The Aur Island ( ms, Pulau Aur) is an island in

Mersing District Mersing District is one of the 10 districts district in Johor, Malaysia. Its seat is located at Mersing Town. Etymology The “Mersing” name is derived from the Chinese “Mau Sheng Port” (茂盛港) since 1880 and further simplify to Mersi ...

Johor Johor (; ), also spelled as Johore, is a state of Malaysia in the south of the Malay Peninsula. Johor has land borders with the Malaysian states of Pahang to the north and Malacca and Negeri Sembilan to the northwest. Johor shares maritime ...

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

. It lies about east of Mersing Town and is part of the Johor Marine Park. Its corals, lagoons and offshore pools make it a tourist attraction. It has for many years also been a frequent stopover point for

fishermen A fisher or fisherman is someone who captures fish and other animals from a body of water, or gathers shellfish. Worldwide, there are about 38 million commercial and subsistence fishers and fish farmers. Fishers may be professional or recreati ...

. There is also a smaller island close by,

Dayang Island Dayang Island ( ms, Pulau Dayang) is an island in Mersing District, Johor, Malaysia. It is one of a group of islands along with Pulau Aur, Pulau Lang, and Pulau Pemanggil. The name of the neighbouring island, Pulau Aur, means "bamboo island" in M ...

, which is separated from Aur Island by a narrow channel of about width at the narrowest point. Both islands are home to Singaporean diving companies, divers reach the island by chartered boats from Mersing or Singapore.

Diving

Due to its distance from the mainland of Peninsula Malaysia, Aur Island offers clear water at its dive sites. Marine life commonly seen by divers include manta ray,

barracuda A barracuda, or cuda for short, is a large, predatory, ray-finned fish known for its fearsome appearance and ferocious behaviour. The barracuda is a saltwater fish of the genus ''Sphyraena'', the only genus in the family Sphyraenidae, which was ...

s, whitetip sharks,

rays Ray may refer to: Fish * Ray (fish), any cartilaginous fish of the superorder Batoidea * Ray (fish fin anatomy), a bony or horny spine on a fin Science and mathematics * Ray (geometry), half of a line proceeding from an initial point * Ray (gra ...

napoleon wrasse The humphead wrasse (''Cheilinus undulatus'') is a large species of wrasse mainly found on coral reefs in the Indo-Pacific region. It is also known as the Māori wrasse, Napoleon wrasse, Napoleon fish, Napoleonfish, ''so mei'' 蘇眉 (Cantonese), ...

, jacks,

trevally The Carangidae are a family of ray-finned fish which includes the jacks, pompanos, jack mackerels, runners, and scads. It is the largest of the six families included within the order Carangiformes. Some authorities classify it as the only famil ...

, yellowback fusiliers,

turtle Turtles are an order of reptiles known as Testudines, characterized by a special shell developed mainly from their ribs. Modern turtles are divided into two major groups, the Pleurodira (side necked turtles) and Cryptodira (hidden necked t ...

, angelfish, titan triggerfish and

bumphead parrotfish The green humphead parrotfish (''Bolbometopon muricatum'') is the largest species of parrotfish, growing to lengths of and weighing up to . It is found on reefs in the Indian and Pacific Oceans, from the Red Sea in the west to Samoa in the eas ...

Climate

The Aur Island weather is affected by the monsoon winds that blows from

South China Sea The South China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean. It is bounded in the north by the shores of South China (hence the name), in the west by the Indochinese Peninsula, in the east by the islands of Taiwan and northwestern Phi ...

and the Straits of Malacca. The northeast monsoon blows the wind from South China Sea from November to March and this is the time when the east coast has heavy rainfall. Sea activities at this time are confined and the main activity at this time is usually the maintenance of boats and fishing related equipment and kite flying. The west coast of Aur Island is influenced by the southwest monsoon that blows the wind from the Straits of Malacca during the months of May to September. The periods between the monsoons are usually marked by heavy rainfall. The mountains have lower temperature range due to their higher altitude and the temperature ranges from .

History

The 1804 naval

Battle of Pulo Aura The Battle of Pulo Aura was a minor naval engagement of the Napoleonic Wars, fought on 14 February 1804, in which a large convoy of Honourable East India Company (HEIC) East Indiamen, well-armed merchant ships, intimidated, drove off and chase ...

between the British and the French took place in the island's vicinity during the

Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...

Geology

The island spreads over an area of 7.2 km².

References

External links