Actually i think i was in Tioman the same time as kethon27.

Here's my trip details:

After work friday, leave KL at 11pm. Reach Yong Peng around 1.30am. Sleep for the night there (friends place so free). Morning wake up 7am then go down to Mersing. Used the Kluang - Felda Nitar - Mersing way (1.5hrs). Made it in time for the 10.30am ferry. KNN Tioman damn popular, ferry ticket for my return on Sunday had to take the 7pm ferry.

2hrs damn long ferry ride. Stayed at ABC, here the cheap chalets also full. Had to stay at Nazri 2, one night for AC is 140 per chalet. Try to avoid going now, very pack with Ang Moh

Dived with Dive Asia, very nice DM, Glenn. Quite good rates as well, way cheaper than B&J or eco divers. Somemore in between the boat dives got awesome sandwiches and watermelon. Did 3 dives, Chebeh, Batu Malang and the Marine park (no point going there imho).

Complete dives and return to ABC at 5pm. Took ferry back to Mersing and reach mainland at 940pm. Super drive back and reach KL at 2am.

Total damage: Around rm500 for everything incl 3 dives.

Well according to the guys in mdc, the sunday i was at Chebeh, they sighted a whale shark. I was there the same time man, saw their boat there but didnt see WS. sad.

Don't think so much on the price. Since in most cases, ie more fellas in a group all tend to end up with the same instructor (unless instructor is damn ethical to limit the group size). I've seen some having a class size of 6 and you don't want that for the following reasons:

Less personal attention.
When doing the confined water, since everyone goes turn by turn, waiting time to complete 1 skill is damn long.

To me max would prob be 3 to an isntructor max.

Also imho, doesnt really matter where you go to do your open water, your first few dives you won't be able to experience 100% the joys of underwater, most of the time end up concentrating hard on the buoyancy and air consumption.

You can try Seahorse DC in Perhentian Besar, I did my OW there (but my instructor is no longer there, Austrian lady, very very strict).

Most places can prob do your OW for 900.

I'm also using contacts instead of power mask. So far the only time i had issues with contacts coming off was when I did blowed bubbles into my mask while diving. 50 over dives and only 1 incident in 1 eye. So continued the dive with 1 eye.

No worries about it coming off, as long as you get a good brand, it should be ok. Don't go for fresh kon (ciba vision), damn useless.

Easiest method is to actually use contacts. That's what I do when diving.

I use daily lenses so no issues with keeping them. Wear in the morning by evening throw away. No issues even if I flood my whole mask, still can blink underwater.

I'm currently using B&L SoftLens which are with astig corrections, not much choices for dailies with astig. Previously used FreshKon. Worst is Ciba Vision, that one someone else used, can really float away from eye if exposed to water.

Heres the part Seaventures tend to leave out, the currents there can be very 'kau'. So the window period for the dives at the rig is very limited only. Anyway do remember at Mabul the sun sets around 6.

The attractive part about them to me is that they're willing to do 5 dives sipadan (for extra $), so can maximize the permits.

This post has been edited by miuk: Jul 11 2011, 11:25 PM

Eg a D90, the casing can cost from a kapchai to a kancil for the higher end models.

I think during MIDE, the casings for S95 were going for around 700 for the canon casing and ~900 for the ikelite casing.

To be honest, I always found vis at sugar wreck always bad. Been there many times but never had vis >10m (although once in a blue moon there'll be great vis where you can see the entire wreck).

A tip someone told me once, if vis is bad within the islands, best to to the outer dive sites. Say if Tanjung Basi is bad vis, going to Batu Layar or D'Lagoon will get the same. Better to go try Vietnamese wreck, lighthouse or tokong, or T3

Tioman's food prices are cheaper compared to Perhentian. More of a kampung place compared to super tourist place like other islands.

Normally if i'm headed to Tioman I would leave after work. Say leave around 8pm you would reach mersing by 12~1am (depending on how fast you drive, if wack under 4 hours is possible). From there, get a cheap room, sleep and get on the ferry the next morning.

I think if you're using the see through net type very high chance to get charged. However there was one time a friend of mine used the net type of dive bag with his fins all in there got through without paying. I guess it really depends if they want to enforce the ruling.

Field reports from Tioman says that the seas are very choppy currently with vis around 3m. It's been raining on the islands.

Your only safe option would be sabah or thailand west coast for diving during that time. East coast (Perhentian, eg) would be closed due to monsoon.

I went to Pulau Weh early this year. Awesome place, it really has that untouched feeling (but as a draw back, it's a bloody long journey to get there).

Make sure you dont go to places with those mat salleh fellas running it (ie lumba2 etc) where they only do 2 dives a day. Usually the asian operations easier to arrange for 3 dives a day.

Food there is around same price as KL. Also while I was there, there was a guy on a motor selling super genuine jungle honey (depends on luck if they got harvest honey). Tastes better than those manuka honey.

Similan?

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

Not to say its crap la... but for the money, better to head over to mabul or Indo which can offer way way better experience compared to Phi Phi.