Rawa Island

Rawa is a granite outcrop with a beach, sixteen kilometres off Mersing, and unlike most of the Seribuat archipelago it is privately held - owned by a branch of the Johor royal family - with two resorts on it and no independent access, so if you are on Rawa you are staying there. That arrangement keeps it quiet: no day boats unload, and the beach is white coral sand backed by cliff with a slide and a jetty off it. Snorkelling is directly from the shore over reef in clear water, with the fish concentrated around the rocks at either end. There is no village, no shops and very little to do, which is the selling point. The island closes with the rest of the east coast during the north-east monsoon from roughly November to February, when boats stop running and the resorts shut.

What you actually see

• A private island - two resorts, no day visitors, no independent landing.
• Snorkelling from the beach - reef and fish straight off the sand.
• White coral sand under cliff - the single beach, with a jetty and slide.
• Nothing else - no village, no shops, which is the point.

When to go

March to October; closed during the monsoon. Two days.

Honest expectations

You cannot visit without booking a resort, and prices reflect that. Everything is charged on the island. It closes entirely from about November to February. Coral has suffered bleaching in places.

Nearby

Mersing is the mainland port; Tioman and Sibu are also reached from it.