Diving in Southeast Asia. David Espinosa
Nichols/Sarah Ann Wormald
Diving in Malaysia
Where Rainforest Meets Reef
Up to the late 1980s, those adventurous travelers who made their way to Malaysia were rewarded with a rich culture and a lifestyle that had changed little over the centuries. Occasionally, they snorkeled the island coral reefs and even more occasionally dived the offshore waters. The attractions that the country advertised overseas were, however, largely on terra firma. Much of that has changed in recent times and scuba professionals have set up operations in a number of places in the country offering a good variety of services and dive options. With the help of some individuals in the private sector, the tourism arm of the government has made a conscious effort to attract overseas visitors to Malaysia’s marine attractions, with some success.
Malaysia lies entirely within the tropics and is divided into two main geographical areas. Peninsular Malaysia joins, on its northern boundary, Thailand, and on its southern shore the Republic of Singapore through a causeway linking the two countries. Some 650 km away, on the huge island of Borneo across the South China Sea, lie two more Malaysian states, the vast states of Sabah and Sarawak, separated by the independently ruled Sultanate of Brunei. The two states on Borneo complete the 13 states of Malaysia, ruled under a federal system from Kuala Lumpur on the Malay Peninsula.
Since the 1990s, like many of its Asian neighbors, Malaysia has made tremendous economic progress resulting in a large growth in population and a huge increase in urban development on both a commercial and domestic level.
A hard coral reef top around Sipadan Island, Sabah, where you will find an excellent selection of dive spots.
Located some 25 minutes north of Sipadan Island, Sipadan Water Village Resort in Mabul offers macro diving around Mabul and the Kapalai Islands and safaris to Sipadan Island.
The capital, Kuala Lumpur, has expanded both laterally and skyward, while Johor Bahru, the country’s second largest town and Singapore’s nearest neighbor, has similarly grown in size and population. Shopping malls, office buildings and international class hotels now decorate these skylines that once carried a silhouette of palm trees and thatched roofs.
Malaysia has two distinctive seasons, dividing the country climatically, though the temperatures at sea level do not vary radically with either season. You can expect a high that rarely exceeds 31° C on the coast, and a low that rarely drops below 22° C. Of course, in the highland areas temperatures are quite different. While the northeast monsoon lashes the eastern shores, dumping heavy rain from November to late February, the western parts of the country—and that includes the dive sites around Langkawi—enjoy drier, sunny tropical weather. Conversely, when the southwest monsoon picks up from May to October, it is time for the east coast dive sites, and those in Borneo, to enjoy sunny dry days—while the western shores get their torrential downpours.
Of the estimated 30 million inhabitants in the 13 states comprising Malaysia, 7 percent are ethnically Indian, 22 percent are of Chinese origin while the majority, approximately 60 percent, are Malays and aborigines. A number of minority groups make up the remainder.
The Malays, a Muslim population, have always been fishermen though perhaps not sailors. They know their coastal waters and have fished them for centuries. Unfortunately, with a growing population to feed, an active tourism industry and a worldwide interest in tropical fish for aquaria, their fishing techniques became more radical in the 1960s and 1970s. Dynamite and cyanide might bring more fish into their nets, but it also killed and maimed many more and did irreparable damage to the country’s coral reefs.
CREATION OF MARINE PARKS
In the mid-1970s, Sabah gazetted one of the first marine parks in the country, the Tunku Abdul Rahman Park. Then, in the 1980s, answering a call from concerned environmentalists and divers, four further marine reserves were gazetted to protect the fauna and flora off Peninsular Malaysia’s coasts. These included Pulau Payar in Kedah and the three areas off the east coast of Malaysia. These last three marine parks together cover thousands of square kilometers of water and embrace some of the most picturesque islands and coral reefs anywhere, among them Redang, Tenggol, Kapas, Rawa, Tioman and Aur. It was no accident that Pulau Tioman was chosen as one of the sites for filming part of the movie South Pacific, an island that breathed the ingredients of a tropical paradise.
All of the east coast islands are reefed with coral and host a marine ecology that enthralls snorkelers and provides plenty of interest for divers. In addition, the outer islands are sufficiently far away from the effects of the mainland and deep enough into the South China Sea to boast a variety of large pelagics, although in recent years their numbers have been dropping.
These islands and the shores of the east coast generally are also, interestingly, one of the main breeding grounds for leatherback, green and hawksbill turtles. Traditionally, turtle eggs have been collected in Malaysia as they are believed, in some instances, to have aphrodisiacal qualities. This, and the killing of turtles for their flesh, has led to a huge decline in numbers. In an effort to conserve these harmless creatures, wardens and volunteers search nightly during the summer laying season for nests containing turtle eggs, incubating them in the safety of government hatcheries and releasing the young turtles into the sea. Similar schemes to ensure turtle survival operate on the three islands comprising Turtle Island Park off Sandakan, around the tiny isle of Sipadan, Sabah, and on Pulau Besar, near Melaka, off the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia.
Hawksbill turtles are commonly seen resting on the reefs of eastern Borneo.
If you see a cloud of juvenile fish or small cardinalfish like this one, look closely as there could be a frogfish lurking somewhere on the outcrop.
LOCATING MALAYSIA’S CORAL REEFS
On Peninsular Malaysia’s east coast, the best coral reefs are to be found in the nine islands that comprise Pulau Redang which, until the boom in tourism, were only inhabited by fisher folk. Redang’s natural beauty inevitably caught the eye of developers who created a golf course on the island and a hotel with scuba diving facilities. Nowadays, there is a choice of places to stay and dive. Fine corals, too, are to be found at fairly shallow depths around the two Perhentian islands and at Lang Tengah.
To the south, Pulau Tenggol has good coral formations in excellent condition and the only real wall diving in Peninsular Malaysia, while Kapas, with its exquisite white sandy beaches, offers shallow and pretty coral reefs.
Tioman, despite its beauty, is not the best place for corals. Overfishing, dynamite fishing and human influence have done much to destroy the nearby corals. Offshore and on submerged reefs the conditions are better. But because it is served by a small airport with daily flights to and from Kuala Lumpur and Singapore, and excellent sea connections, Tioman is a very popular resort for holidaymakers and divers, particularly over weekends. In the southern waters of the east coast lies the small island of Aur, which boasts good corals and some fine diving. Because of its proximity to Singapore, Aur also attracts plenty of weekend divers from the republic.
Nazri’s Beach on idyllic Tioman Island.
Although the formation of marine parks has helped limit the damage caused by illegal fishing, it can do nothing to prevent the run-off from the peninsula itself (deforestation has not been kind to the rivers and offshore waters), which has had disastrous effects on the mangrove swamps as well as inshore corals.