Visiting Malaysia later this year.

[Jak Crow]

I will be traveling to Kuala Lumpur later this year for business and I will have a few days to be able to do some diving. I was wondering where the best place would be to get in some quick reef diving maybe. Anyone have any suggestions on locations and maybe a few good dive charters or shops to visit?

 

[Ste Wart]

Tricky, KL slap bang in the middle of the country.

You could try catching a flight to Tioman Island, through these guys

https://www.berjaya-air.com/

The land route is 6 hours bus and 2 hours ferry, so if you're strapped for time this could be the best option.

Once on Tioman there are several dive operators. I'll put the link for my old dive shop:
Scuba Diving in Malaysia on Tioman Island with B&J Diving Centre in Salang and in ABC - PADI, IANTD and DAN courses, Technical Diving

And you can e-mail them.

Top dive sites would be:

Tiger Reef
Labas
Golden Reef
Chebeh

 

[Quero]

JC, the most important factor to giving any answer to your question is "when exactly"?

While I agree with wart that B&J on Tioman is a good shop, if you are in KL from October onwards, that option may not be a viable one as the northeast monsoon starts to blow in October, and Tioman is in its path!

But if the time of year is right (summer is best) I still wouldn't go to Tioman from KL because in my opinion, the easiest option in terms of logistics and the most interesting in terms of the diving is to go to Dungun to dive Tenggol Island. I consider Tenggol to offer the best reef diving along the entire east coast of Malaysia. There aren't a huge number of dive sites there, but you've only got a few days, and there are enough to satisfy that kind of time frame. It is possible to stay right on Tenggol Island, but accommodations are basic in the extreme and I don't enjoy it much. I prefer to stay on the mainland and go out on daytrips. One nice resort with a dive center (making it convenient) is Tanjong Jara Resort. I haven't been there in years, but I'm planning a short stay at that resort, with some diving, in a few weeks, and I have to say that I'm really looking forward to diving Tenggol again!

You can drive to Dungun in less than 3 hours on easy toll roads (get a rental car and just go), or you can get the resort to arrange a driver to take you there. I used to drive over from KL a couple of weekends a month in the season during the five years that I lived there just to dive Tenggol, arriving on Friday evening, diving Saturday and Sunday, and driving back Sunday evening. I actually did my DM training at Tenggol.

Now, if you're coming much later in the year, you will need to consider going further from KL than your may be intending--it would involve flights, but they are short ones. The flight from KL to Phuket, for example, is just an hour. To Bali is two hours, I think. To Manado about two and a half, etc. There's a lot of good diving within easy striking distance from KL.

 

[Jak Crow]

I should be visiting in July or August.

 

[Ste Wart]

While I agree with wart that B&J on Tioman is a good shop, if you are in KL from October onwards, that option may not be a viable one as the northeast monsoon starts to blow in October, and Tioman is in its path!.

It's actually not that bad. The Perhentians get the monsoon a lot quicker than Tioman. It was like a ghost town (island?) early October when I worked on Perhentian Besar.
B&J are open until mid-november. The 'monsoon' season is really only december and january as the dive shop re-opens feb 1st.

 

[Quero]

It's actually not that bad. The Perhentians get the monsoon a lot quicker than Tioman. It was like a ghost town (island?) early October when I worked on Perhentian Besar.
B&J are open until mid-november. The 'monsoon' season is really only december and january as the dive shop re-opens feb 1st.

You do have a point, wart, but you also have to admit that as the monsoon season progresses from October into November, it's less and less likely that a diver will get to some of the most interesting Tioman dive sites, such as Tiger Reef. It's a moot question anyway, since the OP has clarified that he's going in July/August, so whether he chooses Tioman, Perhentian, Redang or Tenggol, it will be smack in the middle of high season, so neither weather nor green water should be an issue.

I still like Tenggol better than Tioman, though :cool2:. I'll actually make a special effort to dive Tenggol, which I won't do for Tioman. For a diver willing to travel by air, Sipadan/Mabul would be the pinnacle of Malaysia diving!

BTW, I'm in Singapore for the ADEX show at the moment, checking out, among other things, Malaysia dive resorts for my divers!

 

[Ste Wart]

It's a moot point anyway, since the OP has clarified that he's going in July/August.

I still like Tenggol better than Tioman :cool2:. I'll actually make a special effort to dive Tenggol, which I won't do for Tioman. For a diver willing to travel by air, Sipadan/Mabul would be the prime Malaysia diving!

BTW, I'm in Singapore for the ADEX show at the moment, checking out, among other things, Malaysia dive resorts for my divers!

Agreed.

There's a lot of dis-information about Tioman. Most of it comes from Singapore. We had comments from divers; coming up from Singapore, that they were being told that the dive centres weren't open in February or that boats didn't run to the island!

As far as the diving goes it's good not great. Better than Perhentians by a long way, but nothing compared to Sipadan. Well so I've been told. Still haven't managed to make it there

 

[Quero]

As far as the diving goes it's good not great. Better than Perhentians by a long way, but nothing compared to Sipadan. Well so I've been told. Still haven't managed to make it there

I haven't been down there in ages...it's a bit of a hassle to get to, and somehow I keep going to other places instead when I can manage the time away (just got back from Anilao, for example). But I need to go see how things have changed on Mabul, and the resorts I work with are asking me to visit . So Tenggol in a few weeks, and hopefully sometime later in the summer Mabul/Sipadan. (Plus Bali in August and Komodo in September.)

 

[Ste Wart]

I haven't been down there in ages...it's a bit of a hassle to get to, and somehow I keep going to other places instead when I can manage the time away (just got back from Anilao, for example). But I need to go see how things have changed on Mabul, and the resorts I work with are asking me to visit . So Tenggol in a few weeks, and hopefully sometime later in the summer Mabul/Sipadan. (Plus Bali in August and Komodo in September.)

A good friend works at Dive Komodo say 'hi' from Stew when you go. The diving is amazing there, hope you like strong currents!

 

[jh_MacLeod]

You do have a point, wart, but you also have to admit that as the monsoon season progresses from October into November, it's less and less likely that a diver will get to some of the most interesting Tioman dive sites, such as Tiger Reef.

I still like Tenggol better than Tioman, though :cool2:. I'll actually make a special effort to dive Tenggol, which I won't do for Tioman. For a diver willing to travel by air, Sipadan/Mabul would be the pinnacle of Malaysia diving!

I will make a special effort to dive Tioman if I can guarantee dependable access to Tiger Reef and Labas. I enjoy the diversity of Tiger Reef and the many swim-throughs of Labas. The problem is that the dive operations get a bit lazy (or cautious) during the fringe seasons and don't want to go out (tough boat ride or difficult currents). I actually did Tioman back to back with Mabul/Sipadan this month (just got back). I tend not to classify the dives as good, better, best; but just different. Mabul is for those who love to search for rare and unusual creatures, even though the dive sites themselves are not awe inspiring. Sipadan is for those who love exploring deep walls and seeing big stuff. I like current and this April I found it in all three places :-^)