Scuba Diving Clubs

[taxico]

Taxico, what do you know about diving off Anambas? I know that some Singapore-based liveaboards go there, but do you have any recent personal experience or know-how with diving there?

I visit the archipelago quite frequently, which is how I know that the water visibility in the area is pretty much unrivaled. But as far as actual diving goes, it seems not everyone agrees. (I've only snorkeled there myself).

By the way, I'm referring not so much to the familiar wreck sites that are more or less in between Singapore and Anambas, because I've heard the diving there is indeed decent. I'm referring more to the inner Anambas islands: Durai, Penjalin, Tekong Berlayar and the like.

i have never been to anambas, so my comments are purely personal and anecdotal.

i never considered going, because there's not much coral. i prefer doing macro diving and checking out the small stuff slowly.

my impression is that people like going to anambas just to check the oil rig off their list. there are plenty of big fish to see (sharks, manta, etc), but primarily because of the structure.

for the same reasons, i prefer going further east to manado. the walls there are beautifully ridiculous, and the muck diving is glorious, personal and easily accessible as a shore dive (!).

fewer big fish and turtles (okay, i suppose this depends on where you actually dive in manado), but that's okay in my books and worth the long journey.

[Max Headroom]

Interesting you should say that, Taxico, because Anambas has amazing coral coverage and species density. In fact, Anambas, being situated within the so-called Coral Trangle, ranks higher, in terms of species diversity, than even Great Barrier Reef.

Ironically though, it's the apparent lack of bigger fish that seems to be an issue, apart perhaps from around the underwater structures mentioned above.

That said, I'm not sure if few big fish is just something that's being repeated over and over from hear-say or if it's really substantiated. Then again, I do regularly see turtles, rays and dolphins there.

I heard Manado is good diving. Bit far though eh.

[TT_8774]

Interesting you should say that, Taxico, because Anambas has amazing coral coverage and species density. In fact, Anambas, being situated within the so-called Coral Trangle, ranks higher, in terms of species diversity, than even Great Barrier Reef.

Ironically though, it's the apparent lack of bigger fish that seems to be an issue, apart perhaps from around the underwater structures mentioned above.

That said, I'm not sure if few big fish is just something that's being repeated over and over from hear-say or if it's really substantiated. Then again, I do regularly see turtles, rays and dolphins there.

I heard Manado is good diving. Bit far though eh.

There r 2 direct flight from SG to Manado on Tues and Sat i think from silk airline. Diving is pretty good there

[taxico]

Interesting you should say that, Taxico, because Anambas has amazing coral coverage and species density. In fact, Anambas, being situated within the so-called Coral Trangle, ranks higher, in terms of species diversity, than even Great Barrier Reef.

Ironically though, it's the apparent lack of bigger fish that seems to be an issue, apart perhaps from around the underwater structures mentioned above.

That said, I'm not sure if few big fish is just something that's being repeated over and over from hear-say or if it's really substantiated. Then again, I do regularly see turtles, rays and dolphins there.

I heard Manado is good diving. Bit far though eh.

it is surely not as small as to contain nothing but a rig and sharks - yet i had always been regaled with no more than what i've said above by those who've visited anambas. their photos prove nothing of note to me...

my wife has visited anambas once but she does not wish to go back again. she is perfectly at home on a liveaboard but i'm not.

i suppose when you tire of anambas, you should hop east. i should also snout around for non-liveaboard options in anambas which may yield some good dive spots... : )

dive safe!

[Max Headroom]

Cheers Taxico.

There seems to be a bit of a disconnect between what I see when I'm there and what I hear from others.

I was born and raised in the West Indies, so my coral reef and bounty beaches benchmark is set pretty high. But what I see in Anambas blows me away, albeit, alas, some of it damaged by the destructive fishing techniques that were used in the past.

The reason for the disconnect could be that the LOBs from Singapore tend to stop short at the outer islands, Pulau Bawah and the like. They don't really venture into Anambas proper, as it would require too much fuel/time to get there. But the inner islands dotted around Tarempa, for instance, are off the scale and have a real edge-of-the-world feel about them, even today.

Yes, I'd love to explore the east. In fact, I've had trips cancelled to KK and to Sipadan in the past few years.

Third time lucky.

[zhiwei_elvin]

Recently I went SCUBA Diving with SCUBAPeople at Berjaya Tioman was a good trip and fun.
http://www.scubapeople.com

[Max Headroom]

Come now, you can do better than that...

[Strong Eagle]

Come now, you can do better than that...

SCUBA People seems legit... the URL is dodgy because its https.

[zhiwei_elvin]

Come now, you can do better than that...

SCUBA People seems legit... the URL is dodgy because its https.

Sorry. should be www.scubapeople.com

[Max Headroom]

Come now, you can do better than that...

SCUBA People seems legit... the URL is dodgy because its https.

It's a legit outfit, no worries there. And I'd spotted the s issue, no worries there either.

What I did find sketchy was the actual post, not only for the fact that it's a spamesque one-liner, but also because Berjaya Tioman has its own dive centre.

By the way, I just returned from Tekek. The monsoon is just ending now, but the diving is still only marginal at best. Currents are still strong, the water is still murky and the fish are few and far between. All signs that the monsoon is lingering around. Even the NE wind and swell were still high last week.

Mates dived Tioman from Salang last week and said the same thing.

Perhaps the poster was referring to a pre-monsoon dive trip...

But all told, including the hit-and-run nature of the post and the fact that it was a first post makes me think it's an ad. I mean, hello, at least let us know why your trip was "good" and "fun".

But mostly, how does that work, how does ScubaPeople do dives at Berjaya when Berjaya has its own in-house dive centre? Am I missing something?

[sundaymorningstaple]

I'd almost be willing to bet that the post is by none other than the "Big Boss/Instructor Trainer" of ScubaPeople. He probably posted using the https from the page hosting his diver's registrations which I would assume would be a secure page. Smells like advertising gambit to me as well. The gut feelings from an old diver with 50 years experience in the water, both SCUBA and Commercial (Oceaneering Int'l).

[Max Headroom]

Not to worry eh, I'm pretty sure the good folks at Scuba Peeps will come back here and give us the skinny.

[KDMatt]

Hi there, sorry to take it back to dive clubs, but I’ve been diving around the area for a few years now and have struggled to find any clubs, meet up groups. Would be good to find other diving enthusiasts that meet regularly as my mates are pretty bored of going on diving holidays now! Anyone know of any? Tried to find some but all I found was dive shops. Thanks everyone

[Max Headroom]

Sorry, I'm not sure I follow you: you're looking not so much for dive shops but for fellow dive enthusiasts? Because if you are, I reckon you're likely to come across quite a few on this board.

[KDMatt]

Ah, sorry, I didn’t make myself clear. Is there a diving group that meets up regularly that anyone knows about? Like a scuba club or something? Not just a place that organises trips, but a general meet up group so people can organise their own trips. Having trouble finding one in Singapore