Pulau Tioman is synonymous with most Malaysians and is a popular holiday destination for locals. With my refresher course done, I took a 4D3N diving trip to Tioman.
The beautiful Sunrise in Pulau Tioman
Day 1
Started our journey on Thursday for an overnight stay in Mersing. Along the way we decided to stop over in Muar for some lunch and street art photography. Interestingly there are some nice street art to enjoy... And painted by Julia V. a prominent street artist who have done many street arts in Malaysia. Another attraction in Muar is their famous otak otak... A must try when in Muar and its sold almost everywhere around Muar town.
Yummilicious Otak Otak
The Street Art in Muar can be found all over the town center, you need to walk around to look for it and we managed to find some
After a quick lunch and we were off to Mersing. There are no 5*accommodation in Mersing but there are some decent hotels... so make do with what is available. We stayed at D'View OYO Hotel in town. The advantage about this hotel, parking is plenty all around the hotel
The main entrance of the hotel (left) and the generous parking space in front (above)
After the usual procedure of checking in, we decided to wander around town......It's been ages since I last came to Mersing and how the town has changed. The town even have their very own street art lane, Laman Samudera !!!!
Laman Samudera
Halfway down the lane there is another lane that cuts to the right and you can find more street art.
With that feast, that was our first day....We had an early night as our ferry departs at 9.30 am the next day
Day 2
After a quick breakfast with coffee, we checked out and headed to our rendezvous point, the Mersing jetty to catch our ferry to Pulau Tioman. There's plenty of car parking lots and the operator charges RM15 per day. We booked the Cataferry for our journey and it cost slightly more that the other operators. This turned out to be a "memorable" trip.........The sea was very choppy throughout the whole journey!!!! and the obvious happened!!!!!😵😵😵😵
The ferry is quite comfortable though and there's a TV to show movies (and in English!!!) SOPs were strictly observed and the ferry stops at all the main jetties in Pulau Tioman.
The interior of the ferry (left) and the Cataferry
The journey took about 1.5 hrs......and finally we arrived at Tekek jetty. After meeting our transport provider, a quick stop at the duty free shop.....🍷🍷🍺🍺 we were off to our resort. The journey took about 30 minutes.....an uphill drive to the east side of the island.
Our transport.....It was raining!!!
Greeting us at the entrance of Juara Beach Resort is a beautifully painted turtle on the wall. This resort is a very simple place with minimum frills and facilities. Meant to be a divers resort who will probably spend most of their time diving.
The room is quite basic and comes with attached toilet and hot water is available. Air-cond works perfectly fine. However there is no mini fridge in the room, a downside of this place. Towels are available and you have a kettle in the room as well. Since P. Tioman is a duty free island, beer is sold at RM5 a can
The resort has only a few sea front chalets, so it's advisable to book early if you want the sea front rooms.
Unfortunately, I couldn't take the plunge on the first day as I was still feeling nausea from the ferry ride......BUT.....I could still have lunch😁😁😁😁 !!!!
The real advantage of this place, Juara Beach, is there is a very long stretch of sandy beach and very clean......however watch out for the sand flies
Clean long sandy beach
After a quick lunch I decided to check out the place and the quaint village, Kg. Juara. Another attraction in this place is the Flying Fox, a protected species on the island
Dinner was grill chicken and beef with salad and fries.....The dinner was OK only and since everyone was hungry.....every single item on the plate was cleaned out!!!!
And that concluded our first day on the island....an early night rest for next day's diving adventure.
Day 3
My diving started in the morning, my dive was arranged by Amigo Dive Center....great dive masters and very professional in getting us ready for the dive. After the short briefing and quick change in to our gear......we were off.......albeit the sea was slightly choppy. The visibility was not that great but could still get close to 10 feet. This is a photography dive for Nudibranchs...
More info here - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nudibranch
While my friends proceeded to take the second dive, I called it quits as I was still groggy!!! Came back to land, rested a bit and caught up with the other non divers. After a quick simple lunch, we decided to hike up to a waterfall. The way to the trailhead is by the main road and it was an uphill walk all the way to the trailhead!!!! Takes about 45 mins to walk to the trailhead as some parts of the road is quite steep. Once we reach the trailhead it is just a 5 minute walk to the waterfall.
The waterfall is not very big but the force of the water is good enough for a natural jacuzzi to ease the tired muscles from the hike up the road. There is a small portion where it's 7 feet deep as well. We spent quite some time at the falls, enjoying the cool clean water and taking as many photos as possible.
Ali Waterfalls
The walk back was quite tiring as it was now a downhill steep walk and we had to be careful. Dinner was better as we found another restaurant to dine, Juara Mutiara Café, a short walk from where we stayed. The road is well lighted up, no worries about dark narrow roads.
Tom Yum Soup, Chicken Fried Rice & Kampung Fired Rice
For dessert it was coconut banana pancake with chocolate syrup and banana pancake
Yummy pancakes at Juara Mutiara Café
And that concluded Day 3
Day 4
After a quick breakfast, I was off to another dive. Fortunately, the weather was a lot better than yesterday and I managed to put in 2 dives, again another macro dive to hunt for more Nudibranchs. Unfortunately for me my camera gave up on me and all I could do was observe the other divers take splendid photos of different variety of Nudibranchs!!! 😞😞😞😞
Photo courtesy of HL See
Day 5
On the last day, the weather was amazingly good, after a quick breakfast, it was time for a leisurely stroll on the beach before heading back to the chalet for a quick clean up to check out. The journey back on the Cataferry was amazingly smooth, hardly any waves.
Once we reached the mainland, we headed off to Yong Peng for dinner, Yuan Yean Fish Ball Noodles. However we were caught in a heavy thunderstorm in Kluang and the roads were partly flooded.
Apparently, Yong Peng is very famous for its fish ball, just like Muar is famous for otak otak
Mee Pok with fish ball and the fried Fu Chok
Fried Wonton and Muar Otak Otak
Overall, it was a good trip and happy that I got back to scuba diving again, and manage to include a simple but rewarding hike to the waterfalls. I will definitely return to Tioman for more diving and hopefully able to climb the Dragon's Horn this time.
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