Haha. Maybe they went with a different dive center and had a different experience.

Pricing sounds pretty much right. Accommodation there is around RM150-200 for twin/triple sharing per night. Food I usually budget RM50/day per person.

I think Perhentian food is slightly more pricey. Island price memang is around there.

It's nearer to get to Tioman from KL. Mersing is about 4 hours drive away, you can drive there and park your car there or take a bus and walk to the jetty.

If you are staying in Tekek (main kampung on Tioman), it's slightly far to the chalets and hotels, so you might need to take their taxi to the hotel. Most of the time it's not much, like RM5 per person? Some DC covers the cost of this as well. But if you call for the taxi privately to take you somewhere to makan in the middle of the night, then it might be expensive like RM20 per car. There are places to eat within walking distance though. There is also water taxi but I've never bothered to take them before.

If you're gonna stay like at Salang beach, everything is pretty much within walking distance, they only have motorbikes and sidecars there.

We make plenty of friends while diving, and sometimes they do get together

b5n111 got many honeymoon partners

Got what. You met that Korean girl.

Wishing you a smooth trip this time round! See many many stuffs and take many many photos for us.

Wkkay, where GoPro videos!!

Yes very ok.

If you bring monitor to setarbug, he will teach you how to edit photos.

East Divers Tioman, if not mistaken it's on Tekek beach. I'm not sure about the instructors as I don't know anyone who went there before nor have I personally been there (other than walking past them lol).

First of all, you need a minimum of 4D3N on the island to complete the OW course. If you can do 5D4N, that would be even better.
Next, depending on which island you go to, the booking for accommodation, transport and stuffs are all different. If it's Redang, it's usually all packaged. If it's Tioman or Perhentian, hotels usually can help arrange transport for you and food is most likely on your own.

It's hard to say which island to go to, anywhere along the East Coast is a good island to start with. It's the instructor that counts. Some people prefer mandarin speaking instructor, some prefer english speaking, some prefer male some prefer female. It's important to feel comfortable with your instructor, and also able to communicate properly with him/her. If you know any instructor, then have a chat with them and they can help you out with what you need. Otherwise, some of us can give some suggestions too. You can also visit some dive shops if you around Klang Valley (listed on first page) and talk to them about wanting to take the course. They will be more than happy to guide you thru it.

Try contacting Scuba Symphony at PJ centerpoint. Quite sure you can find their contact details online or on the first page of this thread.

Ahh prestige slipped my mind. thanks photopro.

Yes for anything related to underwater photography, check with both prestige scuba and scuba symphony, you'll most likely find what you are looking for there. If not, they would be the best ppl to guide you.

Great! Maybe you can also call up Prestige and check the pricing with them.

Not sure if ukiya done that before or not. I remember him saying he wanted to dive Taiwan.

One usually learns better when they do the theory and confine water before doing the open water (sea) dives. This is because we take our time to digest what we have been learning and water conditions for the practical skills are much much better in swimming pool than in shallow water of the open sea. Also, some dive center like Diver's Den allow you to use the pool as many times as you want before you go for the open water certification dives.

It is generally more expensive compared to doing the entire course on the island itself.

Also, if you plan on doing the entire course on the island, be prepared to not have any free time to just laze around. Diving can be quite tiring for beginners (and us lazy ppl) so sometimes we don't want to read the theories, do the exams and try to focus on video presentations on the island after a long day of diving. You need a minimum of 4D3N on the island to complete theory and practical. But if you have done the theory on mainland, you just need about 3D2N to complete your certification.

My dive comp 30 hours no fly also got
Sometimes fly when my dive comp still say no fly. But at least 24 hours la.

Then claim insurance

LOB?

You going alone?

evansoon more work for you

My tickets is end October though. 22nd I think. Same plan as yours will solo if no kaki at scuba junkie.

Yea. EvanSoon will be at scuba junkie in October too. Mine 23-30th oct. Will do 5D4N at scuba junkie and then remaining nights in Bali.