I would like to hear your views on Langkawi

[kevindive]

Thank you for your views last year on Tioman. I had a great time visiting and diving there last year. I was wondering about Langkawi as I plan on being in KUL area sometime in June/July 2016.

Thank you for any information.

 

[NavarroOne]

Hi Kevin,

Let me first start off with a long intro which isn't about diving - if you, like me, have family coming along then it can be important that there is other things to do than just hop in the water and get under the surface; otherwise it may be difficult for you to "get the license" to head off on an extended weekend or better still, a full week of diving.

I've done 19 dives in Malaysia the past 3 years at Perhentian and Redang (East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia) and Pulau Payar which is on the West Coast of Peninsular Malaysia, in the Malacca strait and reachable from both Langkawi and Penang. The East cost is for the most part really great but during the monsoon season from I believe late October thru April, sediment gets whipped up and visibility drops drastically so dive sites close down. The West coast has less of such constraint but it has a reputation for always having lower visibility, ostensibly as the Malacca strait is known as a busy commercial shipping lane but I have for the most part not witnessed any such constraint and have found visibility quite comparable and sometimes better than on the East coast.

East Marine that I mention below describes it as follows:

MAR to NOV … calm water, sunny days, better visibility
AUG to SEP..… long swells, choppy sea but still good
DEC to FEB … water temperature and water visibility drops

Unlike spending 5 days at Redang where you can mostly scuba dive or go to the beach and where most accommodation is basic; Langkawi sports several actual towns and at Cenang Beach, you'll find a Starbucks, a pretty broad restaurant selection, a very nice aquarium in almost Singapore-like quality and some 4 and 5-star hotels. Langkawi sports several 5-star hotels more broadly and Westin is imho the best and is walking distance to the pier where you set off for Pulau Payar.

Langkawi is a tax free island so many things are dirt cheap, like booze, and you can do many other things than Scuba diving. You can rent a car for RM 90/day allin, like a fairly new and small but safe and clean Perodua Myvi or rent a 125cc motorcycle (scooter) for rm 16 and spend a few hours driving around on the excellent roads. There is a very high hilltop with a fantastic view and a harrowing cablecar ride to the top. On Cenang beach, which is the happening place with bars and nightlife and a really cool restaurant called "the Cliff", you get breathtaking sunset views, zipping a pina colada over the edge of the water. At this beach you can parasail, jet ski, ride bananaboats and more. Cenang is 30-40 minutes taxi ride from the pier where you head off for Pulau Payar.

There are many flights daily to a decent airport or if you are based in KL, drive up to Kuala Perlis which is a good 7-8 hour drive on the excellent North-South expressway. You can park your car in covered parking for RM 12/day and hop on a cheap and quite new high speed ferry (bring a sweater, AC is cranked up high). Takes less than an hour to get to the Starbucks Pier in Langkawi. There is also a slow-boat RO-RO ferry where you can bring your car along but it is a bit fiddly I hear and breakeven cost only occurs if you spend more than a week on the Island so leave it in Kuala Perlis.

NOW on to the diving. There is 1 major operator, East Coast Marine Getting to Pulau Payar Marine Park from Langkawi who are SSI certified and on-and-off have PADI certified instructors. Their small dive shop (they do sell some gear) is located by the pier where you head to Pulau Payar and have a fairly serious setup with large covered, air conditioned ferries jetting you off to Pulau Payar which takes about 1 hr 45 min. Be at the pier early, don't make others wait. They have a pickup service at any hotel in town, just call the night before and pickup is included in the basic 2-dive fee which is about RM 390 for a day all-in with all the gear, transport, lunch etc. and they will discount for you when you bring your own gear.

Quality of dive masters like in other places varies a bit; we did a discover scuba for my kids twice and the first time was superb while the 2nd time was scarily absentminded.

At Pulau Payar, you change to small dive boats to head off to one of the many smaller islands for the 15 different dive sites which includes many different reefs, a quite interesting wreck at Sunken Boat Point, with many structures scattered around the bottom. Rope lines extend majestically up from the deck and the wreck is guarded by lionfish.

At Coral Garden there are many Giant Groupers lazing around the bottom. Eel seahorses and giant pufferfish. Around the sites you find a broad array of parrot fish and other colourful tropical fish and Nudibranchs as well as beautiful corals and occasionally even larger schools of fish.

There is a lattice type artificial reef where you may see fairly small black-tipped reef sharks. The snorklers at Pulau Payar feed the baby reef sharks so it is like a petting zoo there with a hundred snorklers and a thousand fish chumming around waiting to be fed. Think of that what you will but it is a marine park and all humans get off the island by around 1600; no overnight staying or fishing which is cool in my book.

Most dive sites max out at around 18-20m so you'll have plenty of air and visibility is medium to good.

You will usually be back by the pier at around 1600 ready for a good evening with the family or a not too heavy night on the town, getting ready for the next day’s diving…

All in all I find Langkawi to be a really nice holiday destination and I find the scuba diving worthwhile. We've been to the Island 3-4 times now and we will definitely go again soon. I think on balance I would max spend 2 days diving, chiefly due to the long r/t boat ride every day (I honestly cannot remember if it was 1 hour or 1 hour 45 min each way but it is unlike Redang/Perhentian, where once you are on the island, most dive sites are just 10-20 minutes speedboat ride away). However once you've made it to Pulau Payar, all of that doesn't matter as you enjoy at times pristine waters, abundant marine life and some interesting structures.

Happy diving

 

[racerx_]

Sounds like a pretty good review from NavarroOne..

Never dived langkawi but have done Phuket and from what I understand langkawi makes a good holiday destination with average-decent diving. Might not be anything to write home about though

 

[kevindive]

Thank you!