Yuki's Passion 1 Posted April 29, 2009 Share Posted April 29, 2009 so, for summer hols I have basically narrowed down my choices to the following two ideas: hiking in Nepal, or scuba diving somewhere in SE Asia. If I can get 2 weeks or more I will head to Nepal for sure. I know 2 weeks in Nepal is nothing and wont be able to see as much as I want, but that’s all I can get. If its less than 2 weeks, then Ill head somewhere for some beach, R&R, and diving action. Im looking at Thailand and Malaysia for diving, but am wondering how the monsoon season will affect visibility. Ill be off from around August 1-15ish I am guessing. Some of my mates have been diving in the Philippines, Malaysia, and Thailand at that time and I heard a mix review based on weather/rain. Most reports sound pretty good though. I was wondering if you have been diving in Malaysia/Thailand, and if so where did you go? How was the diving staff? What was the ratio of instructors to students? Was there good snorkeling just off the beach? Nice sand? Any advice for places you have been diving would be appreciated. Any other countries you would recommend? Cheers Link to post Share on other sites
Tubby Beaver 209 Posted April 29, 2009 Share Posted April 29, 2009 Don't go to Penang!! Water is filthy! Langkawi was beautiful but we didn't do any diving so I dunno. I've heard that the eastern Malaysian islands are a divers mecca, they are called the Perenthian Islands or somethinng like that. Ko Tao in Thailand is another that always gets mentioned when talking about diving, but again I didn't go there...........sorry not much help! Link to post Share on other sites
bobby12 0 Posted April 29, 2009 Share Posted April 29, 2009 Northern Palawan (philippines) has awesome wreck diving. El Nido has incredible beaches too, or you try Coron for diving only. No-one goes there cos of poor access, but you can fly in on a small plane or get a small boat from Manila. Those small boats are known to sink, break down etc though! Link to post Share on other sites
thursday 1 Posted April 29, 2009 Share Posted April 29, 2009 Yap and Palau are suposed to be good. Link to post Share on other sites
Yuki's Passion 1 Posted April 29, 2009 Author Share Posted April 29, 2009 thanks, Ive checked divetheworld and it has some good information. Was kinda hoping for personal experience. Thanks bobby, I saw that place as well as Puerto Galera/Sabang. My friend, who I think is coming, would rather not go to the Philippines...bummer Link to post Share on other sites
bobby12 0 Posted April 29, 2009 Share Posted April 29, 2009 Food in the Philippines sucks, otherwise its great - cheap, safe, english speaking. Link to post Share on other sites
NoFakie 45 Posted April 30, 2009 Share Posted April 30, 2009 Coron Bay - I've been there! We saw a Mr Lady beauty contest there. I did some wreck dives, I remember a freighter with loads of little cabins, a hundreds of cement bags and a bulldozer. 20 hours from Luzon by boat when I went. It was well grim. The Phillipines is notorious for dynamite and poison fishing, so a big minus there. Koh Tao was pretty good, but not exceptional. Viz in April was fine. We saw a huge turtle, but the real biggie, the whale shark (jimbeizame), didn't turn up until the day we left. There are Japanese dive shops there, if you need one. Japanese divers are complete otaku though, so expect long discussions about tiny prawns and the like. They log their dives very seriously. I didn't have the money to dive there, but the Perhentians were well nice. Fifteen years ago, anyway. The locals would keep you off part of the beach at night to allow the turtles to lay eggs, so probably lots of them. The snorkelling was very good. It's the same coast as Koh Tao, so its a pretty similar habitat. There is also supposed to be a big wreck between the two islands. I would guess that the *best* diving in Thailand would be off a liveaboard on the other side. If you've got even more coin though, the Maldives may well be numero uno. One of the marine ecology places there. We've got kids now, so no scuba for a while I suppose. We'd have to go to a Club Med type place or Australia maybe. Link to post Share on other sites
gerard 6 Posted April 30, 2009 Share Posted April 30, 2009 Went to Tioman in southern Malaysia which was ok but the food was probably better than the diving. Sounds like those northern islands are better. No one's mentioned Indonesia yet. Getting licensed on Gili Trawangan was an overall very good experience. Then you could hop over to Bali for some wreck diving. Trekking in Nepal with only two weeks sounds pretty tight. I'd go to the beach. Link to post Share on other sites
kokodoko 67 Posted April 30, 2009 Share Posted April 30, 2009 How about Pulau Weh on the tip of Sumatra, Banda Aceh. ?? Supposed to have a very big dropoff.. Link to post Share on other sites
Yuki's Passion 1 Posted April 30, 2009 Author Share Posted April 30, 2009 Thanks for the info...Id love to hit the Philippines, but my friend "would rather go somewhere else." Ive looked at going to Puerto Galera two times, but didnt go. I know about Coron Bay too Mr. Wiggs. There are tons of Japanese ships that were sunk in WWII, right? I learned about that place last year teaching about WWII to my 11th grade kids. Thanks for the advice though, maybe my friend will give in...??? Link to post Share on other sites
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