September Trip to Singapore/Malaysia

[UK Desperado]

I am going to the Far East for 2 weeks in September in a fairly big group of people. We are going to be based originally in Singapore as I have relatives there. We are planning a trip to Tioman Island for about 4 days while we are there but we are also looking for another trip as well. There are only 2 actual divers in the group, but the others (including kids) love swimming, snorkelling etc. What we need is somewhere which isn't going to be in the wet season then, has good dives sites, without having to take long boat trips to get there, and will have good all round activites for divers, snorkellers, non divers and kids.
Any and all ideas appreciated...

 

[Zippsy]

okay, I'm stumped. If you are planning on staying close to peninsular Malaysia, I can't really think of another place for you. Most other areas are either really good for divers and bad for non-divers or vice versa. Maybe someone with more experience in Perhentian, Redang, etc., can tell you if there are things for non-divers to do up there. For example, Aur and Diyang are nearby island with good diving. Other than that, you can snorkle, sleep, read a book, eat and um, er, I think that's it.

If you are willing to go further away, Bali is definitely a place that is great for both groups. Flights to the island are fazirly cheap now but the silly new visa laws make it a little tougher.

 

[scubashooter]

Well unless you want to do a road trip further north towards Trengganu, you'll have to be happy with diving around Tioman's neighboring islands of Rawa and Aur. Further up north past Kuantan isTenggol and Kapas. When I was last there the coral was showing signs of deterioration from traffic and the warming waters of el nino. I've heard it's pretty bad now. However, it is beautiful sand and blue water.
Even further north is Perhentian Islands and Redang. Perhentian is a lower budget place with more backpackers on the little(kechil) but it also has the nicer beach. Diving is ok there but everytime I went viz was crap. I did however see a sailfish breach from u/w in the murky distance. The boat boys had a cow cos it breached so close. I DO NOT think it's an everyday occurrence mind you.
Redang is better for accomodations but the diving is not better than Perhentian.
All these places I've mentioned require at least 5 hrs of car travel from Singapore and a 20-50 min boat ride to the islands. Your alternative is to fly to Kuala Trengganu. A better way is to take the flight from Johor Bahru Airport to TGG direct instead of flying from SIN-KUL-TGG.
Zippsy:
I think the new Indo visa law is good news. Only 28 countries in the world (including Slovenia & Singapore) don't need visas into the US. We charge for visa applications (successful or not) which are not cheap for a LDC. Many countries in South American charge US citizens as reciprocal visa charges. China as you may know, singles out the US for almost double visa charges. Hell, we still need visas to get into australia, even though it's more a formality and can be done online, it's still a visa. Can't wait for a world without visas!

 

[DrMike]

If you 'cannt wait for a world without visas' why do you think its good news that we now need a visa to visit Indonesia?

 

[Scubaroo]

Hell, we still need visas to get into australia, even though it's more a formality and can be done online, it's still a visa. Can't wait for a world without visas!

Actually it's an Electronic Travel Authority (ETA), not a visa. All visa-waiver countries need them, not just folks from the US. Basically it's pre-registration of your passport details.

Be thankful you're a US citizen and can freely enter the US - it's no fun fronting up to US immigration. One of the guys from my work when I was in San Francisco was an Australian resident, but still held a Malaysian passport, he had a valid work visa, flew to Canada for the weekend for a sightseeing trip, and was refused re-entry. No reason was given, except "we don't see a valid reason to allow you entry into the United States". Only thing anyone could think of was that he was being "racially profiled".

 

[manta_girl]

I was in Perhentian last weekend and loads to do other than diving. Although, I must add the diving was great. I stayed at Arwana, a new resort with huge swimming pool. Went jungle trekking to a secret waterfall - that was great, went snorkeling as well. Saw at least 10 turtles! No kidding ;-) Visit www.alualudivers.com as they arranged for my trip and it was great.

 

[lanun]

dang, uk desperado ! who would've thunk it :d . my elder brother went to semo state, hee hee hee. i still have the picture of when we were at the Trail of Tears.

i've done 3 weeklong trips to Tioman with my family (the kids are 7 and 9). aside from diving, there's the house reef for snorkeling (a school of eight largish bumphead parrot fish grazes there) or swimming, hiking, day boat-trip round the island, grilled seafood :drool: , volleyball, beach soccer, or just plain bumming on the beach (neat things to see at low-tide such as juvie eels).

i've only stayed at Salang Beach. there was some construction going on last time i was there, but had a good time nonetheless.

option for you is to fly in if you're not keen on the boat ride (berjaya air).

anyways, heading there again next week, if i can figure out a way around the big puddle of water around Kluang town which is flooded

 

[davidlkh]

Bali is great for divers and non divers and not in the monsoon belt during that time.

Kota Kinabalu is also not bad for the non - divers, but for serious divers it may get a boring.

 

[scubashooter]

Mike, I think visas are BS. But if one country charges nearly $70 for application for a visa which could possibly(and probably if from Indonesia and not chinese with a big job or bank account) be rejected, I think it's fair there is reciprocity.
Scuba Roo, the ETA is just a kinder, gentler visa. All passport info can be handled at immigration on entry. Any country who requires preregistration for whatever reason is still asking for a visa-like document.
And I do know what it's like to go thru US immigration and it's not fun. But that's the new age of terrorism fears now.

If you 'cannt wait for a world without visas' why do you think its good news that we now need a visa to visit Indonesia?