Haven't done one of these before so here goes ... my first trip report (pics are on the url in my profile).
I left penang on Friday night and 808 Km's later arrived at Tanjung Leman, Johor, our jump-off point to Pulau Aur. The boat puttered toward Aur (yes, puttered, at a stately 9 knots, i think) for a 4 hour ride to the island. Helped me catch up with some zzzz's.
Upon arrival at Sepukang Bay, the first adventure began - our original room bookings got jumbled, so the ramshackle longhouse became the abode for the night. It was corrected the next day though, where we bunked in a 4 bed chalet, much nicer. Basic, but served the need. There were both attached bathrooms as well as outdoor showers (10 if i count correctly) and a bathroom facility at the canteen/cafe. No sundry store - we had to go to Dayang Bay nearby, 30 mins by foot, or have the boatman stop by during our trip back from diving. Not overly pricy though the island is secluded.
Food over the 3 days we were there was simple, but filled the screaming belly just nice. Bread with Margarine and coconut cream (?) was always available it seems, as is coffee, tea and plain water. Breakfast was Porridge on day 2, and Nasi Lemak on the third (rice cooked in coconut milk accompanied by anchovy in hot sauce, cucumber and boiled eggs). Dinner the first night was barbecue - Satay, Buffalo wings, Fish, Boiled crabs. no charcoal, but cocnut husks. Fried vermicelli (char bee hoon, actually) was also set as filler. Dinner on the second night was steamed and fried fish someone speared earlier that day. The cafe actually served rice, chicken, fish, 3 types of veggie, one of which is cunningly prepared with sauteed garlic and anchovy ... yummy. Lunch is a blur to me but i remember rice, chicken, fish, 3 types of veggie, one of which was a Malaysian salad with cucumber, onion and pineapple marinated in a light vinegar dressing with chili (red pepper). The dishes were prepared differently except for the veggie which i didn't mind too much.
Now the dive. we did 11, including the checkout dive which was done at the house reef, and one aborted night dive. In general, viz was good all three days, and was the first time i saw blue water. Current was mild at best except for 2 dives where it was up a bit (maybe 2 knots ?). Surface was mostly flat with very, very tiny chops on the third day. No surge to speak of except very close to the islands - i was actually disappointed because i like doing safety stops in surge
We did our dive at the House Reef (Sepukang Bay) twice - checkout and night dive), Dayang Bay, Teluk Meriam, Pinnacle # 3, Napolean Spot (yes, there's Napolean wrasse, though the ones i saw were juvies < 2 foot in length), Rayner's Rock, Lang Bay (site of the aborted night dive) for 3 dives and Pulau Pinang (no, not Penang Island).
What did we see ? Walls, boulders, swimthroughs, coral heads, sandy bottom, rocky bottom, fields of staghorn and cabbage corals, pinnacles. IOW, a nice selection of bottom formation. Corals - too many to list but if you like hard corals, it's nice, as are fans, whips, a smattering of soft corals. There was also a heck of a lot of feather stars all over the place, though nudibranchs were not as many. Numerous types of fish - including two nurse sharks, lesson to be learned ... before your buddy shined the light, get your camera ready, otherwise, all you'll have is a pic of the right fin, very blurred, and subject to allegation sof tall tales
Others were turtles (nice to mention here because we bumped into one in a small swimthrough), puffer fish a bit over a foot long but then there's more of them, yellow boxfish from 1" baby to adult size, juvie baracuda, christmas tree worm on porites 6' across. We also saw blue spotted stingray, trevally, giant trevally, what looked like barramundi cod, giant clams, scoprpion fish (one about 3 inches across with a bright yellow color on the underside of it's fin), what looked like a gigantic nudibranch (has antenna, check, has golls outside the body, check, a foot long .. errr :06: ).
Now about the aborted night dive ... we went to Lang Bay (Lang in this case is a truncation of the word Helang, which in the local language means Eagle). dropped into current, dropped down, could fight it so started to inch forward behind rocks. didn't work, the rest of the gorup was drifting, turned to drift dive, had the guide come and signal 'you're gojng the wrong way'), turned back to the orig direciton, by which time the rest of the party are down current. it was fun though. i saw a large crab, enjoying myself while drifting but the fun was not to be had. we were asked to ascend so onto the boat everyone went. and had an equally joyful night dive at the house reef where said ganrgantuan nudi was seen.
overall, it was very enjoyable for me personally as it was for most of us (some were hoping the food was better). we putted back to Tanjung Leman, regaling ourselves about, what else, the shark that i did not capture on camera. and some of the newer dive sites and when the fast boat would be ready. the dive op was also nice enough to ask for specific feedback. mine was ... the ladder is not correctly constructed, and we should've discussed bailout plans for the night dive.
how does it compare ? it was worth the USD150 we spent (full board, boat ride included, unlimited dive, etc, USD 13 per day eqt rental). and isn's it always nice to get wet anyways ?
hope you enjoyed the article. safe diving.
I left penang on Friday night and 808 Km's later arrived at Tanjung Leman, Johor, our jump-off point to Pulau Aur. The boat puttered toward Aur (yes, puttered, at a stately 9 knots, i think) for a 4 hour ride to the island. Helped me catch up with some zzzz's.
Upon arrival at Sepukang Bay, the first adventure began - our original room bookings got jumbled, so the ramshackle longhouse became the abode for the night. It was corrected the next day though, where we bunked in a 4 bed chalet, much nicer. Basic, but served the need. There were both attached bathrooms as well as outdoor showers (10 if i count correctly) and a bathroom facility at the canteen/cafe. No sundry store - we had to go to Dayang Bay nearby, 30 mins by foot, or have the boatman stop by during our trip back from diving. Not overly pricy though the island is secluded.
Food over the 3 days we were there was simple, but filled the screaming belly just nice. Bread with Margarine and coconut cream (?) was always available it seems, as is coffee, tea and plain water. Breakfast was Porridge on day 2, and Nasi Lemak on the third (rice cooked in coconut milk accompanied by anchovy in hot sauce, cucumber and boiled eggs). Dinner the first night was barbecue - Satay, Buffalo wings, Fish, Boiled crabs. no charcoal, but cocnut husks. Fried vermicelli (char bee hoon, actually) was also set as filler. Dinner on the second night was steamed and fried fish someone speared earlier that day. The cafe actually served rice, chicken, fish, 3 types of veggie, one of which is cunningly prepared with sauteed garlic and anchovy ... yummy. Lunch is a blur to me but i remember rice, chicken, fish, 3 types of veggie, one of which was a Malaysian salad with cucumber, onion and pineapple marinated in a light vinegar dressing with chili (red pepper). The dishes were prepared differently except for the veggie which i didn't mind too much.
Now the dive. we did 11, including the checkout dive which was done at the house reef, and one aborted night dive. In general, viz was good all three days, and was the first time i saw blue water. Current was mild at best except for 2 dives where it was up a bit (maybe 2 knots ?). Surface was mostly flat with very, very tiny chops on the third day. No surge to speak of except very close to the islands - i was actually disappointed because i like doing safety stops in surge
We did our dive at the House Reef (Sepukang Bay) twice - checkout and night dive), Dayang Bay, Teluk Meriam, Pinnacle # 3, Napolean Spot (yes, there's Napolean wrasse, though the ones i saw were juvies < 2 foot in length), Rayner's Rock, Lang Bay (site of the aborted night dive) for 3 dives and Pulau Pinang (no, not Penang Island).
What did we see ? Walls, boulders, swimthroughs, coral heads, sandy bottom, rocky bottom, fields of staghorn and cabbage corals, pinnacles. IOW, a nice selection of bottom formation. Corals - too many to list but if you like hard corals, it's nice, as are fans, whips, a smattering of soft corals. There was also a heck of a lot of feather stars all over the place, though nudibranchs were not as many. Numerous types of fish - including two nurse sharks, lesson to be learned ... before your buddy shined the light, get your camera ready, otherwise, all you'll have is a pic of the right fin, very blurred, and subject to allegation sof tall tales
Others were turtles (nice to mention here because we bumped into one in a small swimthrough), puffer fish a bit over a foot long but then there's more of them, yellow boxfish from 1" baby to adult size, juvie baracuda, christmas tree worm on porites 6' across. We also saw blue spotted stingray, trevally, giant trevally, what looked like barramundi cod, giant clams, scoprpion fish (one about 3 inches across with a bright yellow color on the underside of it's fin), what looked like a gigantic nudibranch (has antenna, check, has golls outside the body, check, a foot long .. errr :06: ).
Now about the aborted night dive ... we went to Lang Bay (Lang in this case is a truncation of the word Helang, which in the local language means Eagle). dropped into current, dropped down, could fight it so started to inch forward behind rocks. didn't work, the rest of the gorup was drifting, turned to drift dive, had the guide come and signal 'you're gojng the wrong way'), turned back to the orig direciton, by which time the rest of the party are down current. it was fun though. i saw a large crab, enjoying myself while drifting but the fun was not to be had. we were asked to ascend so onto the boat everyone went. and had an equally joyful night dive at the house reef where said ganrgantuan nudi was seen.
overall, it was very enjoyable for me personally as it was for most of us (some were hoping the food was better). we putted back to Tanjung Leman, regaling ourselves about, what else, the shark that i did not capture on camera. and some of the newer dive sites and when the fast boat would be ready. the dive op was also nice enough to ask for specific feedback. mine was ... the ladder is not correctly constructed, and we should've discussed bailout plans for the night dive.
how does it compare ? it was worth the USD150 we spent (full board, boat ride included, unlimited dive, etc, USD 13 per day eqt rental). and isn's it always nice to get wet anyways ?
hope you enjoyed the article. safe diving.
