Welcome to Redang Island (or Pulau Redang as it is known locally). If you've never heard of it, you're not alone. Many locals had never heard of it either until the last decade. Even today, some folks confuse it with 'rendang' (referring to a delicious local dry curry dish). For the layman, Redang lies close to the equator, somewhere in the South China Sea off the northeast coast of Peninsular Malaysia. For GPS geeks, that's within 5°44' - 5°50' North latitude and 102°59' - 103°5' East longitude. Timezone is GMT+8. Geographically, it is located about 45km north-northeast of Kuala Terengganu (KT), the state capital of Terengganu and gateway to Redang, with the closest point on the mainland 22km away at Tanjung Merang. Close enough that on a clear day, you should be able to see the mainland from Redang. Hot and humid describes most days at Redang. After all, it is near the equator where daily temperatures hover between 22-33°C with relative humidity between 80-87%. There is a distinct dry and rainy season though visiting season is restricted to the dry season. The rainy season is between November and March when the northeast monsoon brings torrential rains and rough seas. All resorts are closed during the rainy season so if you're hoping to experience crazy waves you're out of luck. Visiting season from March to October coincides with the dry season when seas are generally calm with little rain.
A little history: The first settlers of Pulau Redang were believed to be the Bugis from Celebes, Indonesia. They established their first village at Teluk Kalong and later moved south to the smaller Pulau Pinang ("betel nut palm island") where the present Marine Park Centre is located. The villagers on Redang are believed to be descendents of these original Bugis settlers. In the early 70s, when land in Pulau Pinang became scarce, some villagers moved to the Redang river estuary. The state government built a water village called Kampung Air (literally translated as 'Water Village', duh!) for these residents in 1976 which became home to about 250 fishermen families. The village comprised wooden houses built on stilts. Kampung Air was torn down in 2001 and some families relocated to the village inland while others went back to the mainland. Many of the residents have since left the fishing trade and moved into the tourism industry, running village restaurants, boat services or working in the resorts.
About the rocks... The Redang Islands are underlain by sediments contact metamorphosed by a granitic intrusion. The sediments are mapped as the Redang beds which are conglomeratic and the Pinang beds which are represented by arenaceous and argillaceous rocks. The Redang beds are interpreted to be continental fluviatile or near shore deposits while the Pinang beds with evidence of soft-sediment deformation and other slump-induced structures are interpreted to be deposited in relatively deeper water. Both units are strongly folded and deformed. Fossil plants discovered in chiastolite-bearing black slate in the Redang beds are found to be Calamites, Pecopteris, Cordaites and Taenopteris. The Calamites and Pecopteris resemble Late Carboniferous to Permian species. Pulau Redang is composed with two main types of lithology. They are metasandstone and granite that can divide into two crystal sizes which are coarse crystal (granite porphyry) with gray color and fine crystal (equigranular granite) with pink color. It seems that metasandstones are the older rock compared to granite rock. The age of the metasandstone is Permian and more specifically, the plutonic activities existed in the Pulau Redang at Permian to early Triassic. The textural features of granite rock cast much light on the conditions under which igneous rock consolidates from their parent magmas. They are controlled by the rate and order of crystallization, which depends, in turn on the initial temperatures. Additionally, it also depends on the composition, gas content and viscosity of the magma and the pressure at which it solidifies. The main differences between granite porphyry and equigranular granite are essentially based on petrographic studies.
The geocache: Once you are at the geocache location, look at the rocks at the right edge of the beach (facing the water). The rocks are clearly course grained with high amounts of large crystals of quartz, feldspar (gives it its color) and mica or mafic minerals (the darker spots). These rocks are clearly equigranular granite, which is why it has a nice pink color. Granite is known to be an extremely hard rock, but this rock is at the water's edge and shows extreme amounts of weathering. The outer edge of the rock has darkened over time. The darker covering of the rocks is minerals, which provide a protective coating to the rock. On one side of the rock you can notice "pock" marks. These pock marks come from weathering, caused by the pounding of the waves. The waves carry sand with them. The sand is very abrasive and over time, when combined with the force of the waves, will chip away at the rocks. As this rock is completely open to the elements, the sun, rain, heat and wind will all cause the weathering you see on these rocks. Find the edge of the rock with the straight edge. Behind this edge is a brittle section of rock. You can actually pull small pieces of the rock right out of this section (see photo).
To claim this EarthCache:
Please email answers to the owner:
1) In the brittle section of the rock, you can see more of the original colors of this rock. What colors do you see?
2) Why have some parts of the rock weathered away more quickly than others?
3) How do you think this rock will change/evolve in the future?
Optional: Send me a photo of the beach from this rock. It is so beautiful. I miss it!