Too bad there was red tide outbreak at Gayana Eco Resort on our arrival on the 18 January 2009. According to the staff, it has been going on for a week. Red tide is a natural phenomenon caused by higher-than-normal concentration of microscopic Karenia brevis algae or formerly known as Gymnodinium breve.

When the sea temperature, salinity and nutrients reach certain levels, a massive increase in Karenia brevis algae occurs and they causes natural toxins. Marine life which have consumed the algae are not edible, it can cause death to human. The sea water will turn into reddish, brownish or rusty in color… the reason this phenomenon called red tide. We were advised not to swim because the water can cause itchiness.

 

My chalet or room is great, very spacious. There are two rows of chalets, they are facing each other and both are suspended on the water. One is on the hill side (the island) and the other is on the sea side. We jokingly named the one on the hill side as ‘landslide view’ and the one on the sea as ‘tsunami view’ 😆

This is the first time I stayed on a stilt structure, suspended on water. And guess what I found in the cabinet? Life jacket! Yes, two life jackets!! And this room don’t come cheap… the cheapest published rate is $300 per night. You said $300 is no big deal? Dude that is not on local ringgit currency… it is in US Dollars!!! Shoot man, this is not cheap beach vacation rentals!!! At the current rate, I need to multiply that with 3.2… 300 x 3.2, that’s almost RM1,000 per night!!! And the room or chalet I have is the Tsunami View which cost $1,400 per night!!! The landslide view is cheaper at $1,200. But with that huge price, it includes everything… boat transportations, room/chalet, meals and water sports activities. International travelers can come to this island resort through KK International Airport.

My room has two beds, a single bed and a double bed. The single bed is taller than the double bed which looks weird to me. First I tried the single bed coz it’s next to window. First, the feeling sleeping on a tall bed is kind of weird. Second, on safety reason, sleeping next to the window will give less chance to run away if the pirates comes at night 😆

At the end I choose the double bed and I reserve the single bed to my colleague who came the next morning 😆 Most of the items inside the room are items you can find in any hotel room but all are at high quality standard… at 5 STAR standard!!! Yes FIVE STAR standard coz the resort is owned by the same owner of the Le Meridien Kota Kinablau and which happened to be our ex-staff. I think he took over this resort not long time ago… they said, it was a bit run-down before he took it over.

The water and power supply are all produced by the resort. No need to switch off the light if you want to, in fact they leave some of the lights switched on which I believe to optimized the generator operation. The cold and hot water pressure are very strong!!! For entertainment in the room, there is LCD TV and DVD player. And of course an in-room telephone service.

The view from the balcony facing the sea is majestic… that’s why we call it Tsunami View! And that’s where I spend my early morning taking photos. Surprisingly I always wake-up fresh very early morning, about 6.00 am whenever I’m on journey 😀 Maybe it’s because of the feeling ‘away from the office workloads’ and I’m able to get a good sleep throughout the night.

At the balcony, there are steps going down directly into the sea… for swimming and skinny dipping!!! Unfortunately we can’t enjoy swimming or skinny dipping because of the red tide outbreak!

Gayana Eco Resort also has a Marine Ecology Research Centre. I will talk about it next time 😀