Travel and Diving Destination: Pulau Tioman Island Malaysia

Published: 13 November 2016
Updated: 30 November 2016

By: William

INTRODUCTION

Tioman Island is an island in Rompin District, Pahang, Malaysia. It is located 32 kilometers (20 miles) off the east coast of the state, and is some 20 kilometers (12 miles) long and 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) wide. It has eight main villages, the largest and most populous being Kampung Tekek in the north. The densely forested island is sparsely inhabited, and is surrounded by numerous coral reefs, making it a popular scuba diving spot. There are also a lot of resorts and chalets around the island which has a duty-free status. (Wikipedia).

TRAVEL STORY

He was still a bachelor when he went to Tioman, Island together with his two close friends. The travel was not well planned but they managed to get there on schedule and enjoyed the trip. They have learned on that day that booking online for a ferry ticket was a must! They were lucky to ride a diving boat that happens to be going back to the island. The trip should have been come to waste if it was otherwise.

It was just a weekend trip. They managed to rent a car in Singapore. The travel from Singapore to Mersing took two hours and thirty minutes (2 hrs 30 mins) that includes the time in the Singapore and Malaysia borders. The Jeti Penumpang Mersing has a car park service, so it is safe to park at the jetty terminal.

They booked at SelesaTioman Hotel. It was a mistake to book at that place during that time. If you want to enjoy the beach in Tioman Island, please don’t book at that place. But if you want to play golf, that is the perfect place to be! Nevertheless, we enjoyed our stay at Selesa because it was a condotel and the room area is spacious and the facility is okay.

The other disadvantage to that place was the transportation. The place was located in the remote area and it was quite far from the town area. So, you need the hotel transportation which was schedule every one hour interval as he remembered.

His only purposed going to the island was to check the ocean floor in Tioman Island. He was curious because it was mentioned to be a popular scuba diving spot. Since he does not want to travel alone, he convinced his friend to go with him. Luckily, his friends accept the offer and were able to visit the place for the first time.

DIVING SESSION

Due to limited time, He only dived once in the morning because of the reason that the diving center has no more air tank for him. The air tanks were already reserved for the diving live boat from Singapore diving trip. So, it was not advisable to be a walk-in diver.

That day was a tragic day for him because his strobe was flooded. Bye-bye strobe L. He made a big mistake on that day he never checked properly the strobe before using it. He did not secure properly the strobe in his bag during the travelling time. He believed the strobe was damage during the handling of his luggage in the ferry. He learned an expensive lesson.

In totality, the dived was a satisfactory, and he was planning to return to the island with his family in the near future. And for the diving session only, it will be best to book a trip from Singapore live boat diving trip.

Below are the lists that Singapore dive shops that offer diving live boat to Tioman:

SCUBA Warehouse

WAIKIKI Divecenter

Nautica Diving

GS Diving

Deep BlueScuba

Scuba People

On the list above, he only knows the SCUBA Warehouse because most of his diving equipment was purchased at this store. The rest of the websites, as he personally checked online, it seems they are legitimate diving websites that offers courses and weekend trips from Singapore and other place in Asia. Please check it out yourself! This is just a guide in order for you to compare the price and the best offer you can get.

The damage strobe did not stop him from taking photos beneath the waves. Bringing underwater camera is just an option. It must not be a reason to abort your dive. Enjoying the scenery below without the camera is already enough. Since it was only a strobe malfunction, he just did some resetting and he was good to shoot!

You can avail a cheaper hotel booking by comparing the price of the following booking portals agoda.com and booking.com.

Enjoy your next diving trip and do not forget to keep this in mind; keep on learning and never give up on your dreams! God Bless you always! Cheers!