Overall we had a good stay at Wisana, it was nice to get away from hustle & bustle, be on a pristine beach where you barely see anyone else most of the time and the lack of connectivity actually meant our kids spent time playing basic card games & chatting with us (when we’re not having fun swimming/snorkeling/playing in the water). I like that it didn’t feel commercial. Yes it was pricey, but I like to think the cost goes to supporting one of if not the only locally owned businesses in the area and to employ the local staff who seemed like they also had time to enjoy life on the beach (saw them play volleyball in the evenings). To me it felt like staying with distant relatives (who you pay for the lodging).
Pros: Again, the location, beautiful & clean beach, friendly and accommodating staff (they carried our bags off the boat to and from the room). Food had sufficient variety that there was something for everyone in my family to eat, and it was quite tasty. Very Malay family-style lauk, which I have missed since I live outside of Malaysia now. Both myself & husband loved the sambal belacan. We would suggest having more fish in the menu though because the fish we had for one of the days was the most popular dish for our family. There were plenty of deck chairs and spots outside for us to sit and enjoy the beach.
Cons: Unfortunately I found the room. particularly the bathroom rather uncomfortable. Its chalet wooden style which is aesthetically a good idea but having wood in the bathroom is not. Lots of mold and wetness. Everything was clean when we arrived but the design made it hard to keep clean, especially with all the sand. We also had several power outages, because they had issues with the generator and it was just after Eid so they had some delay in getting it fixed. Other complaints are just typical of a tropical island.. mosquitoes, monkeys etc. Some of the guests were feeding the squirrels for some reason which encouraged them to come to the dining area.
The wildlife I did love to see though were the beautiful sunbirds flocking the tree outside our chalet. We didn’t see very much if any living coral snorkeling from the beach but could see some fish on the left side, including baby sharks. The trip to Pulau Paku by boat organized by Wisana was nice though, beautiful coral and nice friendly boat driver. It was also cool to see the sea turtles on the second stop, but some boat drivers were feeding them so it introduced some artificial behaviour which detracted from the experience.
We might come back again to have another island getaway but would hope the rooms & bathrooms get an update.