How are diving conditions in March? Where to go / where to avoid

[tightenup]

Hi all - looking for a bit of advice on what areas are awful / great in Malaysia in March.

I'm in Malaysia for all of March. Be in KL at the beginning, need to spend a week or so in Singapore in the middle and need to be back at KL at the end.

I've read that west coast of the Peninsular is generally not great compared to the east coast, but that the east coast is pretty wet during March. Apparently Sabah and Sarawak are good all year round? Web sites and books are a bit inconsistent.

SO: Where would you dive in March?

PS: I heard that Singapore is good value for advanced diver certificates - this doesn't seem right given most of the courses take you to the east coast of Malaysia. Is there a good place to get a certificate or is it all the same?

Cheers much in advance!

 

[Lj82]

The Malaysia east coast dive season starts in March (late feb for some operators) and that would be where more Singaporeans go to dive during that period. Pulau Aur/Dayang and Pulau Tioman are amongst the most popular destinations, as well as Redang and Perhentian.

As for taking advanced diver certificates, most of the operators in Singapore conduct their courses in Malaysia, at locations I mentioned above. I am not sure if they are considered good value or not though.

 

[tightenup]

Thanks for the info - can you expect good visibility etc at this time of year? recommend any of these in particular?

 

[tightenup]

Oh, and is the diving off Sabah (sipidan etc) worthwhile at this time of year?

 

[Lj82]

Never been to Sabah but Sipadan is supposedly possible to dive all year round.

I've heard experienced DMs say that the visibility in Tioman/Aur area is usually great in March, but it wasn't great last year when I went. The visibility you can expect from that region is probably around 6-10ms. Decent enough visibility I reckon.

Hope this helps.