Advice needed for diving in Malaysia the first week of November...

[Chef Borjan]

Hi there.

So I am heading to Malaysia for my grandmothers birthday later this year, and am taking my girlfriend as well. We've decided we wanted to go diving, and whilst I already have my Rescue Diver qualification, my girlfriend has never been diving before!

To speed up the process, we are thinking of getting her started on the Open water referral course here in London, and then finishing the 4 qualification dives out in Malaysia. (Could possibly do the whole open water course here in London or out in Malaysia if it works out cheaper/better though).

but the ultimate question is where to go! I can see that our trip is right on the cusp of the monsoon season, so some of the usual spots people are talking about are likely going to be off limits.

Can people give a few suggestions as to which locations we should be looking at, bearing in mind my girlfriend would be an inexperienced diver? And what will these spots be like? Obviously I'm hoping to show her more than just murky waters!

 

[Quero]

The problem with the monsoon is wind more than anything, and the wind makes boating difficult to dangerous. Anyone can fall off a boat to do a dive, but getting back on is a challenge I don't like to present to new student divers, and if your g/f is prone to motion sickness/seasickness, that combined with the stress of learning a new skill set may be enough to make the experience unpleasant, which is the last thing you need when you're trying to groom a new dive buddy!

In Malaysia in early November, you can always travel to Mabul Island, but it's complicated to get there. Closer to you would be a short flight to Bali or to Phuket. BALI will also be coming into monsoon season, but Phuket will be coming out of it. Even so, since the weather in November is changeable no matter where you go, you may get lucky or unlucky with the wind. It's going to be a gamble no matter what you do.

So my advice would be to get her certified there in the UK this summer because then she'll be able to just dive when she gets to SE Asia and won't have the stress of doing a course at the same time. It will seem a lot more pleasant to her here, even if there's a bit of wind, than the UK diving is bound to be.

 

[Zippsy]

I agree with Quero but Borjan has not said where in Malaysia he is going. If it's peninsular Malaysia, I'd say head up to Phuket. If it's Sabah, I'd say head to Mabul. If it's Kota Kinabalu, you may get dives in at the marine park. If it's Sarawak, I'd say skip diving and head for the Mulu caves. Either way, she has time to get fully certified in the UK.

 

[Chef Borjan]

Thank you both for getting back to me so quickly.

As for location, we will be staying in Seremban. As such, its not hard to get to KL, and so its not a big deal to get cheap flights to the surrounding areas. I hadn't considered going up to Phuket, but I don't think there is a problem with that, flights seem to be quite cheap with AirAsia!

So what specific areas are more affected by the monsoon season than others? Is Mabul slightly more protected by the winds because its on the Eastern side?

We'll also look into getting her fully certified here. As always, it just seems to prices when compared to aboard, plus the locations won't be quite as exciting!

 

[Quero]

Thank you both for getting back to me so quickly.

As for location, we will be staying in Seremban. As such, its not hard to get to KL, and so its not a big deal to get cheap flights to the surrounding areas. I hadn't considered going up to Phuket, but I don't think there is a problem with that, flights seem to be quite cheap with AirAsia!

So what specific areas are more affected by the monsoon season than others? Is Mabul slightly more protected by the winds because its on the Eastern side?

We'll also look into getting her fully certified here. As always, it just seems to prices when compared to aboard, plus the locations won't be quite as exciting!

Yes, the position of Mabul makes it possible to dive year round even though you might not get all sunny days.
As far as comparing the enjoyment of certification dives in SE Asia versus in the UK, you can look at it two ways--you can think that the certification dives won't be as much fun in the UK as they would be here, but you can also think that you won't be "wasting" your holiday on training dives but instead you'll be doing only fun dives while here.

 

[Chef Borjan]

Yes, the position of Mabul makes it possible to dive year round even though you might not get all sunny days.
As far as comparing the enjoyment of certification dives in SE Asia versus in the UK, you can look at it two ways--you can think that the certification dives won't be as much fun in the UK as they would be here, but you can also think that you won't be "wasting" your holiday on training dives but instead you'll be doing only fun dives while here.

True, and we may not have a huge amount of time to dive as well (perhaps 5 days maximum), so thats definitely something to consider.

I see you are based in Phuket itself... in terms of travellers and diver, is the first week of November still a busy period in Phuket? Its a popular tourist destination, so I'm not sure if there is even a 'low season'. I think we are looking a bit of peace and quiet by the sea if we can manage it...

 

[Quero]

Early November is the very beginning of our dive season here in western Thailand when the major national parks--the Similans and Surins--open to dive boats, but because it's the the very beginning of the season, it's generally not particularly busy. If the weather cooperates and the winds have completed their shift from southwesterly to northeastearly, you may even get completely flat seas, but you may also get a bit of chop if the cycle isn't quite complete.

As far as peace and quiet on Phuket, it's not that hard to find. You just can't want to stay in the big tourist towns like Patong, Kata and Karon. Or you could stay up the coast at Khao Lak, though to dive economically from there you'd want to get on a liveaboard, and for a brand-new diver, that might be a big step. If you were to stay up there maybe you could just do daytrips to the Similans to start out with, and not to the most challenging dive sites, until your g/f gains some confidence in her diving. If you stay on Phuket proper, we can get dayboats at a reasonable rate to dive sites she will find manageable and interesting.