3 day trip for diving out of Singapore - May 2013

[scarke]

Trying to plan a trip to Singapore...2 daughters in their 20s and hubby. have been to Singapore before but the girls have not. going to spend few days in Singapore first and then plan to go somewhere either by ferry or plane for 3 nights midweek to do some lying on a beautiful beach and do some diving....one daughter wants to upgrade to advanced open water and the other to open water. so would need a reputable diving centre. thinking of Tioman island....what is the best way to get there ? looks like you can fly or take the ferry ?

hubby wants to go to Redang but it seems much further away by plane...any suggestions would be helpful...thanks in advance:cool2:

 

[logic8482]

I'd vote for Perhentian which is near Redang. You can dive Redang by speedboat from there as well. Check out Turtle Bay Divers, my dive buddy did her Advanced course with them an the instructor was very good. There better but not great beaches around Redang/Perhentian than at Tioman for sure. Beach is probably better at Redang but diving is better around Perhentian.

The diving in Perhentian is much better than what you'd get from most land based Tioman operators. There is good diving around Tioman, but it requires a liveaboard or possibly staying at a place like Minang Cove.

You can take a bus or train up to Perhentian or fly as well. The bus is about 11-12 hours plus a short ferry ride across. The train takes longer but is more comfortable if you can get a first class sleeper seat. I think there is only 1 bus company that is going straight from Singapore to Perhentian/Redang. Otherwise you need to get to Johor in Malaysia (just across SG boarder) and then get a bus up from there.

For Tioman, you'd need a bus up to Mersing Ferry Terminal and then you take the ferry across. Most Singapore dive shops can organize this or you can join a pre-planned trip. The journey to Tioman is around 5-6 hours from Singapore.

 

[Quero]

Singapore shops don't organize Tioman mid-week dive trips as a rule; they go on weekends when people aren't working. So to get yourself to Tioman you could rent a car and drive up there, park at the ferry terminal while you're on the island, and return the same way, or you could take a bus, or you could fly with Berjaya Air. I don't think the diving at Redang and Perhentian is better than Tioman--maybe marginally easier--but the islands themselves are nicer IMO. You can fly to Redang on Berjaya Air. (I wouldn't drive or take the bus that far for a three-day trip.) The fares to Redang are pretty reasonable at SGD 99 per segment, plus tax.

 

[frogfish]

Sound advice from Quero above, and fully agree with her assessment that Perentian or Redang are not better than Tioman. Don't expect world class diving, but good easy diving. However, full open water course on a 3 night get away is a bit ambitious, isn't it (in particular if you fly afterwards) ?

If you don't want to fly nor drive yourself, you can get charter a van to take you from Singapore to Mersing jetty return.

 

[Quero]

You might be right, frogfish, but I read the OPs post as her younger daughter wanting an "upgrade" so I assumed she was a Scuba Diver or a Junior OW or something. There are ways to do it in three days, though, even if she wants the full OW course. She could do e-learning or do a referral. I guess we can't know until the OP clarifies! But yeah, three days is a really rushed course--not what I'd want for my child.

 

[scarke]

We have decided to go to Tioman for 4 nights! Both our daughters are in their 20s. The older one had just done a basic scuba course and so it would take her a good few dives to upgrade to open water. The other daughter has open water and was thinking of doing advanced.....however they have now decided that they will just dive with their dad and leave the retraining until another trip as we don't have much time. We are prob going to stay at Tunamaya Resort as they have a dive centre in the resort so we won't need to pay extra every time they want to dive. They also want to be beach bums too unlike their Dad ! Thanks for all the advice....this is a great website....thanks