Layang Layang

[lhope88]

A friend and I will be in Malaysia in June. I was wondering if anyone knew anything about the Layang Layng resort? The only prices I can see listed are those that are for 6 nights. I wonder if they have packages for less days, or even, if it's possible to do day trips there? The diving looks amazing and we are so tempted to go, but the prices seem way out of our budget.

What initially attracted us to Layang Layang were the hammerheads. Does anyone know of any other good places to see them?

Thanks!

 

[WetPup]

Day trips are certainly out of the question. It's a 1 hour flight from Kota Kinabalu - and that's the only way to get there. Additionally, the flights don't run every day - I think the charter only runs 3 days a week.

I've just returned from a week diving there and I think the minimum stay you'd be looking at is 4 days due to travel and no-fly times (fly out early on day 1 - do 2 dives later that day; 3 dives on day 2; 1 morning dive on day 3 and spend the rest of the day off-gas; fly out morning of day 4). Also, I'd be booking now, as they only fly small planes out there and I'd be surprised if a fair few flights weren't already booked out. They've been flying out a larger plane on Friday mornings, so if you can plan accordingly you might have more luck finding a seat.

The hammerheads are awesome though! Other places to see them are in the Galapagos and Cocos Island in Costa Rica.

 

[Centrals]

What initially attracted us to Layang Layang were the hammerheads. Does anyone know of any other good places to see them?

Thanks!

Green Island in Repulic of China(Taiwan) but only in winter(Jan to Mar).
There are couple of trip reports in Taiwan's section.
Getting to Cocos Island is half the fun. 36hrs boat journey(one way)! Never again. But several hundred of hammerheads in one dive...wow.

 

[vladimir]

Cocos would be a better place to see hammerheads, in my opinion. The 36-hour boat ride is a deterrent to some, but I prefer it to the handful of flights it might take you to get to Layang-layang from Montreal (Montreal--> San Francisco--> Tokyo-->Kota Kinabalu-->Layang-layang, or similar). At least on the boat you can go to your bunk, stretch out, and sleep. (Maybe you can do that on flights--I can't.)

On my trip to Layang-layang, over a decade ago, we did encounter hammerheads on multiple dives, maybe 3 or 4 out of 12 dives, but they were as deep as 55 meters, which made for short dives and brief encounters. In Cocos, we saw hammerheads on every dive that we expected to, probably 20 of the 25 dives I did, usually between 27 and 40 meters deep. And they were often close encounters, within a few feet of us. The divemasters did say that we had unusually good diving on that trip, but hammerheads weren't even the highlight. We saw Whalesharks; a baitball; dolphins; a marlin; tuna; and Galapagos, Blacktip, Whitetip, and Silky sharks.

In general, whether in Cocos, Galapagos, Layang-layang, or elsewhere, schooling Scalloped Hammerhead sightings are very dependent on water temperature, from what I have read. Avoid El Nino years when warm water might push the thermocline much deeper, or change hammerhead migration completely. I have also seen schooling hammerheads in Sipadan, and I believe they are seen in the Red Sea as well. I have seen a hammerhead in Belize (from too far away to ascertain which species) and Papua New Guinea (Great Hammerheads). If they are not schooling it is hard to predict sightings, but Jim Abernethy's Shearwater brings Great Hammerheads in with chum, along with Tiger Sharks, Bull Sharks, etc., right there in the Bahamas.

 

[WetPup]

I kind of figured that since the OP said 6 days in Layang Layang was "out of their budget" then a trip to Cocos would be out of the question...

Layang Layang is pretty cheap compared to a trip out on one of the Galapagos or Cocos liveaboards.

We did see schooling hammerheads on one dive at Layang Layang down around 40m (and below). Our DM was pretty strict about the 40m rule, and I don't think anybody broke it. We saw a couple of individual hammerheads on 2 other dives. So actually only 3 dives where we saw hammerheads in the 18 dives we did over the week. And that was in supposedly prime season at the end of April. That being said, there's plenty of other stuff to see there. Reef sharks, manta, devil rays, frog fish...It's an amazing place, but there's certainly no guarantee you'll actually see hammerheads. You'd have a higher chance of seeing them at Cocos, but that seems to be a fairly full on (and expensive) trip. And if you're already going to be in Malaysia...

 

[vladimir]

I kind of figured that since the OP said 6 days in Layang Layang was "out of their budget" then a trip to Cocos would be out of the question...

And if you're already going to be in Malaysia...

Yeah, thanks, good points...apparently I skimmed the original post.

 

[MrsBBC]

As of... today
I have been considering visiting Layang Layang in August. I will be in the Philippines already and thought I would jump across if there are places on the thrice weekly flights.
But I have a few concerns/queries and was hoping that any of the enlightened could assist.

August is the end of the resort's public opening (they consider October the last month of 'dive season')
April May June is Hammerhead season.
The island is apparently better for Pelagics, not Macro
The resort is all DM led dives
There is no nitrox and no tech

I'm not a tech diver, but if I was hanging around at 30-35m, or even 40m, your bottom time on a single cylinder of air, is, rubbish. I love being in the blue, but don't feel I would be excactly maximising my chances even in hammer season with such a short dive time.

Is August less popular because its not considered hammerhead season, I have never stayed in a resort before and generally favour fewer people

Are the groups large? Are the dive guides fast and inattentive? Is any attempt made to have groups of divers of similar ability and air consumption.
Is it possible to dive as a buddy pair.... not as a pair in a group?

When people say... its more about pelagics, is that more blue water, or is that walls, but keeping an eye on the blue?

What are the reefs/walls/muck dives like?

Does LL see many backpackers?

I could tart this post up a little and email the resort, but I feel uncomfortable doing so... and they are a resort, they want my custom and would likely give model answers.

Nic