11 replies to this topic

[paul.hunter]

Has anybody been or know of anybody that has been to Pulau Layang-layang in Malaysia or any other of the islands of Malaysia?

Thanx
Paul

[MrFish]

That's not a place i have been to but i have been to the Perhentians of the east coast of peninsula Malaysia, i can strongly recommend it, superb variety of fish life and big schools, good mix of soft corals and some of the best hard corals around. Saw a really nice school of 40+ bumphead and napolean wrasse on one dive. Good for turtles and morays, tuna, barracuda and the odd reef, white tip shark and when i was there whale shark. Diving is very cheap too. I got the price down to about $10 a boat dive using my own kit.

[Cybergoldfish]

Sabah - Malaysia (Borneo).

LL is very expensive but can be very good for hammerheads - Although not guaranteed...

Labuan is good too for both wrecks & reefs, this is VERY inexpensive with some of the prettiest wrecks in the world.

Both can be combined via Borneo Divers - Check their website out.

[paul.hunter]

The other option the travel agent has mentioned is in Indonesia a place called Tasik Ria and Lembeh Strait in Northern Sulawesi both which are inexpensive. I'm considering on doing these two above in July.

Here are some links

www.eco-divers.com

www.tasikria.com

What do you guys think?

Paul

[MrFish]

I have to say that i would never go with a pre-paid package, i prefer to be a bit more flexible. I like to be able to get a good gut feeling about an area and dive operator when i get there and change my mind if i don't like what i see.

[chrisg]

The other option the travel agent has mentioned is in Indonesia a place called Tasik Ria and Lembeh Strait in Northern Sulawesi both which are inexpensive.  I'm considering on doing these two above in July.

Here are some links

www.eco-divers.com

www.tasikria.com

What do you guys think?

Paul

I have been to the lembeh strait (KBR). It definitely lives up to its reputation as among the best locations in the world for macro photography.
There are a lot of different ways to combine it with nice reef diving elsewhere in indonesia on the same trip.

[wahay_tokyo]

Paul,
I have been to Palau Layang 3 times, it is an excellent destination, great corals, good viz and from what I remember lots of stingrays.

Only thing was it was very time consuming to get their from my home in Singapore.

//Kye

[Patterns]

I just got back from Layang Layang yesterday. No time yet to sort out my photos...

As Bob mentioned, the hammerheads are not guaranteed. I did 15 day dives altogether (and 2 night dives); after 11 of the day dives I still hadn't seen the hammerheads. However I did see them on 3 of the last 4 dives; and got pretty close on 2 of those. There seems to be an element of luck; or maybe not - on those last dives our group followed a strategy of staying fairly close together; maybe the sharks came to have a look at us?

Other than that ... the coral is exceptionally nice, and lots of fish - especially butterfly & angel fish, and hawkfish everywhere. But over the course of the dives, as far as I can recall I saw only a couple of eels; not many nudis (and nothing unusual); no cuttlefish; only one octopus; only one lionfish; no scorpionfish; well, lots of things didn't seem to be there - or at least not easy to spot. It seemed to me to be really good for coral and for fish that spend their time swimming (as opposed to sitting on the bottom), and not much good for other stuff. Of course I was spoiled for "other stuff" the previous week as I had been muck-diving elsewhere in Malaysia. So my expectations probably defaulted to something unreasonable.

There is no choice of operator, of course. All the diving was well organised; groups are up to 12 (per dive guide). Water was around 26-28C. They enforce a "no gloves" policy which is unusual (but welcome) in Asia. Probably they can afford to do this because there is no alternative operator.

For my taste, meals were on the good side of average for this kind of setup; and everything about the resort organisation seemed to work well.

BTW the bird-watching mentioned on the website seems to be a non-starter; no birds (that I could see) in the bird sanctuary, as they were all sitting on some offshore rocks near the island.

One photo as a final comment ...
-David

[paul.hunter]

Greetings

Another destination mentioned to me was Sipadan. How does one choose? From what I have heard so far is that Manado and Lembeh in Indonesia is very much muck diving and great for macro and Layang and Sipadan in Malaysia more for pelagics and wide angle. As a beginner to U/W photography which would be the better destination? Besides the photography which destination will offer the better dives?

Thanx
Paul

[Cybergoldfish]

Manado is NOT just muck diving... Far from it!

Here you will find some of the most pristine reefs on earth with the biggest diversity of coral and fish on earth. Lembeh is the only 'Muck Diving' and I can assure you it will blow your mind!

For example the trip I have organised Sept/Oct will take in Bunaken National Park - Walls and classic reefs.

Bangka & neighbouring Islands - Incredible corals, gorgonian forests, 3 types of ghost pipes, Pygmy sea horses and Giant frogfish.

Northern Islands: Volcanoes, underwater vents, amazing diversity of corals and fish, walls, pinacles and amazingly clear water.

I cannot wait to get back!

[Cybergoldfish]

Bangka Bronze Frogfish

[Cybergoldfish]

Slipper crab in sponge