Brunei diving
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We just came back from Brunei and found our diving was with mixed results. The dive company Poni Divers was also with some mixed results although mainly ok. I believe that they have been operating for about 3 years or so and trying to get more tourists in. They do try and provide good service so no complaints there and they seem to have a good setup at their dive centre. Air was good and they offer K valve mainly with some DIN tanks available, but only 2 twin tank setups at the moment. We used twin independents. They can also offer Nitrox (we used 50% for deco tanks). Their boats are reasonable but they did have significant engine problems when we were there, I believe it was fuel contamination (probably from the local service station which I suspect gets their tanks flooded on extra high tides). An issue which plagued us the whole time we were there and something one doesn't want when being chased by Malaysian police, something easily resolved by changing fuel suppliers and flushing their whole fuel system on each boat, which I recommended to them. On one boat the dive ladder was damaged and a bit of a risk, I nearly pulled it right off when trying to get back on board. Another boat was very difficult to The do offer additional services such as support with drivers and cars for those who wish for trips into Malaysia to forage for alcohol, or need a drive around Brunei. The dive company attitude and effort was very good in the whole and they do listen to advice and I guess they are on a learning curve at the moment.
The diving I would consider to be OK but not super terrific. Perhaps we have been spoiled by trips to Sipidan, Papua New Guinea, Bali, Vanuatu, Great Barrier Reef where the coral and vis are very good. Brunei diving can have limited vis, strong currents and average reefs, however we found the 4 wrecks we dived there were good size and interesting and made more so by the low vis as it challenged us a little more. They are quite deteriorated inside and I regard them as quite dangerous to penetrate. In one particular wreck, there is much loose pipework overhead and it wouldn't take much to disturb it and have the lot on top of divers (I accidentally touched one pipe and realised the whole lot was very loose so we aborted immediately) , so be warned, they are risky to penetrate even though the entry is a large hold hatchway and it appears blissfully safe to the ignorant. They also have quite a buildup of silt so if you aren't wreck trained, you are taking a significant risk in penetrating. The Cement wreck is in Malaysian waters and if the dive boat gets caught there the boat, gear and divers can be impounded by the police (unless graft money is paid to them), to get to the Blue Water wreck they go through Malaysian waters so run the same risk. They warn against penetrating the Cement wreck (a young local diver died there recently and they have a plaque there for him) as it is becoming very dangerous inside the cabin area now. It is a very pretty wreck with great gardens on the stern. The Australia, American and Blue water wrecks were large and interesting and enjoyable but deep enough to require twins for safety given the depth, vis, current and time required. People did dive singles and did require deco which I consider too higher risk given the bad vis and strong currents. The local fishermen often anchor on the wreck buoy line and then cut off the buoy to prevent others from finding the great fishing spot, so sometimes the anchor line is the only line to use for descent and ascent due to the strong currents. Also the water can stratify and one finds dirty water for about the first 5-7 m and then clearer water down to maybe 28m and then dirty water to the sand. Then it may change on the next dive or next day. The dive guides are not yet fully experienced and sometimes a little misguided in what they do. On one occasion when we didn't find the anchor line to ascend and I had popped a safety sausage to come up on, the boat crew found it and promptly tied it to the boat, which meant in a very strong current potentially we would have both been trying to hang onto a finger reel with light line doing a deco, not practical or ideal, but fortunately we found the anchor line and so didn't have that issue (note for me, take 2 safety sausages/finger reels not one).
We were enticed there on the belief that there were about 10 wrecks we could dive (provided from the seminar we attended before flying over), but on getting there, there are only 4 wrecks dived and the oil rig artificial reef. All the other wrecks are unexplored to date and much further out to sea and I suspect in other countries waters. We brought our tech gear on the basis of deep wreck dives and so were very disappointed and felt we were somewhat mislead. But in saying that we did in the end enjoy the wrecks we did dive, although we had to dive each at least twice. We did not enjoy diving the local reef as it was not a significant reef for an experienced diver, but ok for new divers (probably just us being spoilt). The currents can be quite strong on the surface so somewhat difficult for inexperienced divers. All dives were done at anchor, but with the bad vis, twice we had a blue water ascent as we could not find the anchor rope to ascent initially, but located it while ascending (once due to them re-anchoring while we were down and had it located some 25 m away from the original anchor point hanging off a buoy line.
My wife did get slightly bent on one dive and we were lead to believe that if this happened it would be a simple contact to the Brunei Navy and all would be well. The truth is that one has to see a local doctor to get referred there and they are not necessarily dive doctors. As happens all over the world, GP's simply do not understand diving medicine and he refused to refer us there. A simple few hours on Oxygen would have resolved the issue easily but he refused and so we were left to our own devices. And for medical services being free in the country, not true, we were charged $70 for the service and pain killers we did not need. The dive company did follow up and attempt to do everything they could within their control which we did appreciate but the issues luckily resolved over the next few hours and we stopped diving after that and consulted doctors when home again. The dive company has also made a big effort to educate the hospital and local GP's but they often refuse to discuss the issues with the Dive company so its difficult. They were going to get over DAN and dive doctors to talk with the hospital and local doctors which I think should be applauded which is a good effort in the right direction. They did want to charge us Australian prices for additional diving but given the 30 cent fuel pricing and low labour cost I believe that it was excessive for the area so we opted not to take any additional dives which we would normally do (health issues aside).
The country is very very clean and food is very cheap there. The tap water is world class and clean to drink. We stayed at the Hotel Brunei which we found adequate and in a good location right in the centre of town. Others stayed at the Empire resort which is very luxurious but costs more and is located away from everything requiring a taxi ride to anywhere outside the resort (each to their own I suppose, we like spending more on diving than a luxurious room and don't like being tied down to a resort and their usually higher pricing structure). A taxi seems to cost $15 no matter where you go but we walked everywhere as we had a good location. Loved the people, they are so very relaxed and non aggressive in manner and also driving non aggressively. Shopping was very average with many shops selling cheap items and all of the same thing. Once night falls the town is very quiet, but shops open until late.
Overall we did enjoy the time, but felt it could have been so much more with the wrecks purported to have been diveable being actually available to dive. We would probably not go back again and would not recommend it unless you were looking for something different, but in saying this it is a site worth considering in your bucket list, (perhaps just lower in priority for us anyway).
The diving I would consider to be OK but not super terrific. Perhaps we have been spoiled by trips to Sipidan, Papua New Guinea, Bali, Vanuatu, Great Barrier Reef where the coral and vis are very good. Brunei diving can have limited vis, strong currents and average reefs, however we found the 4 wrecks we dived there were good size and interesting and made more so by the low vis as it challenged us a little more. They are quite deteriorated inside and I regard them as quite dangerous to penetrate. In one particular wreck, there is much loose pipework overhead and it wouldn't take much to disturb it and have the lot on top of divers (I accidentally touched one pipe and realised the whole lot was very loose so we aborted immediately) , so be warned, they are risky to penetrate even though the entry is a large hold hatchway and it appears blissfully safe to the ignorant. They also have quite a buildup of silt so if you aren't wreck trained, you are taking a significant risk in penetrating. The Cement wreck is in Malaysian waters and if the dive boat gets caught there the boat, gear and divers can be impounded by the police (unless graft money is paid to them), to get to the Blue Water wreck they go through Malaysian waters so run the same risk. They warn against penetrating the Cement wreck (a young local diver died there recently and they have a plaque there for him) as it is becoming very dangerous inside the cabin area now. It is a very pretty wreck with great gardens on the stern. The Australia, American and Blue water wrecks were large and interesting and enjoyable but deep enough to require twins for safety given the depth, vis, current and time required. People did dive singles and did require deco which I consider too higher risk given the bad vis and strong currents. The local fishermen often anchor on the wreck buoy line and then cut off the buoy to prevent others from finding the great fishing spot, so sometimes the anchor line is the only line to use for descent and ascent due to the strong currents. Also the water can stratify and one finds dirty water for about the first 5-7 m and then clearer water down to maybe 28m and then dirty water to the sand. Then it may change on the next dive or next day. The dive guides are not yet fully experienced and sometimes a little misguided in what they do. On one occasion when we didn't find the anchor line to ascend and I had popped a safety sausage to come up on, the boat crew found it and promptly tied it to the boat, which meant in a very strong current potentially we would have both been trying to hang onto a finger reel with light line doing a deco, not practical or ideal, but fortunately we found the anchor line and so didn't have that issue (note for me, take 2 safety sausages/finger reels not one).
We were enticed there on the belief that there were about 10 wrecks we could dive (provided from the seminar we attended before flying over), but on getting there, there are only 4 wrecks dived and the oil rig artificial reef. All the other wrecks are unexplored to date and much further out to sea and I suspect in other countries waters. We brought our tech gear on the basis of deep wreck dives and so were very disappointed and felt we were somewhat mislead. But in saying that we did in the end enjoy the wrecks we did dive, although we had to dive each at least twice. We did not enjoy diving the local reef as it was not a significant reef for an experienced diver, but ok for new divers (probably just us being spoilt). The currents can be quite strong on the surface so somewhat difficult for inexperienced divers. All dives were done at anchor, but with the bad vis, twice we had a blue water ascent as we could not find the anchor rope to ascent initially, but located it while ascending (once due to them re-anchoring while we were down and had it located some 25 m away from the original anchor point hanging off a buoy line.
My wife did get slightly bent on one dive and we were lead to believe that if this happened it would be a simple contact to the Brunei Navy and all would be well. The truth is that one has to see a local doctor to get referred there and they are not necessarily dive doctors. As happens all over the world, GP's simply do not understand diving medicine and he refused to refer us there. A simple few hours on Oxygen would have resolved the issue easily but he refused and so we were left to our own devices. And for medical services being free in the country, not true, we were charged $70 for the service and pain killers we did not need. The dive company did follow up and attempt to do everything they could within their control which we did appreciate but the issues luckily resolved over the next few hours and we stopped diving after that and consulted doctors when home again. The dive company has also made a big effort to educate the hospital and local GP's but they often refuse to discuss the issues with the Dive company so its difficult. They were going to get over DAN and dive doctors to talk with the hospital and local doctors which I think should be applauded which is a good effort in the right direction. They did want to charge us Australian prices for additional diving but given the 30 cent fuel pricing and low labour cost I believe that it was excessive for the area so we opted not to take any additional dives which we would normally do (health issues aside).
The country is very very clean and food is very cheap there. The tap water is world class and clean to drink. We stayed at the Hotel Brunei which we found adequate and in a good location right in the centre of town. Others stayed at the Empire resort which is very luxurious but costs more and is located away from everything requiring a taxi ride to anywhere outside the resort (each to their own I suppose, we like spending more on diving than a luxurious room and don't like being tied down to a resort and their usually higher pricing structure). A taxi seems to cost $15 no matter where you go but we walked everywhere as we had a good location. Loved the people, they are so very relaxed and non aggressive in manner and also driving non aggressively. Shopping was very average with many shops selling cheap items and all of the same thing. Once night falls the town is very quiet, but shops open until late.
Overall we did enjoy the time, but felt it could have been so much more with the wrecks purported to have been diveable being actually available to dive. We would probably not go back again and would not recommend it unless you were looking for something different, but in saying this it is a site worth considering in your bucket list, (perhaps just lower in priority for us anyway).
Dived with Oceanic Quest in Brunei last year after taking up one of their 5D4N packages at Adex. We had bad viz and currents at the wrecks so didn't to enjoy them at their best. The macro sites at Ice Box were fantastic though. Even the macro on the wrecks was amazing.
Giving it another chance and heading back to dive Brunei again in Oct with Oceanic Quest.
Giving it another chance and heading back to dive Brunei again in Oct with Oceanic Quest.
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