Tenggol Island
This tiny island is situated between Redang and Tioman on the east coast and around 20 kilometers offshore. The big attraction here is wall diving as the island has steep rocky cliffs on its eastern side facing the South China Sea. There are several submerged rocks and some pristine coral formations here with the walls dropping down some 48 meters in depth. Fish life here includes bumphead parrotfish, jacks, lizardfish and occasional whitetip sharks.
Popular dive sites include "Amazing Grace", "The Fishbowl" and "The Highway" this last one named after the strong currents that are often experienced there. There is also Teluk Air Tawar, a gently sloping bay on the west coast of Tenggol with some impressive coral gardens.
Kuantan Wreck
She is resting on her port side, at 23 meters deep. The top of the wreck is at 14 meters and is easily dived by novice divers. Surrounding the wreck are large wire-mesh fish traps scattered by local fishermen. Her length is about 80m and she is 10m wide. The propeller is still in tact and quite large. It is covered with growth and its crack is also the home of a moray eel.
She carried crude oil when she sunk. The wreck is situated at about 20 nautical miles off the coast Kuantan. There are two resident, big, groupers of 1.5m and 1m in lenght, sometime you'll see two leopard sharks, a guitar shark, schooling jacks, batfish, barracuda, giant sting rays, snapper, eels and turtles.
Pulau Kapas
This small island north of Tenggol also has a wreck off its coast, the 50 year old Japanese landing craft wreck sits upright. Her anti aircraft guns lie at the bow, carpeted with growth of soft corals and sponges. Frequent encounters with whale sharks at this site makes up for its poor visibility.
Depths: 10 - 48m
Viz: 10 - 25m
Currents: Occasional
Getting there : Boat 1 hour from mainland
Best months: Mar / Sept
Dive Sites : 10+
Telok Air Tawar
Dept : 20 - 100 feet
Level : Open Water and above
This is a well-sheltered bay and the waters is generally calm. Considered the house reef of the resorts which is about 200 metres from shore, its slopes from 10 to 40 feet with sand bottom covers with hard and soft corals. Other marine life includes garden eels, our resident turtle, moray eel, box fist and even lionfish. There are two wrecks located in this bay at 60 feet and the other is at 90 feet. Doing a dawn dive here is like visiting Raffles Place MRT station during the morning peak hours. Jump into our house reef right in front of your chalet and enjoy a close encounter with one of the resident turtles and a chance upon a herd of grazing humphead parrotfish as shallow as a few feet of the bay water. Night dive here are gratifying with exquisite black and white spotted baby barramundi cod and our favourite little resident baby torpedo ray, a mere 15 cm long.
Batu Chachang to Tanjung Gemuk
Dept : 60 - 100 feet
Level : Open Water Diver and above
A high concentration of fish life - jacks, trevilies, fusiliers, barracudas, tunas, humpheads and eagle rays. The bottom of this area houses an interesting collection of rock outcrops covered with soft and hard corals, sea anemonies and sponges. One diver voted as his favourite site. Why? "Lots of fish, good coral life, and all at only 40 feet!"
Coral Garden
Dept : 20 - 60 feet
Level : Open Water and above
The gradients of the bays are gentle with sandy bottoms, rock outcrops and many coral heads. A favourite spot for coral lovers. At an average dept of 40 feet, the area has soft and hard corals, Christmas tree worms, sponges, sea anemones etc. A one-foot length Christmas tree worm can be found in this site.
Tokong Timur
Dept : 40 - 90 feet
Level : Open Water and above
Depending on the time of the dive, divers may encounter surface swell in the area. Suitable for open water divers, it is characterised by a big boulder, this site comprises mainly soft corals and sea whip fields. The sloping reef go down to over 60 ft here, and is well-covered with a variety of pretty soft and hard corals and sea whips. This place rains fish down upon the diver, with endless busily swimming schools of bannerfish, fusiliers, angelfish, and humphead parrotfish. Also frequently seen are lizardfish that rests on coral or rock heads as well as banana fish. Surface swell can be rough depending on the weather and time during the dive. Some of the fish sighted here include bumphead parrotfish, batfish, banana fish and lizardfish.
Batu Tokong Laut
Dept : 70 - 100 feet
Level : Advance Open Water and above
A favourite among regular divers, this site is also known as "The Highway" as schools of pelagics can found plying along this "highway". Divers may experience strong currents in this area. The terrain is generally rocky with huge boulders forming walls, tunnels and swim throughs. A photographers' haven as there are interesting coral formations to be found on the walls of these boulders and there are also a few interesting variety of the smaller creatures too.
Tokong Kamudi to Tokong Burung Laut
Dept : 80 - 100 feet
Level : Advance Open Water and above
It is possible to do a drift-dive at 80 feet from Tokong Kamudi to Tokong Burong. The condition is generally calm, with surface and deep water currents. The surface can get choppy after bad weather. Schools of barracudas, jacks, fusiliers, snappers and tunas sighted. This site are also a nudibranch havens.
Batu Tokong Kamudi
Dept : 50 - 100 feet
Level : Open Water and above
A wall extends down to 100 feet. There is a good covering of soft, encrusting and stony corals, sponges and christmas tree worms. In deeper waters, you will find soft tree corals, sea anemones and nudibranchs. Fish here include angelfish, butterfly fish, surgeonfish, wrasses, snappers etc. Most of the fish sighted are mainly small corals fish. This appear to be a nudibranch haven too
The Wreck
The Cement Wreck
Name: Unknown
Nationality: Indonesian
Type: Cargo (Cement)
Dept: 45m/148 ft.
Highest Point Bridge Wing at 120 Ft.
Background
The ship lies on its starboard with its bow facing NE (Note: UK hydrographic survey states that it is lying on the port side). The wreck is known locally as the "Indonesian Cement Wreck". It is about 235 feet in length and was built in 1955 by the Japanese. The exact date of its sinking is unknown. But it was suspected before 1965 (most likely between 1963 and 1965). The Malaysian flag taken from the wreck showed 14 strips, it was the flag used when Singapore was still part of the Federation.