Scuba Diving Experience in Tioman Island - Part 1

Have you ever done something fantastic for the first time and got really addicted afterwards? Well...for me, scuba diving is just one of the plenty I've had, but really....it's a very different kind of experience altogether. To begin with, we're suppose to enter a different living environment that possess two third of the earth's surface. Where else we will scuba dive if not into the water. And what for? Ofcourse to see that other world...the world of the underwater.

Now, the other difficulty would be...that this environment is not our natural habitat, which means...we cannot really stroll in that world without equipment, can't we?? Especially breathing apparatus. And to use all the diving equipments safely, rather than kill us in the process, we ought to get training and certification.

That was why in the middle of one crazy week, when I just noticed that a friend of mine back there in Kemaman has managed to organize a PADI Open Water Diving Course for us and apparently was lacking participants, without any hesitation I enrolled myself in along with my husband. I have missed last year's opportunity to do so. Eventhough this year's course was only half paid by my company, I certainly would not miss this opportunity again.

With only one and a half day preparation whilst still working in the office, I and my husband managed to get all the personal diving equipments such as the diving suit, mask, snorkel, and fins. We also managed to read the training materials we're suppose to finish before the course started. In a hurry obviously..but worth the effort.

To get to the island, we have to gather at Mersing Jetty, Johor at Friday morning to catch the boat. As a result, we have to drive all the way from KL in the evening, which was really a torture. It took us at least 5 hours to reach Mersing after driving in the middle of nowhere. Really...we had to take the short way in order to get there in time, but it meant we had to drive through this very large felda area which was really..really dark. And we're practically the only one driving in that road in the middle of the night. Luckily there's no highwayman trying to stop and rob us on spot. That would be scary.

Anyway, we arrived in Mersing at 2 in the morning and found a motel to sleep for few hours before we had to depart to the jetty. My husband's experience on trying to sleep in that motel was a whole different story altogether, but really, I didn't felt anything weird in the room. Or was it because I was fast asleep already?? Never mind, not that I'm complaining of my lack of 6th sense.



To cut the story short, we arrived in Tioman Island, Salang Bay to be exact, at midday. Apparently, the only means of transportation available to access this 'kampung' was by boat. There's a resort in the middle of the island that has an airstrip, but that's about it. No meaningful roads connecting the villages all around the island, which was really fascinating me. It really is a marine park.