Regions / Asia / Malaysia / Tioman Island Dive Resort

Tioman Island Dive Resort

$660 USD / 7 nights

PADI 5 Star Certified

Nitrox $

Star Rating

Tioman Island Dive Resort is located 32km off of the east coast of Malaysia. The resort is on Tioman Island, and the island is 98% covered by one of the oldest rainforests on earth. Gunung Kajang, with an altitude of 1,038 meters, is the highest island peak that overlooks the jungle and forest. Guests arrive on the island by an overland trip from Kuala Lampur to the ferry ports of Mersing or Tanjung Gemok, and a ferry ride to Air Batang Bay (aka ACB) on Tioman Island.

Tioman Island Dive Resort WEATHER

The resort offers six different room styles: the Deluxe Double, the Twin Room, the Executive Double, the Deluxe Triple Room, Executive Triple Room, and the Deluxe Quad Deluxe Room. All rooms are spacious and clean and have daily room cleaning services. Each room has air conditioning, a ceiling fan, a hot water shower, a hairdryer, a mini-fridge, free tea and coffee, a personal safe, a wardrobe, a desk, flat-screen TV, satellite TV, DVD player, balcony, and laundry. The resort was originally built in 2012 and expanded in 2014, however, each monsoon season, the resort is renovated and preventative maintenance ensures the resort stays fresh. There are eleven secluded rooms in total and are available to both divers and non-divers.

The resort has access to a PADI 5-Star Center to provide guests with the highest quality dive experiences possible. Every day, guests meet at the dive shop at 8:30 am and head out for two morning dives starting at 9 am. Divers explore the northern dive sites of Tioman in the vicinity of Coral Island. The second dive is always at a different site in the area. The boat returns to the resort between 12:00 pm and 1:00 pm for lunch. The afternoon dive leaves at around 3:00 pm for a dive site closer to the island. The afternoon dive is usually a shallow dive with great corals, turtles, and blacktip reef sharks or a visit to a wreck site. Night, shore, and muck dives are available as well.

Photos courtesy of Tioman Island Dive Resort

Dive Conditions

Diving in Malaysia is suitable for all levels of divers as waters are generally calm and reefs are protected. The east coast of Peninsular Malaysia can be dived from March to September while diving in East Malaysia is year-round.

Sipadan Island is the first word on everyone's lips when discussing diving in Malaysia and it is one of the finest dive spots on the planet, but there is much more. Layang Layang is a little atoll off the north coast of Sabah which is fringed by some of the best coral fields you are likely to see. However, it is for the huge schools of scalloped hammerhead sharks that patrol around the island that Laying Layang has developed the reputation as a must-see diving destination of Malaysia.

Sipadan is a year-round destination with the optimum overall conditions being from April to December. July and August are often described as the best months with visibility sometimes exceeding 40m around the island. Mabul never experiences such good visibility but, as a macro destination, it doesn't need to.

January and February can see unsettled weather. These months are the start of the rainy season in Sabah and although Sipadan and Mabul might not experience much rain, the air and water temperature can be a little cooler and visibility can be low during this period. There are fewer divers here at this time but it is still possible to enjoy excellent conditions. The normally calm seas can also be a little unsettled at this time.

The weather is different in Layang Layang, off Sabah's west coast, where the diving season runs from March to August. March to May is considered the best time to see the marquee creature of this destination, scalloped hammerheads. Constant currents waft over the island's reefs all year round which bring in the marine life. The seas can be rough, even during peak season, beyond the calm lagoon where the resort is located. Visibility is generally very good, averaging 30m+ with the normal range considered to be from 10 to 40m. The resort closes between September and February.

Water temperature ranges from 25 - 30°C and visibility is usually 5 - 40m.