I've found another dive center charging me rm270 for day trip with 2 dives with own equipment. There's only 4 dive sites there so not much to cover. East marine is charging rm350 for day trip with equipment rental.

Yea langkawi may be not worth to dive but then I have 5 days there this trip and it's not like my first time to langkawi so I also dunno what to do for 5 days. And since I haven't dive there before, I thought maybe should give Pulau payar a try. I'll be heading to Thailand after my 5 days in langkawi.

Visibilty may be good in Koh Lipe but the dive sites are practically barren with not much to see. It was due to the bomb fishing done by the sea gypsies in those days. I rather dive in Pulau Payar especially Pulau Kaca or even better Pulau Segantang.

This post has been edited by etigge: Dec 28 2011, 09:28 AM

etigge sifu, any other dive centers than east marine and pro dive in langkawi? Seems like choices so limited.

so are u agreeing with me in saying that Langkawi diving is crap? what for u go to langkawi end up dive in koh Lipe..might as well camp/stay n make koh lipe ur main destination same said to samui, if i knew i would have just stayed at the islands near to the diving site....

so any reasons why Langkawi has not much diving sites? or is it people have yet to discover it...any marine biologist here?

I dont have any experience diving Pulau Payar... no comment on that, I speak from my reading on the internet and youtube videos.

FYI, from Malaysia to Koh Lipe, there is only ONE place/jetty you can go to... which is from Langkawi, and it is the fastest way... from Malaysia you have to go to Langkawi before you can 'end up' in Koh Lipe... unless you go from Thailand.

I am just giving an opinion since the island is 1 hour away from langkawi and much more dive sites...there are many resorts too.

This post has been edited by zaff1984: Dec 29 2011, 07:09 PM

Other than the two main ones, I doubt there are others, maybe except those dive instructors who moonlights and organises their own dives. I can understand the apprehension in going for dives with the two but there's no other choice actually. Pulau Payar is a small group of islands which can hardly house the numbers of tourist that is visiting so my guess is, it is even worse now. It was a choice for Diver's Den (KL) formerly to hold their OWC their when the East Coast is closed. You can maybe kill two birds with one stone though. Make visiting Langkawi as the main agenda and just take two dives as an activity. I don't know if Andrew is still the owner of Pro Dive there but I do know East Marine brings their divers along with the many others for snorkelling together with their old ferry and it can be painful chugging to the islands and then dive from a small boat which is stationed there.

The best time to dive on the West Coast is actually on the eighth day of the CNY where the visibility is good. I have even dived Pulau Sembilan near Pangkor on these dates. I was actually accompanying those who were hunting for fish

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Added on December 29, 2011, 7:35 pmPulau Langkawi actually has many sites that are rich with corals and marine life but sadly the water visibility is poor. Island like Pulau Singa (where they have made many pots for lobster to thrive) and also 'Tuas' (artificial reefs fo.r fishes ). Right in front of Hoiliday Villa (Pantai Tengah) is Pulau Tepur and is filled with fan corals. This is also the place where they held their 'sex party' There's a small beach here. Anak Datai is rich with corals and coral fishes but they have closed the road leading to it and no dive centers will take you there not will any divers want to dive there. Diving is more about water vis as it is important and Langkawi does not have good water vis. The only place is Pulau Payar which is the first marine park in Malaysia and still is but it has been exploited to the fullest and is almost destroyed now. USM has despatched many marine biologist there and usually their opinions were never taken as the commercial value of the islands is more important to many even for dive operators like East Marine which is actually from Penang. The only place that I can safely say is nice is Pulau Segantang which is another 30 to 40 minutes boat ride from Pulau Payar but dive operators won't go there unless you charter another boat to specifically goes there.

Ironic huh! Pulau Payar has rich marine lifes but they destroyed it by damaging the water vis. They reclaimed land using soil and made the beaches muddy and made water turbid around the islands. Koh Lipe has not much development and water visibility is superb but they destroyed the marine life by fish bombing making the islands barren. Koh Lipe is just nearby actually and now it's balanced as they say. You can have one but not both.

This post has been edited by etigge: Dec 29 2011, 07:35 PM

thanks etigge,

that really explains....without water visibility diving would be pointless/less fun even scary for a newbie like me so i wonder what did the usm marine biologist had said before all these happened?

The biologist were called in only after the corals have bleached. They recommended the islands to be closed for tourist activities for 5 years. The tourism part of it objected and since they are the richer ones and also the main core of Langkawi's existence, the advise was disregarded. I have personally seen Napoleon wrasse in Pulau Lembu (part of the 4 islands of P.Payar) and it was beautiful. At the coral gardens you can actually see groupers resting on the seabed averaging 30 to 40 of them. At the house reef, right in front of the Langkawi Coral platform, you can actually feed a giant groper from your hand. East Marine likes to take divers especially for this feeding part. Batfishes are plentiful here too. At the back of the island is Shark Alley (P.Payar has lots of them). Corals are beautiful in Pulau Kaca where the fisheries also sink confiscated fishing boats here to make artificial reefs. The are sunk at the depth of 40 feet making it bright and clear on certain days.

I have also witness wall of barracuda in Pulau Segantang. I have also saw a convoy of snappers by the thousands. Sadly they are not a common occurrence. Only the lucky one can see it. I think it is even harder now to see this on the West Coast of the peninsula.

Thanks etigge,
Yea Andrew is still the owner of Pro Dive, he has been replying my emails and I'm pretty sure I'll be diving with them for my coming trip to Langkawi. Do they mix up the snorkellers and divers too? My family will be going snorkelling while me and my partner go diving.

Yes, they also caters for snorkellers and plain beach goers.

Anyone been to the east coast islands over the monsoon? How's the weather over there? Since its been raining like mad over here in KL i would expect it to be the opposite there.

My friend in Tioman was telling me the viz was quite ok for monsoon time. Only the current kacau a bit.

Ooh okie. Nice! Thanks for the info etigge.

I've been to Pulau Dayang in November and the boat ride was hell. One of the nights the storm was crazy and blew off the roofs and everything hanging outside. Other than that, we saw whale shark and the diving was awesome. But that wasn't exactly during monsoon time, just starting of monsoon.

I went to Redang late February for their opening season. It was raining everyday and the vis was horrible can't even see your hand when you stretch it out. Current was very bad as well. Almost everyone that went out on the dive boat vomited due to sea sick. Everyone was rushing to jump into water asap.

I don't know about going to the islands in January though.

im not a diver cuz i dunno how to swim hahahah

snorkeling only huhu...sipadan was the best!!

You dont have to be a good swimmer to be a diver.. In case you dont know, every diver will be equiped with BCD (jacket that can help you float), so dont worry give it a try.. Im sure you will appreciate more and your are closer with marine life.

oh yeah... its time of the year again...

I'm trying to gather info but it takes too much time..
anyone has any experience diving in Koh Lanta?
is it worth going? anywhere in Thailand is good for diving?

Similan?

I've tried phi phi before and i found it crap.

hehe thnks bro...im going this June...cant wait lah hahahah

Hi guys, I think I am lucky to stumble upon this thread.

I am thinking of learning how to dive in the summer (July), basically is I am not really good in swimming. I started learning swimming just last year. Before that I can swim, but not properly.

I want to know how challenging is it to swim the 200m/float for 10min in the sea? Will we be given anything to help? I saw someone mentioning the jacket.

Is it true? I think as long as I can float in the water, 200m shouldnt be a problem (I hope)



Also, do they test you before they let you learn or you learn before they test you?

This post has been edited by XtraSpicy: Jan 9 2012, 01:59 AM

I dont say Phi Phi are crap, its just okay. Head to Koh Haa for cavern and swim through or Hin Daeng/Muang for better site. Its worth a long journey.