Tioman With Love

3 Days 2 Nights Tioman Dive Trip with 6 logs

Dive 1 - Labas (cave dive)

Dive 2 - Sepoi

Dive 3 - Tiger Reef

Dive 4 - Seafan Gardens

Dive 5 - Pilot Reef

Dive 6 - Renggis

There's no denying that Tioman is incredibly popular tourist destination. Tioman has been on my list for years. I always found it expensive to travel alone until Yazid shared "Last Kopek Tioman Dive" event on Facebook. Considering all the facts, I decided to give it a go by whatsapping Syam. The "Last Kopek Tioman Dive" was organised by Project Vacation. The trip was a mixture of people who took Open Water/Advance license and people who joined for leisure dive.

Project Vacation is a travel and adventure sharing hub where everyone can share their travelling experience. Project Vacation is split into three categories to serve different demand. The three categories are Project Vacation (where one can share their travelling photos by using #projectvacation), ThePVStuff (where one can join their events and buy their merchandise) and PVDive (where one can share the same interest and passion in diving). One can follow them on social media; Instagram (@projectvacation, @thepvstuff and @pvdive), Facebook and Twitter.

Travelling with a bunch of complete strangers gave me a weird but wonderful feeling.

9^th October 2015

We arrived at Mersing around 0300 and spent our time getting to know each other until we boarded the ferry at 0630. Prior to departure, I was surprised by the fact that Mai is a sister of Raf, my ACCA batchmate in UiTM. 

We occupied our time with sleeping since we didn't have enough sleep in the car. However, I was not able to get a good sleep on the ferry due to freaking cold aircond.

As we approached the island two hours later, we were welcomed by the Bayu Tioman Chalet staff who came to the jetty to collect our bags and dive equipment. Bayu Tioman Chalet is located a few hundreds away from the jetty which will take only 10-15 minutes walk. We had our breakfast at the jetty before we proceed to the Bayu Tioman Chalet.

We walked for about three minutes before Faiz came to offer us a ride to Bayu Tioman Chalet. We were given a simple introduction and briefing by Syam and Munajat. We had also been introduced to Sarah, a freelance female instructor at Bayu Dive Center.

After settling ourselves in the room, I headed to Bayu Dive Center without knowing another surprise was waiting for me. Uncle Ayoi, whom I met during Sipadan trip turned out to be one of the important people at Bayu Dive Center. I was flattered to meet someone from my previous trip. He eagerly introduced me to his son, Munajat who recently became a PADI instructor.

We started our first dive after lunch. Labas was my first dive site in Tioman, which I found it really interesting because of a lot of swim through we had. This was my second dive which I encountered a lot of swim through. The dive lasted for 48 minutes. I had Mai as a dive buddy for the first four dives. Too bad, we got lost for about 15-20 minutes. Mai was pretty calm and took the lead in searching the Divemaster, Faiz and other divers. She got her own pointer which was very useful to attract attention underwater by banging it to the tank.

Mai, my dive buddy

Our second dive site was Sepoi, 15-20 minutes from Labas dive site. We dove for 45 minutes. A big fat jellyfish was spotted during the safety stop. We arrived at the shore around 1900 when the sun had already been set.

Later at night, after we bloated with food, we went for a 'Keropok Lekor' session. It started with a simple conversation until Billie came up with the idea of "Green Glass Door" game. I was not able to digest this game until the second night. I was not aware of this kind of game until that night, until I was fooled by Billie and Uben. I felt like I've been cheated. But it was a good game though. 

10^th October 2015

I woke up at 0700 since I've been told that I won't be able to get sunrise at Bayu's area. 

After we had breakfast, we took our own sweet time in setting up our equipment. We went to Tiger Reef for our third dive. Abang Mat gave us a simple briefing before we started to roll back out of the boat. We had to depend on ropes to descend. The surface current was strong enough to push us away if we didn't rely on the ropes. I love the visibility, colorful reef and fishes at Tiger Reef. This was my favorite dive site in Tioman so far. The dive lasted for 40 minutes.

Next dive site was Seafan Garden. A few of us were getting motion sickness due to heavy current. The dive lasted for 46 minutes.

We arrived at the shore around 1500 to have our lunch and had to be back on the boat by 1545. I was shocked when I heard about what had happened to Ika (she was taking Open Water license). I quickly finished my meal and decided to check on her. She was asleep as I entered the room. Nana quietly explained to me about the incident and I felt bad for her. I believe, as a normal human being, it was not easy for us to face our fear. The attempt to get in the open sea after 14 years after she had a drowning experience was quite an achievement.

Since we started our dive late on the second day, we had to rush to do another two dives in the evening. We were brought to the Pilot Reef dive site. Mai had enough of dives, so she didn't join us for the last two dives. She made me to have no dive buddy. So I kept a close distance with Adam and Uben, sometimes Zaim to ensure I have support if fatalities happen. It lasted for 34 minutes only which was the shortest bottom time that I ever had in my log book. There was still plenty of air left in the tank.

We went to the Renggis dive site for our last dive of the trip. Soon after we descended, we were greeted by cuttlefish. I was able to capture the changing and hiding phase of cuttlefish. It lasted for 38 minutes. We were back at the shore around 1930.

After dinner, we continued to play the games with Uben and Billie being the game-master. It was a disaster when you were the only who didn't get the "Round The World" game, the easiest game of the night. I was totally blank. I couldn't even figure out the simple game. Poor me. They continued to play the "Mosquitoes" and "Opposites" game before Nana, Ika and I called it a night. Actually, three of us had a pillow talk session.

11^th October 2015

I set alarm at 0630 and only managed to get up at 0645. Most of the divers have walked to the jetty by the time I woke up. Our ferry to Mersing was scheduled at 0800. Nana and I had to cancel our breakfast order since the ferry just showed up. We took a silent moment down the jetty realising the trip almost over right when we boarded the ferry. We slept throughout the journey. 

It was a good dive trip despite rushing on the last two dives. I hope to be back as there are more lovely dive sites to be explored. 

P/S: Farah travelled to Tioman using her own funds and dived courtesy of her own money, so she reserves the right to mention the dive operator she actually used and enjoyed.