Just dived with Pro Dive Langkawi for 2 days yesterday.
The service was very good but weather wasn't as good. Not much sun and quite some underwater current. Saw quite some things though, a few seahorse, ghost pipefish, and a few other stuff.

All that you mentioned except grouper farm. Instead we went to Sponge Reef, lots of coral there lol. Not many dive sites there anyway. Pretty much covered everything I guess. The Kaca wreck visibility was sooooo bad! Hardly 1m only. Pretty much got separated from the other group. But still manage to sit quite a number of stuff cause the DM was awesome, really dunno how he manage to spot some of those small creatures.

Andrew was awesome as well. He provided me good customer service and I'm honestly very satisfied with their service.

Met 2 divers there that frequent diving in Port Klang Indonesian border or something. It seems there got lots of wreck to check out. Hopefully can join them for their next Port Klang dive.

Yes very interesting indeed. I've gotten the guy's contact and will contact him soon I hope.
It seems there will be a dive trip every 2 weeks or so cause not everyday is good vis, most of the time the vis is very bad. They have their own yatch/boat and tanks so they organise trips themselves. I don't know how much they charge per head though.

If you want to contact him yourself let me know, I'll PM you his contact.

ProDive quoted me RM300 per day for 2 dives include full equipments, lunch, shuttle to and from hotel, and 1 hour ferry to and from the Pulau Payar.
I did 2 days and my family went snorkeling also so they gave me a discount on the 2nd day. I emailed them and contact Andrew (the boss) directly and had very good service. You can also go to the counter at Langkawi Jetty there to book.

Dayang is a very small island. I think there's only 2 resorts there. Most of the people that go there go with their dive centers. Are you going on your own or you're looking for dive centers to go with?

I went to Dayang with SiputScuba. Around RM790 for 3D3N inclusive of meals, ferry, bunk bed 12 person per room accomodation and 7 boat dives. I know they do go to Dayang quite often.

Prepare for the 5 hours midnight boat ride to Dayang arriving there in the middle of the morning.

I saw whale shark on my trip there in 2010.

Ah okay. If you do find a good deal for dayang diving packages, let us know. I might wanna go on my own next time.

Yes the boat ride is indeed a real agony!

You can get powered dive mask at any dive shop.
I don't know about dive shops in puchong since I'm not familiar with that area, but nearby in Subang there are plenty of dive shops.

If you are on a budget and looking for something simple and practical with good price, then you might want to try Scubatex. The shop is located in USJ. Link: http://www.scubatexpro.com/
Do remember to get slightly lower power than your current glasses cause things underwater will already be magnified.

You can choose to not wear anything under your wet suit if you want. But then you'll have to remove the wetsuit in the toilet lor.
I have seen people (females actually) not wear anything under their wetsuit, and their nipples can be seen. Guys usually wear a swimming trunk underneath while girls will wear their bikini or swimsuit. Some of us also wear a rashguard more extra protection from cold temperature.

Diving is fun! Hope you have a great trip in April!

Like miuk said, we can't expect 100%. I myself have very high shortsightedness, around 600 or 700.
I had my power mask done years ago when I took my open water, that time my power around 400-500 only. So my power mask is around 350 like that.
I still use that power mask now. Of course can't see crystal clear la but its good enough at times.

However, most of my dives, I wear contacts. It's just much more convenient. No need to carry my specs around on the boat, later dunno where to put or scare squash it. Then if I don't have my mask on, I'll be blind like dunno what can't see shit. So I'd rather wear contacts. Get good ones, dailies preferably, get eyedrops too in case your eyes get uncomfortable after a dive. I know some ppl carry two pairs of contacts and switch contacts every dive as well.

Lets say you are not in water now, you take off your specs and put on the mask. Is it slightly better? Or its the same like no changes? Blur of course will blur a little la since the power is not as high as your specs.

I seldom see guys wear surf pants under their wetsuit though. I'm not a guy so I don't know whether it'll be bulky or not.
But if you ask me to wear pants under my wetsuit then I definitely won't feel comfortable.

I doubt your female friends will listen to you! Haha.

Yea, I wear wetsuit more for its protection. Also, I'm very thin so no fat to protect me from cold temperatures.
Kena jellyfish even when I had long wetsuits on. Damn painful. Not something I wanna kena again in the future.
But if shore dives or shallow dives 5m or so, then I just put on a rash guard. The sun heat is good enough to keep me comfortable.
Otherwise, I'll always go with wetsuit.

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Added on February 26, 2012, 10:18 amAre you referring to doing the course at the island itself or doing confine water lessons here in mainland andden going to island for certification dives?
Most of the dive center on mainland that does confine water lessons here include the island package, since it's compulsory to do your certification dives before you are certified to be a diver.

This post has been edited by munkeyflo: Feb 26 2012, 10:18 AM

Certification dives on island is compulsory for your license, so you can't exactly don't take it.
I'm not sure about the prices now. Prices will also highly depends on what type of resort you'll be staying at. If you want fast, then island will be very fast. 3D2N and you can finish everything.

On mainland, you'll be learning the theory part during your free time (after work, weekends, etc.), andden going for confine water classes (swimming pools) also during your free time. This can take weeks or months, depending on when you and your instructor will be free and how fast you finish up your theory lessons, exam and confine water skills. If you learn your skills thru confine water in the pool, the instructor will usually not rush you and let you learn at your own pace. Some of the skills may require some practice to get it right. Certification trips are usually 3D2N trips over the weekend.

But if you want to do it on the island, you will be doing your course within a set period of time and whether you understand or don't understand the skills and theory lessons, you'll be rushed to finish the course by the end of your trip.

Based on experience, my Open Water was done in Perhentian 4D3N, very rush, no time to relax at all. Early morning after breakfast then sit for theory lessons, watch videos, go thru questions, then learn some skills in the sea, lunch, theory, dive, dinner, theory, sleep. Repeat same thing next day. In the end, I felt that I didn't learn much. I did my other certifications all on mainland first then go to island, and it was definitely much more enjoyable than doing everything on the island. Especially the theory part.

I regretted doing my OWD in Perhentian island. Didn't do my homework on dive centers, was in a rush to get my license and just simply pick a dive master to intro me to a dive center. I didn't learn much. Had some fun, but I had more fun after exploring more opportunities and getting to know more about diving. I did my Rescue with another dive center and I was one of those who had to assist the instructor with the OWDivers during the certification dive trip. And from what I see, they learn so much more than me and had so much more fun as well.

Some instructors just want the money. They won't teach you extra information. They might not share experiences with you.
They might not even go thru the entire theory book with you. Well, this is just base on my experience.

I did 2 discovery scuba before I went for my OWD.
Yes, first time discovery scuba was really the wow. But I think it also depends on the dive master/instructor who bring you for discovery. My 2nd time wasn't that interesting.

If you ask me, I'd say definitely go for confine water first. Not the whole 3D2N thing on island.

Singapore dive expo need to pay entrance fee or something right?
I miss MIDE last year, will definitely go this year. Thanks ECH for the dates, will write that down in my diary.

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Added on February 29, 2012, 5:04 pmDamn, just realise I'm going to Sipadan on the 5th to 10th July. Gonna miss the expo again. -.-

This post has been edited by munkeyflo: Feb 29 2012, 05:04 PM

Ooh, yea if I'm hunting for something then I'll pay Singapore Dive Expo a visit. Entrance fee not that expensive.
But I got almost everything already just looking for another mask cause my current mask not very comfortable. That day went to this newly open dive shop in Taipan USJ. Quite good price and discount but I thought want wait MIDE.

The turtle tomb is the cave right? I've seen the outside only. But I've saw videos of the inside taken by one of my dive instructor. Can we go in? Need some special cave diving license ar? Haven't decided where to stay yet, gonna go check out the coming matta fair whether got good deals or not.

I see. I'll check out more info on the cave and see how it goes. I'm going with another friend of mine who is quite a new diver, so most likely he won't be able to join us for the cave dive.

They sell all sorts except Pinnacle I think, mainly Bare and Akona, I think I saw some Sherwood BCDs. Got lots and lots of masks lol. Lots of stock. Price were quite reasonable. I bought a pair of Akona booties for around RM50+ and another Bare wetsuit for around RM200, the wetsuit was on 40% off. Even their dive comps were on 40% when I was there. Too bad their credit card system wasn't up yet and I didn't carry so much cash with me.

The last time I went to Sipadan 2 or 3 years ago was booked thru Matta Fair as well. It was around 2.6k for 6D5N at Borneo Divers inclusive of dives and equipment rental everything. We had 4 days permit to Sipadan somemore. It wasn't me who went to Matta fair to book it that time, so I'm not sure about the other resorts.

Yea we got permit for 4 days which I think is too many days la. After a while I got bored of the turtles already so we gave up one day permit to someone else.

I went during the end of July. When did you go last time?

Once you go to Sipadan like 4 or 5 trips, then will get bored also. Haha. Like my sister who has been a diver for the past 20 years and went to Sipadan more than 7 times, now ask her go with me also she don't want already.

Maybe you can try going in July next time, when I was there, not many tourists, probably another 4 or 5 small groups only. All foreigners though.

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Added on March 1, 2012, 10:54 amThat's very near to my place, I think I'll drop by this expo this weekend.

This post has been edited by munkeyflo: Mar 1 2012, 10:54 AM

Male or female wetsuit? I'm gonna sell my old Bare wetsuit but me female. Try scuba diving forums, I'm sure there got more second hand stuff that you can find.

I dived at tulamben few years ago, pretty awesome.
Have fun!

Lol. More and more girls are into diving these days. Quite common already.
I've been diving since 2007, did my first discovery scuba in 2004. I'm below the age of 25.

Actually not girls la, it's more like a lot of people I notice, they get all excited to take their first diving course, then after that no news from them already. Ask them to join to go diving then lots of excuses come out.

But if we are really interested then we will continue, me and my sister are both avid divers, we try to dive at least twice a year but sometimes really too busy or no group to go with.

I'm going to Redang next 2 weeks for diving btw.

Laguna!
Confirm booking already 19-22nd march.

Has been some time since I stayed at laguna.

Some time ago, someone else say will organize a trip and invite LYN's divers to go also. But no action.