Dive Trip to Pulau Tenggol

I spent a three day weekend on a scuba trip to Tenggol Island off of the east coast of the Malaysian peninsula. Because I am such a scuba fanatic, one of the requirements (OK, the key requirement) for countries that I was interested in visiting during my development leave was that they have good diving. I finally got the chance to see a bit of Malaysia underwater.



The Trip There

I was invited to go on the trip by Yati Ahmad, a professor from UKM (the National University of Malaysia). Julie Sewani, one of the Malaysian grad students at Tech, introduced me to Yati because she thought that Yati would be a potential collaborator of the work I want to do here and because she is a diving nut as well. When Yati invited me to come along on a weekend trip I was happy to join in. We had a group of about 14 divers, most of whom had been diving together many times before (as the non-stop laughter from the back of the bus on the trip down showed).

We met on UKM campus late Thursday night and hopped on the bus about midnight. I was picturing us travelling in the classic yellow school bus (yes the school busses are yellow here as well), but we had a very nice "coach". Because I had stayed up a bit late the night before at a birthday celebration, I had no trouble sleeping most of the way there. In the morning we made a rest stop at a gas station. When I returned to the bus no one was there; they had all gone across the street for their morning prayers (just like when Andy, Terry, and I drive to Balmorhea). I later woke up to the sounds of "gobbling" and was surprised to see a bunch of turkeys wandering through the parking lot of the restaraunt where everyone else was having breakfast in the coastal town of Dungun.



The trip across the penisula took about 7 hours. We eventually jumped on a boat in Dungan for the half hour trip to Tenggol Island. Most of the island is surrounded by rocky shoreline, so the resorts are located on the same protected bay with a long sandy beach.

Tenggol Resort


Tenggol Resort (not to be confused on with the Tenggol Island Beach Resort and the Tenggol Island Resort- they are quite clever with their names there) is located at the extreme southern end of the sandy beach. Accomodations were basic and rustic. I shared a room in a small cabin with three other guys; the food was family style and quite good. Most importantly, the scuba facilities and the dive guides were great. Here is a view of where I spent my weekend (the sacrifices I make to spread good relations between the US and Malaysia!).

The cabin where I stayed.


The view from my cabin.


The dining area


The view from the beach.


The beach.



I will post more reports about my adventures over the weekend. I will wait until everyone posts their UW photos on Facebook before I show you about the diving.