Where to dive in April on east coast peninsular Malaysia ?

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ScubaBackpacker

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We'll be traveling around the east coast of peninsular Malaysia in April and want to do some diving and snorkeling. The sort of place we are looking for is :
1. resort or lodge that caters to or has mostly scuba divers. We don't care if it has a beach or pool as we live in Florida, USA , and we don't need nightlife, shopping, or gourmet food.
2. reef areas that have relatively healthy coral, fish, etc.
3. We have been certified for many years and last dove in September on little Cayman in the Caribbean.
Thanks in advance for any recommendations or suggestions you might have.
 
Agree with Tioman. Redang Island was another I went to and enjoyed (but that was 8 ish years ago now)
 
I would either go out to Pulau Tioman (Tioman Island)- Tioman Dive Centre Malaysia | Tioman Diving Courses
or
to the Perhentian Islands - lots of options on where to stay and who to do with. You will need to do some online research.

Thanks for taking time to comment. Wormald' s 2017 book on Diving in Southeast Asia says that Tioman reefs in places are highly degraded and there is a lot of rubbish around. Is the Tioman dive centre in a less-impacted area of the island, or perhaps your experience doesn't agree with Wormald?
 
Agree with Tioman. Redang Island was another I went to and enjoyed (but that was 8 ish years ago now)

I am wondering if Redang has changed a lot recently. Wormald's book 2017 book says that Redang is now one of the best known tourist destinations in the country, but of the islands the reefs on Redang have suffered the "least" amount of damage because of their relative distance from the mainland.
Perhaps we are going to have to look for an out-of-the-way island, or at least an out-of-the-way lodge on one of the more well-known islands.
 
Thanks for taking time to comment. Wormald' s 2017 book on Diving in Southeast Asia says that Tioman reefs in places are highly degraded and there is a lot of rubbish around. Is the Tioman dive centre in a less-impacted area of the island, or perhaps your experience doesn't agree with Wormald?

Well, it has been years since I have been to the east coast of peninsular Malaysia, so I would go with whatever more current information you can find. The sad fact is that much of Malaysia and Thailand have been negatively impacted over the last couple of decades. I lived and traveled throughout SE Asia going all the way back to 1982 when things were just so pristine. Over the years, I have watched them degrade due to mass tourism, overpopulation and a total neglect for the environment. Lots of that neglect for the environment even comes from the trash from other countries in the region- which floats in daily to the windward shores of the islands and mainland coasts. Anyway, I would concur that the further and more remote you can get, the higher likelihood there is that you will find things much more pristine with regards to reefs and marine life (usually). Unless you are so remote that they don't have quality dive operators or it is so remote that it has been fished out due to not being protected in any way. Does the Wormald's book give you any other suggestions? It is not like you have hundreds of options along the stretch you are going to be traveling. One option that is a bit further off the beaten path (which is really hard to do in W. Malaysia and Thailand these days) is Pulau Tenggol. A few other things to keep in mind- you are traveling at the tail end of the monsoon season (for this area and the exact opposite for further north in the gulf of Thailand) and the weather could be fine or it could be absolutely horrible. The same would go for the diving and you should check that diving is being offered. Some dive ops could be shut down due to a lack of tourism and the conditions. Also, I saw your response regarding Redang. When I suggested the Perhentian Islands earlier, it is a group of islands that includes Redang and Tenggol and some others. As far as islands go on the east coast, you are really looking at the Perhentian's and the islands around Tioman. Tioman is much more developed and has lots more to do, if you get shut out from diving, so I'd consider that. Plus, it's easier to get to and will give you better chances of diving if weather is bad- due to it having more dive operators. Lastly, I will say that the reefs photographed in the travel blog from Tenggol that I copied and pasted below, do not impress me. They appear to be covered in some red algae.

Here are a few links: Scuba Diving in Malaysia’s Pulau Tenggol
PADI Dive Courses – Tenggol Coral Beach Resort
TENGGOLDIVES | DISCOVERY DIVERS | LET'S DIVE AND LIVE | PULAU TENGGOL | DUNGUN | BEST DIVING PARADISE | UNDERWATER COLOURFUL CORAL | DIVING

Keep us posted on what you decide to do.
 
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I was in Tioman last year but would not go out of the way to dive there. I also did Perhentian last year and would also not go out of the way to dive there ... however, there’s an island called Pulau Rawa near Perhentian that might be interesting. Do not confuse it with another Pulau Rawa that is near Tioman. My friends who dive the east coast of peninsula Malaysia seem to favour Tenggol, but I have not been there for 20 years.
 
First mass tourism has had a negative impact on the Malaysian islands. Redang seems to be the most impacted with 2 and 3 day trips from Singapore. In some ways it feels like a Butlins holiday camp or spring break in Florida if you are from the USA.
Perhentian is much more laid back and if you stay away from Long Beach much much quieter.
Have a look at Bubbles, off the beaten track but good when we were there. Another option is Shari La on the small island.
All the dive operations dive all the sites, so no difference there. Equipment rental has been a bit hit and miss in particular regulators that breath wet. Bring your own if you can at a minimum I would bring my own regulator and mask.
It is a few years since I dived Tioman but I would recommend it. We stayed in the north Tioman Dive Resort would be my first choice if I was going this year.
If the budget can stretch Melina beach resort looks good but expensive for Malaysia. Contact them directly maybe there is a deal to be made.
 
"Does the Wormald's book give you any other suggestions?"

The book(2016, not 2017 as I stated before) does have a variety of suggestions but the comments in the introduction to Malaysia are sometimes varied from the specific suggestions later in the text. She suggests Tenggol, Redang, Tioman, Tengah, and Aur for varied reasons, and also Rawa but gives no details about it. The book clearly states that if your trip is primarily about diving you should go to the state of Sabah. For us, however, it is a first trip to Singapore/Malaysia. We will do some diving/snorkeling on this trip but want to explore whether Malaysia would be a good home base for several months a year to take shorter trips out to other more remote locations in southeast asia.
Unfortunately, I think yours and other comments about the effect of large populations of residents and tourists and accumulating
rubbish is now a global phenomenon. Close to my home, for example, a 2012 study determined the Florida Keys, U.S.A, were the most highly degraded reefs of 35 areas studied in the Caribbean, primarily due to the number of residents and tourists. I no longer go there. Going forward, it seems we will have to go to smaller, more remote, and more expensive locations to find less impacted diving.
Thanks for the extended reply and the links. Currently we are thinking a few days on Tioman at a dive lodge and then north to one of the locations in Terengganu state but have not made definite reservations yet. Since it is not high season we may just "wing it".
All the replies in this thread have been very interesting and helpful and we are using them to decide where to go/stay.
 
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