Diving or Exploring Near Alor Setar

[puget_sound]

I am scheduled to be in Malaysia for a couple of weeks in April, 2015 for work. I will be staying in Alor Setar, and I was just wondering if anyone had any advice on things to do and see around there, particularly if there is some good diving nearby. I am a PADI divemaster with several hundered dives, so I wouldn't be concerned about the difficulty of any dives. When I am traveling internationally, I particularly like to explore and learn about the local culture, foods, flora and fauna, etc. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you,
puget_sound

 

[racerx_]

I don't know about shore dives (although it seems vaguely familiar that I heard something once) but you'd be pretty close to langkawi island which would have diving

Are you from Seattle? If you are this diving should be much easier ha

 

[puget_sound]

Yes, I'm from Seattle. I usually dive in water that is about 45-52 degrees F (6-10 C). It's kind of a treat to hit some warmer water and different kinds of life. Thanks for the advice on possibilities.

 

[racerx_]

Yeah you should grab the opportunity. My wife's family is from mukilteo. I've dived up there before and it is COLD

 

[salvatore77]

Great to hear your interest to explore the beautiful of Malaysia under water. The best site for diving close to Alor Setar is Langkawi Island. You can travel about 1 hour and 15 min by ferry from Kuala Kedah jetty to reach Langkawi Island. There is a National Marine Park call Pulau Payar in Langkawi beside some other site around the island.
By the way, Langkawi is not the best spot to discover Malaysia marine treasure. I recommend for you to dive at Perhentian Island or Redang Island located at East Coast of Malaysia Peninsular. And the heaven of Malaysia diving actually at Mabul or Sipadan Island located in Sabah. Happy diving, feel free to contact me if you need some more information.

 

[Evan Soon]

Diving on that side of Malaysia could be pretty green from what I heard but has a lot of big nudi and seahorse, just need some effort to search for them with low viz.

If you have time you could make a trip to Perhentian as mentioned or even go to Pulau Weh from Penang. I would think that its rather easy to go from Malaysia to any other dive sites in SEA if you have more time in your hands. "With AirAsia, now everyone can fly", so it can be pretty cheap to go around depending if you booked your tickets during promotion time.