the right dive center would be most important. do a refresher in KL in a pool first

Anyone tried LOB on Krishna 1 or 2 at SIMILAN?Pls share ur feedback if its good? boat is clean? food is nice? safety?

Only tried MV Pawara, no complain for me although the food isn't as great as others (based on marketing photos).

Someone did responded that their experience was not good, so I supposed it depends on which crew you get on that particular trip.

thanks for the feedback..... hows the sea condition in Mid Dec at similan ? rough? visibility?

Forgot to mention part of the reason i picked Pawara due to the inclusive Nitrox (whole trip) if you are certified, i think they premix 32% and store inside the vessel. NDL is not a concern anymore considering I'm doing 4 dives per day and it's basically 20m or deeper except the last dive of the day.

Went there during end of Jan, vis is good however surface condition at Richelieu Rock is so bad that we did 1 dive (instead of 3 dives on same day) and captain decided to dive elsewhere for the remaining 2 dives. Elsewhere is relatively fine, however Richelieu Rock is the only highlight for whole Similan trip.

Part of the reason due to Richelieu Rock being relatively far away from island hence nothing to block the wind / waves.

How bad is the condition? Bad enough that instead of using dingy (6-8 diver per trip with total up to 25? pax for whole vessel) from main vessel, we need to do giant stride from back of main vessel while it is slowly moving away. So imagine 5 group of divers + DM lining up at the small dive deck and doing giant stride like army doing static line parachuting out of the plane.

Fun if everyone is ready and steady, good luck if anyone ahead of you are not ready while it's their turn to giant stride. Bad enough the DM asked us to prepare for negative entry, luckily there's barely any current once we are under.

Coming back to vessel also a challenge, wave is high enough that you basically can't climb onto the dingy, ended up dingy throw rope to the group of dive and drag us back to the main vessel. High enough that DM need me to hand raised my SMB so that it is easier for the dingy to spot us. So I estimate the wave should be around 1m or higher

Can't remember how we climb back the main vessel but it has something to do with time the peak and trough of the wave to climb the ladder back to the deck.

Different kind of (fun to me) experience but it is damn tiring.

Oh, fun fact: half of the boat is suffering from seasickness (most of guests average 50dives experience and including 1 young DM) by the second half of the trip despite seasick pills is provided.

Looks like can skip Similan ..... many real reviews also says nothin much there..... besides Richeliu Rock site only......
Any nice place to Dive in Mid Dec to end Dec?

Wouldn't say really nice to dive but i went pulau weh mid dec 23.

Bad luck with algae bloom with vis between 5-8m, however was lucky to see 10-15 eagle ray swim by (1 or 2 seconds swim by above us with algae bloom kind of vis). Returning to dive shop also lucky to see pilot whale surfacing (no breeahing thou).

Year before that, I went Koh Lipe mid to end Dec, bad luck with weather hence couldn't go the 2 best dive spot there (8 miles rock & pinnacle), so no comment on Lipe.

I would say in the following order for beginners, Perhentian/Redang < Tioman < Tenggol

sipadan je

Newbie here. Just found the this thread. Can't find any newer that the last post in 2024. Hopefully still active.

Still in the doing confine water classes. End Sept will do OW cert.

Need some advice on what stuff to purchase to start off?

Based in KL, great if you could let me know which shops to get these as well.

Thanks.

This post has been edited by noleemit: Aug 18 2025, 11:56 AM

Personally i start with a cheap wet suit for hygiene purposes. (Even then i only bought my first cheap wet suit AFTER i got OW cert)

The rest, just use the equipment provided in the course.

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This post has been edited by bupapypy: Oct 19 2025, 04:22 PM