Malaysia...Is that where the monsters are?

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I dived up and down the coast of West Malaysia for a year and saw a few sharks. I saw the only silvertips I've ever seen there but no hammerheads.
If you're interested in seeing hammerheads (HH?) there's a fairly reliable school of scallops off of Maniguin Island southwest of Boracay in the Philippines.
 
Layang Layang off western malaysia that has HH schools some months - but im not sure if they are there every year. Theres been a few threads about the place. Closer to home theres Yonaguni Island (western japan) where there are also meant to be HH schools over winter (as well as a sunken 'lost city'). A mate of mine in china is running a trip there next feburary.

Cheers,
Rohan.
 
Layang Layang in the spring is probably what you heard about. Also, they are quite often seen off Sipadan Island. I hear you usually need to go deep to find them but there are lots (not like LL though). I wasn't lucky enough on my trip. Lots of white tips and grey sharks though.
 
Layang Layang is well known for hammerheads around April / May. There is only one dive resort there, and it gets booked up well in advance for those 2 months. Layang Layang actually has some nice reefs, but many divers just go down deep and hang around watching for hammerheads. A friend was there in May and he said he and his 2 buddies pretty much had the reef to themselves!

You can also find hammerheads at Sipadan around the same time, which is when the seasons are changing.

About Hammerheads

Layang Layang
 
Jim, what time of year are you planning the trip again? Some of these places will be seasonal.

Layang Layang, heard mix reports on this place lately (2nd hand reports). But like almost everywhere else, the hammerheads aren't guaranteed. I've heard from some you gotta go deep while others have told me they've seen then relatively shallow (30m...). I believe the resort has been under some expansion lately. Not really a place to bring a family for a holiday (basically a landing strip on a bird crap covered little island). Packages, including the chartered flight from Kota Kinabalu, can be very expensive. I think their season is Spring thru Aug/ Sept?

Jag - I'm in the same boat... craving for some big stuff outh here in Asia... Sadly it looks like we just have to fly further and spend more $$$/¥¥¥ to get our big fish fix...

Coco's anyone??
 
I've dived L2 twice. It was originally an atoll but one edge of it was landfilled to create an airstrip for the naval station there and to serve the dive resort. You get to L2 by way of Kota Kinabalu on an early morning charter flight on a 10-seat airplane. The flight takes an hour or so. As Jamie said, the resort has more than basic facilities, but only what is needed to keep divers occupied between dives. There's a swimming pool, no proper beach, cafeteria meals (mainly Chinese-style), and a television to watch dive movies in the bar area in the evening--there's a foosball table or something, I think (didn't use it). I believe you can get a massage out by the airstrip. The rooms are in longhouse-type buildings, and each room has a little terrace, private bathrooms with hot water, air conditioning, and 24-hour electricity. The dive center is spacious; each diver gets a basket and there is a locker for cameras. When I was there, Nitrox was not available, but this may have changed. The diving is good. You get a mix of pelagics and reef animals. The dive sites are all around the outside perimeter of the atoll, and most of them are wall dives. You can also dive in the lagoon on your own. Night dives are all in the lagoon.
 

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