Hello all,
First off thanks for any responses, advice, and recommendations that you guys and gals come up with. Every bit helps when planning a trip. I am thinking about doing some diving and sightseeing in Thailand / Malaysia in February.
Hey Champz, and welcome to ScubaBoard. Having lived and worked in both Malaysia and Thailand for the past 11 years, I may be able to offer some insight!
I would like to ask:
- What are the diving conditions like during that month?
It's a great month for Thailand's Andaman coast where it will be high season. Not so great for Malaysia, though. The only place you might get some good diving in in Malaysia in February is Sipadan, offshore from Borneo. It will be rainy season there, though.
Visibility? Marine life? Large pelagics?
In Thailand's Andaman Sea you can expect very good vis in February, though the plankton will be coming in then, which has the advantage of attracting the manta rays that we all love to see. That's in addition to the normally rich reef populations.
In Malaysia's Sipadan area, the visibility will be somewhat degraded due to the monsoon season winds and water movement, but you can still see the big tornado-shaped schooling fish and so many turtles that you stop counting. The Mabul area is famous for good macro life as well.
- Where are are the 'hot spots'?
In February in Thailand, you will want to get to Richelieu Rock, Tachai Pinnacle, Koh Bon West Ridge, and the Similans.
In February in Malaysia, you will want Sipadan and Mabul.
- Who do you recommend for liveaboard?
There's only one for Sipadan. And for Thailand, there are so many that a recommendation in a public forum like this is simply impossible because of the varying prices, trip lengths, and boat configurations. It would help if you posted your notion of your "ideal" liveaboard experience given your time and financial resources. It would also be worth your while to read more of this forum to find trip reports from individual visitors who have had a great experience on one boat or another as a basis of comparison. The best way to find the right boat is to get a short list of options and weigh them against your ideal.
- What about ground-based for Phuket, Kuala Lumpur & Singapore?
Well, there's no decent local diving from Singapore, even though it's surrounded by water, and it's the wrong time of year for the weekend trips to islands in the South China Sea that S'pore shops organize. Kuala Lumpur is land-locked. On Phuket you will be spoiled for choice, again. You can do daytrips from here with two or three (and in one case four) dives, or you can get on an overnight trip with seven dives to Phi Phi where you sleep in a resort on the island.
I'm sure I'll come up with more questions later; I'll post them as they come to me. For now, thanks for any input.
~ Champz
That's already a lot of questions, and I hope that the long reply so many questions requires hasn't been tedious! Now I'd like to suggest that you go to the Introductions Forum and tell us something about yourself that we can't read in your profile!
