Near Singapore in July

[MyDogIsDoug]

We are finding ourselves on an extended business trip in Singapore this July. I would like to take a long weekend that would probably constitute 2 days of diving. I'm willing to hop a short flight (less than 3 hours) or try a weekend live aboard. I'm not familiar with the area or weather/diving conditions that time of year. Can anyone recommend destinations that are decent diving and conditions?

 

[Wingy]

Off the top of my head -

Tioman Island
Sipidan and Mabul - probably the best diving
Cubadak island Sumatra
Derawan Island
Pulau

From Singapore you have direct flights to Manado so you could do Lembeh and or Bunaken easily and perhaps Bangka - what are you hoping for - if critters head to Lembeh.

You could also grab a couple of hour flight to Phuket in Thailand or Manila and catch the bus down to Anilao or Puerto Galera. Plenty of Other options from Singapore

 

[hellhole]

if u only have 2 days to do diving.. there are many option.
1) local liveaboard - boat leaves from singapore.
they usually go out from a friday night.. and comes back to singapore by sunday night.
they usually go to 2 place... tioman island (malaysia) or Anambas Reefs & Pinnacles (indonesia). I prefer anambas vs tioman.
These are the boats to contact in no particular order:
Diving Singapore | LOB Singapore | Nautica Diving | MV Nautica
GS-Diving | PADI Scuba Diving Courses in Singapore
DiveRACE | Scuba Diving | Padi Diving Course | Diving Equipment | Learn to dive | Trip Booking
http://www.andamantritan.com/

2) dive local
- singapore has the smallest marine park in the world.
https://www.nparks.gov.sg/gardens-p...erves/sisters-islands-marine-park/dive-trails
slots and timing are limited.
- hantu ( if you love low vis and like to take pictures of macro)
http://www.pulauhantu.sg/dive-with-us/ or search "SG Underwater Macro Photographers" in facebook
a great and unpredictable place to dive, mostly can be 1m or less visibility, but they are many small critters.

3) travel out
1 )sipadan - need 1 day to get there at least.
2) manado/lembeh - not daily flight out from singapore and back
3) tioman island - by land you can also get there, but i will not recommand do it. you set off friday evening around 6-7pm. they you travel through the sg and malaysia customs through the night to the ferry point in malaysia. arrive at the ferry point at around midnight or later. then take the ferry to tioman island. arrive probably early in the saturday morning or by 7am. then off you go diving till sunday tired yet? then you dive 3-4 dives on saturday and sunday you do 2 dives. then you make the whole journey back in reverse. tired yet?
you can also book yourself with dive centre on tioman island yourself. its a nice place to relax anyway.. B&J tioman diving , Ray diving tioman. are some you can choose to dive with.
4) bintan - 45min ferry ride from singapore
cost of ferry tix is around 70-90SGD. 45min ferry.
you can look for tasik ria bintan. they can arrange everything for you from ferry, diving, stay, etc.
its mainly macro here .. vis will be the same as in singapore, but maybe slightly better.

hope you find something...

 

[CarcharodonCarcharias]

It really depends on how many days you will have.

2 Days -
Bintan
Batam
Pulau Hantu
Sisters Island

3 Days -
Tioman
Anambas/Igara Wreck
Bali (Possible but it will be a stretch)

4 Days -
Then you have a lot more options to play with. Bali, Manado, Gili，Phuket, etc,.

Bintan and Batam - Take the ferry from Vivocity and you'll get there in 45 min. The ferry is quite comfortable and the accomodation on both islands are quite decent. Diving is not that great. Not a whole lot of fish due to over fishing. Reef is ok. Batam you can see giant gorgonian sea fans. Visibility is usually not the greatest.

Hantu and Two Sisters - Personally, I'd give diving around Singapore a miss. Poor visibility and nothing much to see. Water is quite polluted (the coastline is filled with container ships and oil ships). But if you just want to get wet, there are local shops that offer trips to these dive spots on weekly basis.

Tioman - Tioman is the scuba diving training ground for all of the LDS in Singapore. All of the OW, AOW, Rescue, DM training and certification are done in Tioman from March - November. When the monsoon hits from December to February, then it gets shifted to Bintan and Batam. Tioman has decent reef and the ecosystem is quite healthy. Sharks, turtles, and rays can be seen most of the time. Whalesharks visit Tioman once in a bluemoon. Personally, I'd go with the liveaboard. The boat leaves Tanah Merah at 7pm on Friday and comes back on Sunday evening. Most of the LDS will do the bus route and that involves leaving at 7ppm on a Friday，driving pass through Singapore immigration at Tuas, go over the bridge, then passing through the Malaysia immigration, driving for another 4 hours to get to either Mersing or Gemok. If you are lucky, the tide is high then you can hop on the ferry and get to Tioman by 1am or 2am. If not, then you are stuck with spending a night at Mersing or Gemok, waking up at 5am or 6am to catch the ferry and get to Tioman at 7am or 8am，then get ready for your first dive at 9am. Don't even get me started on the return trip on Sunday afternoon.

Anambas/Igara - Liveaboard is the only option. Just like Tioman LOB, it will leave at 7pm from Tanah Merah and back on Sunday evening.

If you can squeeze out 4 days, then we can discuss those options/locations later.

 

[MyDogIsDoug]

Wow, thank you all for the helpful replies. I am reviewing and may have a question or two....

 

[islandboysrule]

I just did the same, was in Singapore for two weeks - Tiger Air to Phuket! Seabees diving...done.