Even though I had not read anything particularly inspiring about diving at Pulau Payar on this forum, I figured that while I was in Langkawi for holiday, I may as well use the opportunity to spend a day diving and log a few more in the old book. It was such a good experience, and a wonderful day of diving, that I wanted to share my own trip report (my first for Scuba Board) so that visitors to Langkawi would know that diving there is actually a lot better than its reputation!
We signed up for the day trip with East Marine, who picked us up and got us to the Royal Langkawi Yacht Club right on time. I have to say they really run a tight ship -- even with 60 people, they had absolutely everything perfectly planned and the whole operation ran smoothly. I had been a bit weary about spending the day with dozens of snorkellers, but East Marine told the small group of divers to wait on board, let them get the snorkel crew onto Pulau Payar for snorkelling, while a smaller boat would take us out to the reefs.
It was just a perfect day, bright sun, clear waters, and excellent visibility. I had been expecting low visibility, having only read far from enthusiastic reviews of diving there. But the second we descended onto our first dive site, the Japanese Gardens, we were surrounded by schools of jacks and barracudas, so dense you could barely see the surface above! We saw groups of triggerfish, cleaner crabs, clownfish, queenfish and angelfish and many more. Although we didn't do any sort of dramatic walls with sharp drops, or crazy drift dives, I was pleased to see a lot of beautiful coral and a lot of sea life.
After a (relatively crappy) lunch on the beach, and relaxing for about an hour, we were back on the boat, heading out to some tiny islands just off the coast, Pulau Kaka and Pulau Lembu, for dive #2. Our divemaster pointed out the shipwrecks below us in the sea. As the boat cut through the water, schools of fish scattered everywhere. Visibility was great -- even in the deep we could see a good 20 metres below.
We strapped up and jumped in. What amazing colours! The reefs looked very healthy and untouched. In some rocks, a very large moral eel easily the size of my thigh (and I've got some BIG thighs, I can admit, hehe!) was chilling out. The tide picked up and as we swam along, I almost laughed to see two lionfish next to each other, seeming to hold on to the rocks to fight the current. A group of six groupers were all huddled together, quite large too. The divemaster somehow managed to find a baby nudibranch, bright blue in colour ad the size of a grain of rice. How he found it and got it onto his hand, I have no idea! Clownfish, more barracudas, more lionfish, another eel... everywhere we looked, we saw a lot of life, both big and small.
Perhaps we were just lucky that day, and had great visibility (about 20 metres), but I just wanted to let people know that not all of the reviews of Pulau Payar are negative. If you are in Langkawi, I would certainly recommend it . And I would have no hesitation recommending East Marine who really ensured that everything ran smoothly. I especially appreciated the fact that they had a ratio of one divemaster for two divers, so we really got personalised attention, and he was always able to show us lots of great macro. So, don't listen to the bad reviews --going to Pulau Payar is worth the trip!
Sorry folks... don't have an underwater camera yet... so sadly can't post any pictures to show the good visibility. Next time for sure!
We signed up for the day trip with East Marine, who picked us up and got us to the Royal Langkawi Yacht Club right on time. I have to say they really run a tight ship -- even with 60 people, they had absolutely everything perfectly planned and the whole operation ran smoothly. I had been a bit weary about spending the day with dozens of snorkellers, but East Marine told the small group of divers to wait on board, let them get the snorkel crew onto Pulau Payar for snorkelling, while a smaller boat would take us out to the reefs.
It was just a perfect day, bright sun, clear waters, and excellent visibility. I had been expecting low visibility, having only read far from enthusiastic reviews of diving there. But the second we descended onto our first dive site, the Japanese Gardens, we were surrounded by schools of jacks and barracudas, so dense you could barely see the surface above! We saw groups of triggerfish, cleaner crabs, clownfish, queenfish and angelfish and many more. Although we didn't do any sort of dramatic walls with sharp drops, or crazy drift dives, I was pleased to see a lot of beautiful coral and a lot of sea life.
After a (relatively crappy) lunch on the beach, and relaxing for about an hour, we were back on the boat, heading out to some tiny islands just off the coast, Pulau Kaka and Pulau Lembu, for dive #2. Our divemaster pointed out the shipwrecks below us in the sea. As the boat cut through the water, schools of fish scattered everywhere. Visibility was great -- even in the deep we could see a good 20 metres below.
We strapped up and jumped in. What amazing colours! The reefs looked very healthy and untouched. In some rocks, a very large moral eel easily the size of my thigh (and I've got some BIG thighs, I can admit, hehe!) was chilling out. The tide picked up and as we swam along, I almost laughed to see two lionfish next to each other, seeming to hold on to the rocks to fight the current. A group of six groupers were all huddled together, quite large too. The divemaster somehow managed to find a baby nudibranch, bright blue in colour ad the size of a grain of rice. How he found it and got it onto his hand, I have no idea! Clownfish, more barracudas, more lionfish, another eel... everywhere we looked, we saw a lot of life, both big and small.
Perhaps we were just lucky that day, and had great visibility (about 20 metres), but I just wanted to let people know that not all of the reviews of Pulau Payar are negative. If you are in Langkawi, I would certainly recommend it . And I would have no hesitation recommending East Marine who really ensured that everything ran smoothly. I especially appreciated the fact that they had a ratio of one divemaster for two divers, so we really got personalised attention, and he was always able to show us lots of great macro. So, don't listen to the bad reviews --going to Pulau Payar is worth the trip!
Sorry folks... don't have an underwater camera yet... so sadly can't post any pictures to show the good visibility. Next time for sure!
