crashed into Pulau Aur during a Five Power Defence Agreement (FPDA) Integrated Air Defence Exercise, involving the British Royal Navy, Royal Australian Navy and Republic of Singapore Navy. A year after the crash, a party of 12, including Dr Short (Shorty's widow) and some of Shorty and Nige's friends and colleagues travelled to Pulau Aur to erect two memorials, one at the crash site and one under the village flagpost. Donations from friends and colleagues unable to make the journey funded the bronze memorial plaques.

Captain Point

The locals know it as Tanjong Batu Ronchek, or "The Cape of Pirate's Rock". Whatever inspired that remains a mystery, but to us that sounds like treasure.

For this site, strong currents are favoured; drift diving along soft coral walls are popular here. The resident large pelagics there report many a sighting of UDOs (Unidentified Diving Object.), and the UDOs report many a sighting of large pelagics. Watch out for manta and eagle rays!

Look for the rock at the tip of the promontory (triangular when viewed from east towards the west), and follow the steep rock slope down, and you may well be rewarded with large fishes such as tunas, skipjacks and giant barracudas (and possibly some pirate treasure as well).

Crocodile Rock / Bay

A noble attempt to discourage some honest diving, but we stand undaunted. Seriously now, this site is named after the rock formation off the coast line that resembles that of a crocodile head.

Relatively shallow and great for entry level divers or for conducting a check out dive- corals cover the gently sloping sea floor with few patches of sand. Generally a dive headed in the SSE direction is taken.

Rayner's Rock

The locals call it Batu Ronchek; or roughly “Rob Rock”. We smell treasure =)

Off the northeast coast of Dayang Island, large rock and boulder formations drop to 30 meters, with bumphead parrotfish and barracudas. It is one of the local favourite spots. Also the place responsible for many ‘virgin' manta or whale shark sightings. Centuries of currents have since left an odd seabed geography home to similarly unique coral formations- check out the awesome boulder corals! Ideal conditions occur when a moderate current sets from north to south. The seaward face is much more adventurous and interesting than the shallower inshore side.

North of the rock is mostly a coral garden with sea whips and patches of corals. Further along, a steep rock slope dominates the seaward flank of the rock, and it is here that you should start looking out for visiting pelagics. The southern flank of the rock is the most interesting: there is a spectacular jumble of giant granite blocks and boulders, with many large grottoes and swim-throughs.

The Pinnacles

The Channel

At Dayang Jetty, look around the pillars for discarded tyres and find white morays and some reef cuttlefishes! Good coral patches can be found around 5m depths as well. Watch out for tidal patterns as they can cause rather strong currents in the Channel!

Pulau Lang

Pulau Lang guards the southern end of the Channel. Its name came from the word Helang, which means “Eagle”. On the eastern side of Pulau Lang, there is a small bay called “Lang Bay”, which is shallow with sheltered conditions, and in close proximity to the resorts. The midsection of the western side of Pulau Lang is dominated by vast expanses of coral rubble at shallow depths. It is a good entry point for night diving. Upon descending to the bottom, start looking out for hermit crabs, sponge crabs, eel, scorpionfish and reef cuttlefish, which are common at night. At both the northern and southern tips of the island, interesting marine life can be found in the jumble of rocks. Turtles are common visitors to these places at night as well.