Made a last minute (and rather "rash") decision to go diving at Pulau Dayang, Malaysia over the weekend. Could have spent the weekend idling but the dive bugs in us urged us to go on a diving trip before launching into the busy July/August work period. Not that we had anything to complain about diving, just that the journey to and fro took its toll and we were pretty knocked out by the time we reached home.
Dived with Mako Sub-Aquatics this time round. Set off at around 8.30pm in 2 vans, by the time we cleared Woodlands Customs and reached the usual 'divers and anglers' pit stop at Kota Tinggi, it was already 10.30pm. After supper and fruits shopping, took off and reached Mersing Jetty at around 12.30am. As it was low tide, had to take turns to transfer by one smaller boat to the big dive boat waiting at deeper waters. There must be some 60 to 80 divers waiting for the transfer.
Interesting encounter... it was super low tide with water level at only 0.3m at some points on our journey out, our boat got stuck at the sandy bottom not far away from the dive boat. Talk about so near yet so far. Boatmen had to jump into the shallow waters to steer the boat.
Anyway, by the time we managed to board the boat, it was already 2am! We were totally exhausted but couldn't really sleep well due to the freezing air-con and uncomfortable seats. After 3hrs45 mins of back-breaking boat journey, we reached Dayang at 5.30am! Couldn't care less about the surroundings and headed straight for bed; had only less than 3 hrs sleep before the morning dive.
Dived with Mako Sub-Aquatics this time round. Set off at around 8.30pm in 2 vans, by the time we cleared Woodlands Customs and reached the usual 'divers and anglers' pit stop at Kota Tinggi, it was already 10.30pm. After supper and fruits shopping, took off and reached Mersing Jetty at around 12.30am. As it was low tide, had to take turns to transfer by one smaller boat to the big dive boat waiting at deeper waters. There must be some 60 to 80 divers waiting for the transfer.
Interesting encounter... it was super low tide with water level at only 0.3m at some points on our journey out, our boat got stuck at the sandy bottom not far away from the dive boat. Talk about so near yet so far. Boatmen had to jump into the shallow waters to steer the boat.
Anyway, by the time we managed to board the boat, it was already 2am! We were totally exhausted but couldn't really sleep well due to the freezing air-con and uncomfortable seats. After 3hrs45 mins of back-breaking boat journey, we reached Dayang at 5.30am! Couldn't care less about the surroundings and headed straight for bed; had only less than 3 hrs sleep before the morning dive.
Woke up feeling slightly dazed but nevertheless refreshed. Had a recce of Dayang island. The island is separated from Pulau Aur by a channel; an idyllic and rustic island with a very laid back atmosphere. No mobile phone signal, no TV, no internet...
The chalets are mostly quad or triple sharing, ours was the twin-sharing "Villa-on-the-rocks". Toilets and bathrooms are for common use. There is a central dining area that has free flow of beverages all day long and serves 5 meals a day. So basically divers here just eat, sleep and dive!
We did a total of 5 dives for this trip, 1 dive on Saturday morning, 2 dives Saturday afternoon and 2 dives on Sunday morning, skipping the night dive. Dive sites visited were Kador Bay, Pulau Lang, Batu Kutik, Pulau Pinang and Captain's Point.
Visibility was not as good as Tioman and marine life was also not as abundant. But we were glad to see some new species of nudibranchs and marine fish.
After the dives, it was another arduous journey back home, this time having to beat the notorious Sunday night jam at JB-Woodlands checkpoint.
Well, the dives were not fantastic for this trip but at least it satisfied my craving somewhat. All dives are good, some are just better. But I would seriously re-consider about such Friday-Sunday trips again. Maybe... until the dive bugs start stirring again.
Resources
- Dayang Island http://dayangisland.com/
- Mako Sub-Aquatics http://www.makosubaquatics.com/index.asp
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