Good dive school on the Perhentian Islands

[rossellner]

Hi,

Have just booked myself to do the Lessons part of my PADI Open Water in England and was wondering if anyone could tell me of a good dive school on the Perhentian islands in malaysia where I could do the practical sessions? Am heading there in a month or so.

Cheers

Ross

 

[gwyd1982]

I did my advanced course at Spice Divers on Long Beach on Perhentian Kechil. Its quite a nice dive center on the southern end of the beach, although it was 4 years ago so alot can change in that time.

Wherever you go enjoy it!

 

[Live_in_Sin]

Florabay divers, I haven't been there yet, but I met the couple Azman(course director) & Juju (instructor) at Pulau Weh during tsunami. they are very nice people and their dive center sounds like very good set up.
azmanking@florabaydivers.com

 

[liquid_nomad]

IMO, there is only one decent dive operator in the Perhentians and they are known as the Bubbles Dive Resort. One small resort in it's own secluded bay, quiet, great beach & snorkelling but more importantly, run by the greatest people who are "people friendly", understands what a diving holiday maker wants and are extremely flexible in their dive schedules. Safe, thorough, professional, friendly. One of their agents (www.scubadynamics.com.my) has a good description & aerial picture of Bubbles.

Of course, there are other good operators as well but unfortunately, most are located on busy beaches which can be a bit of a turn off in some ways when on a tropical island vacation but check the sea/weather conditions first as it is just the beginning of the Malaysian diving season and annual north east monsoon has been rather unfriendly this year.

Enjoy....

 

[lucybuykx]

Congratulations on doing your classroom work, I'll bet you are looking forward to getting in the water soon!

I love the Perhentians, and Long Beach on Perhentian Kecil in particular. I heartily recommend you get in touch with Coral Sky Divers http://www.coralskydiver.com/
before you go. They will book you into accomodation and answer any queries you have about getting there. Last time I looked they were the only dive centre on the island that accepted credit cards which means less demands on your cash (there are no cash machines on the island).

Island life is relaxing, sometimes too much so. With Coral Sky, if they say you are going to dive at 9am then you will. With some others you might still be on the deck at 11am.

The only thing you might want to consider is your timing. The monsoon season ends February/March time so the waters are still a little chopping and vis is not so great until April/May time. Saying that, not so great viz in Malaysia is better than the best in Capernwray or Stoney Cove so you have still made a good decision.

Have a wonderful time and report back please!

 

[DiverJoe99]

Think I should correct some of the posts above.

Firstly, I will admit up front that I am a part owner of the Bayu Dive Lodge (www bayudivelodge com) which is on the "Big Island" in the bay of "Teluk Dalam", the largest bay. So here are some facts:

1) All the big islands beaches are very quite, there really are no crowds to escape from.

2) Most the larger resorts have credit card machines now, including ours. This was enabled by the introduction of land lines (telephone) this year.

3) The season runs from March until October each year. The weather this year is still good so the season is likelly not to close until the end of October.

As for the blatent plug...

Alu Alu divers has a great reputation for quality and safety and our divers come back year after year. Ready for this year, we have built our own accomodation to appeal to the western market (I'm British by the way and live in London). As such we have:

1) Western style bathrooms - yes that means a real toilet , and heated power showers

2) Air conditioning

3) 24 x 7 power, not the case in many resorts

4) Free high speed internet for all guests

and best of all, an idylic location, just check out the pictures on our web site!

Blatent plug over!