Diving Tioman Island | Peninsula Malaysia

DESTINATION OVERVIEW | As lovely an island as any in Southeast Asia, Tioman’s high central ridge of jungle clad mountains drops sharply on the islands’ western side to a series of small villages that sit in sheltered coves.

These bays are inside a designated marine park and for a long time were pretty much regarded as a learn to dive destination for Asian residents. The sheltered waters made it ideal for novices to take a course or brush up on skills learnt elsewhere. However, while these coastal bays are calm and easy, there are some exciting and challenging dive sites a little way offshore. The underwater landscape consists of enormous granite rocks, reminiscent of parts of the Similan Islands with interesting swim-throughs coated in soft corals and attracting a wealth of marine creatures.

Schooling fish are prolific and if you can get a little way offshore the dives can be as spectacular as many more famous areas. The focus is always on smaller creatures as seeing those isn’t dependent on clear water yet whalesharks cruise the coast and turtles are frequent visitors.

PROS AND CONS | There are two problems with this area for divers coming from abroad: one is that it simply takes too long to get there as there are no airport on Tioman (well, a tiny one but you can only use it if you stay at a specific resort) and the other is the seasons. November to February is the northeast monsoon so the water is rough, visibility is minimal and diving stops. The rest of the year, the diving can be great but the only easy way to do it is by liveaboard from Singapore.

SCUBA DIVING | When conditions here are right (April to October) there are gentle currents, shallow reefs and warm waters with some truly delightful diving. If you are on the liveaboard from Singapore, you should also get to dive Jack Rock (yes, that Jacques) which is a truly spectacular pinnacle site.

OPINION | After a disastrous trip to Tioman many years ago, when the shore based diving was continually called off by what proved to be an unreliable operator, we returned on MV Black Manta from Singapore and had a really great time. Although the trip was short (too short by our reckoning) at just 2 days, we found the area well returning to.

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