confused! Malaysia choices...

[dbraller]

I'm planning on diving in Malaysia between Sept 11-18, probably 4 of those days. Am on a fairly tight schedule, so don't want to have to wait to dive for more than a day or so. I am on my own, so will have to pay single occupancy rates. My questions are these:

-I want to go to Semporna, book there for Sipadan. Am open to staying on Mabul as well. Will I be able to book during this time period without a delay? How much savings would I get from booking here?

-If it will be difficult to book in Semporna, should I go to KK and book there? Won't there be the same booking problems in KK that I encounter in Semporna? If there is a delay, what other dive destinations could I book in KK without a delay? How much more will it cost booking here than in Semporna?

-If Sipadan will be busy this time of year and there is a chance of delay, I'm thinking about going to either Perhentians or Redang. Because it's cheaper here, I would also consider doing my advanced certification. Any suggestions on which would be better? Could I do my advanced on the Perhentians and also do a day or two of diving at Redang? How much would it cost to dive/do my course here?

-Is anyone planning on diving in Sipadan during that time period? If there's a single people, let me know. Perhaps we can share accomodations.

Thanks, I know it's alot of questions!

 

[jiveturkey]

I'll only answer the questions I know. Yes, it's possible for you to dive the Perhentians and Redang. It's cheaper in the Perhentians but if the vis is good, the diving is just slightly better on Redang.

The perhentians is cheaper and it has a wreck. They also do trips to Redang. I'm sure you could find a boat going everyday. I don't know how much they charge but I"m sure it would be cheaper to to your AOW on the perhentians.

Also, I'm looking into going to Sipadan in November and I was worried about that single occupant crap too. I was told i could get the same rate as long as I was willing to share a room with another male. I'm cool with that if it saves me 50% of the cost. It kind of sucks but I don't plan on spending too much time in the room.

Here are a few links to shops I dived with in the Perhentians and Redang. www.coralredang.com.my and www.turtlebaydivers.com

 

[mleong]

You can drop him a email and see if he can arrange somethng for you. Aaron Kwok at ScubaZone, email: aaron989@tm.net.my My name is Pin Onn. He is my uncle and had been a instructor for the last 10 years or so. He is a Master Instructor, MFA instructor and a H.U.E.T. Instructor as well. Hope this helps.



michael

 

[Azmanking]

If you are coming to Perhentian, email me at letsgodiving@florabaydivers.com or visit www.florabaydivers.com. I am the owner of the dive resort and we are the only PADI 5 Star Gold Palm IDC center there and we also do Redang trip.

 

[Gno]

I'll try to asnswer your first 2 questions since the rest seems to have answered the rest.

Just to let you know that you book your dive holiday at Mabul (Sipadan Water Village) vide Pacific Dome. You can contact them vide e-mail at pacdome@pd.jaring.my. Liaise with Kenneth!

They will arrange everything including your flight to KK, Tawau and Sempoerna from KL.

I stayed at Sipadan Water Village 2 years ago. 5 star facilities with 5 star services!!!!!

BTW, I'm not an agent for anybody, just that I truly enjoyed my stay there. This resort is on Mabul Island and is 30 minutes speedboat ride away from Sipadan Island.

You might want to pre-book the trip as Mabul is usually quite packed. You do not want to end up in KK and find out that the resorts are full.

There are other resorts on Sipadan Island itself but I do not have their email with me.

Hope this little infor helps.

BTW, the stuff that you would probably see diving in Sipadan is so much better compared to Redang and Perhentian though the later destination is very much cheaper than Sipadan.



Gno

 

[Zippsy]

If it helps -

On Sipadan:
Borneo Divers: http://www.borneodivers.info/homeframe.html
Pulau Sipadan Resort: http://sipadan-resort.com/
Sipadan Dive Centre: http://www.mattasabah.com/sipadandive/index.asp

On Mabul: http://www.sipadan-village.com.my/


As Gno said - there is no comparison between Sipadan and Redang / Perhentian. One is unbelievably awesome diving but expensive. The other is good diving but cheaper. Make up your mind which one you want.

 

[ssra30]

For Sipadan, you might want to contact them first. I don't know what it is like in September. I was there in July and I was told that August is pretty much full dued to the European vacationers.
Not sure about September though.
When I first contacted some of the resorts there via e-mail, some actually offered a walk in rate, as long as I am willing to pre-pay within a week after booking. The rate was about 25-30% cheaper than their published rate on the internet if I remember correctly.
One place that offfered that to me was Borneo Diver on Sipadan (they also have a resort on Mabul). I ended up staying at Smart Diver on Mabul. Water Village facility looks nicer but Smart is hard to beat as far as services go.
If you are leaving from KL, check out Air Asia or something like that, it is a discounted airline in Malaysia and is the only airline with direct flight from KL to Tawau as far as I know.
If you plan to do a walk in, it might be easier to do it in KK. Semporna is a good hour and a half by car from Tawau and if you have a reservation prior to arriving in Tawau, the dive resort will pick you up in Tawau and take you to Semporna to get on the boat. A lot easier than going to Tawau yourself and try to find your way to Semporna.

 

[dbraller]

Great info from all of you. I'm going to try and call some of the resorts to see if availability is limited. If I can't find that out, I'll probably head to KK and play it safe. Figure it isn't quite as convenient as flying straight to Tawau on AA, but if I can't get to Sipadan it seems that KK has more alternate options for me. Might have to pay a bit more here, but I guess it might be worth it, rather than getting stuck in Tawau or Semporna.

One last question: If I am open to Mabul and any resort in Sipadan, do you really think there's still a chance I could not get an accomodation anywhere in Tawau/Semporna?

 

[ssra30]

Not really sure. Beside Sipadan, there are only 3 resorts on Mabul and one or Kapalai. Sipadan now also lilmited number of divers to 80 per day who are allowed to dive there so that will make it a little tricky. There might be accomodation but you might not get to dive at Sipadan. I am not sure how this will work out exactly. I think that's why it is better to get some information first.
Beside Sipadan, Mubul and Kapalai are also excellent for macro stuff. When I was there, I splitted almost 50-50 for number of dives at Sipadan and Mabul/Kapalai.