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| Sunset over Malaysian islands |
Like Thailand, Malaysia boasts extensive coastlines on both east and west shores of its long peninsula, as well as many off-shore islands. Situated in the tropics, these islands and coastlines are packed with beautiful coral reefs.
In addition, the northern section of Borneo island is part of Malaysia. Malaysian Borneo offers several excellent diving locations, including famous Sipadan Island, always voted as one of the world’s best dive destinations.
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| The beautiful Perentian Islands |
On Peninsular Malaysia, the east coast offers far superior diving to the west coast. The most famous and popular destination is Pulau Perentian- 2 small islands off the east coast about one hour south of the Thai border.Although the Perentians are the most famous and most visited for diving (= crowded, busy, noisy) they are actually not considered the east coast’s BEST diving. That title goes to Pulau Redang, about halfway down the east coast. Further south, close to Malaysian’s southern border with Singapore, lies Pulau Tioman and several small islands scattered about the South China Sea.
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| mountainous Tioman Island, setting for the movie Bali Hai |
Pulau Tioman is where the old movie ‘Bali Hai’ was filmed. Tioman is a large, mountainous, jungle-clad island with low-key development. Although not nearly as well known for diving as the Perentians, Tioman’s dive sites are stunning! Two or three sites count among the most gorgeous reefs I’ve ever seen.
I worked as a Dive Master at Tioman for one season. While there I met and worked with fellow PADI Master Scuba Instructor, Grahame Massicks. Grahame has now been teaching courses at Tioman for over 10 years.
If you’re thinking of diving there, I highly recommend Grahame, who I can personally vouch for as a dedicated, professional PADI Instructor with excellent customer service. Find out all about Grahame and his courses on his website Scuba Guru.
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| impressive lionfish at Tioman dive site |
The west coast also offers diving up at Pulau Langkawi, close to the Thai border, and where many Langkawi cheap hotels are located. I haven’t dived there myself, but I’m told diving is good.
I’m a bit skeptical of that claim. The west coast suffers from heavy industrialization and river run-off, making the sea both unclean and murky. I have been to Penang Island, not far from Langkawi, several times, and can report that I wouldn’t even put my toes into the sea there. It’s so polluted that it stinks terribly and is visibly polluted. I suppose it’s possible that nearby Langkawi waters are clean.
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| accommodation near Sipadan Island |
As for Borneo, there are several excellent dive destinations. The most renowned are Sipadan Island and nearby Mabul and Kapalai; Layang Layang; and Labuan. Sipadan is world famous for crystal clear tropical waters and its astounding sheer wall that plunges down to over 600M.Sipadan is a haven for turtles, sharks and huge schools of jacks and barracuda. Mabul and Kapalai are famous for amazing macro critters. When I dived there, I saw every macro creature I’d ever hoped to see and then some. Several other great dive sites are also near Sipadan.
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| green turtle, famous at Sipadan |
Layang Layang lies 300 km out from the Borneo mainland. It’s famous for hammerhead sharks, manta rays, other large fish, and its sheer walls plunging to 2000+ km. Labuan is 8 km off the northern coast of Borneo and is most well-known for wreck dives.
Besides these locations, just offshore from Kota Kinabalu, Sabah Borneo’s capital city, lies the Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park, consisting of 5 small islands with coral reefs. Although these islands are close to the mainland, the reefs and marine life are in surprisingly good condition.They are certainly worth diving if visiting Kota Kinabalu. Several dive shops are based in the city, offering diving to the nearby marine park as well as other Borneo locations.
Sarawak Borneo, Malaysia’s second state on Borneo, also has dive sites near Miri city and a few other locations. I haven’t dived any of them, but I’ve been told they are excellent, little visited dive sites.
My personal diving experiences in Malaysia are at the Perentian Islands, Tioman Island and Sipadan/ Mabul Islands in Borneo.
Thus far, I’ve written several stories about diving at Tioman Island. Here’s an overview of Tioman Island. I will be adding stories about Tioman’s specific dive sites soon.
In the meantime, you’re certainly welcome to contact me about diving in Asia. In many cases, even if I haven’t personally dived particular locations, I have read and/or researched them and heard stories from other dive pros and recreational divers about them. I can probably give you much useful information to plan your next diving vacation.
reporting from the road, Lash
contact me:
1. comments section below
2. Facebook: LashWorldTour
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Hi! I'm Lash, an American nomadic world traveler who's been traveling solo since 1998. I’m passionate about traveling the world nomadically and then sharing it all with you. I hope to inspire you to travel the world, to entertain you with tales from the road, and to help you reach your travel dreams. Welcome! 
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