Singapore, Thailand, Malasia, Bali,...

[ThierryA]

Will be a couple of weeks in October in Asia with a base in Singapore visiting friends. I plan to spend most of this time visiting neighboring spots and do some diving. Any suggestions on where to fly to? Malasia, Bali, Thailand?

Any tips on good (or bad) dive clubs, dive spots, liveaboards, etc. in the area would be appreciated. Also, should I carry my kit with me? Doesn't seem too convenient.

PS. I'm a somewhat experienced diver/DM with about 150 dives in the last couple of years and experience mainly in the red sea.

 

[pakman]

You've got a lot of options basing yourself in Singapore. There are direct flights to Manado, Bali, Kota Kinabalu (Sipidan), and Phuket. Also you have some ok diving close to Singapore in Tioman island (malaysia) but for the travel time you would be better off going to the "world class" stuff in Sipidan, Similan, Manado/Bunaken/Lembeh Straights. It really depends on what type of diving you're after and how much time you want to spend in one place.

I was inquiring about Tioman diving earlier and I believe there a some Singapore based dive shops/ liveaboards that run trips there (but if I had my choice and had 2 weeks in Singapore, I'd probably head to sipidan or manado. also its getting twds end of the season on the Tioman side). I don't know how Similan's are from Phuket in Oct as usually the liveaboard season kicks off in Nov.

As for not carrying your stuff, I think most of the major dive operations will have "decent" stuff, but it all depends on how u feel on using rentals. Although you should check before hand to make sure they'll have your size and some of the remote areas might not much in terms of rental gear...

hope this helps. I'm sure the more experienced SB members will chime in shortly with their recommendations soon

 

[ssra30]

Pretty much all of Indonesia will be wide open for you. October may be a tad early for Thailand as far as Similans/Richelieu is concerned. The sea may still be a bit rough.
Sipadan/Bunaken/Lembeh is an option. Rainy season there starts around November so expect viz to be a bit less than they usually are. I would also consider Irian Jaya/Papau and Komodo as well although that will take a bit more traveling time and effort but well worth it.

 

[MacHeath]

Direct from Singapore, the best option is the white manta, www.whitemanta.com (I hope we are allowed to name names here!!). It leaves from Singapore on a friday night, and returns on sunday night. Most of the other dive outfits involve a bus up to Malaysia, which is a nightmare on a Friday/Sunday night.

One flight away, the best diving I have done is Manado. SilkAir flies direct 4 times a week.

Bali is also one flight away, and is also excellent diving. October is Mola Mola season there I think.

The Similans (Phuket) are also very good, but as someone above mentioned October is a bit early.

 

[malaysia-islands]

Don't want to be an *ss but it's "Sipadan" and "Malaysia" - not Sipidan or Malasia. Main reason being if are looking for information on Sipidan or Malasia on Yahoo/Google/MSN, chances are you won't be able to find many

 

[pakman]

Main reason being if are looking for information on Sipidan or Malasia on Yahoo/Google/MSN, chances are you won't be able to find many

yeah but I usually let google correct my spelling... and how do you spell the capital of malaysia?... (just kiddin)

 

[chip104]

yeah but I usually let google correct my spelling... and how do you spell the capital of malaysia?... (just kiddin)

How about the capital of Thailand? heheh. Yea I'm 14 again.

 

[ssra30]

How about the capital of Thailand? heheh. Yea I'm 14 again.

Official Thai name would be Krung Thep

 

[pakman]

ok ok, now that we got that all out of the way, we can continued with our scheduled broadcast... trip recommendations for ThierryA...

Malaysia-Islands -sorry about the misspelling... I should know better considering there is big Sipadan sticker on my log book! (dooh!)


ThierryA- again, sorry about the thread hijack :whack: ... As posted earlier, you've got a lot of options but do take into consideration the various seasons a you'll be straddling the end of the rainy season in one area and the start of it in another.

 

[Vie]

Official Thai name would be Krung Thep

The official name is Krungthepmahanakhon Amornrattanakosin Mahintharayutthaya Mahadilokphop Noppharat Ratchathaniburirom Udomratchaniwetmahasathan Amonphiman Awatansathit Sakkathattiyawitsanukamprasit

which translates into English as:

“The city of angels, the great city, the residence of the Emerald Buddha, the impregnable city (of Ayutthaya) of Indra, the grand capital of the world endowed with nine precious gems, the happy city, abounding in an enormous Royal Palace that resembles the heavenly abode where reigns the reincarnated gods, a city given by Indra and built by Vishnukarn.”

We shorten it to Krung Thep to save time