(Important Note: The following sections may be a little outdated, & DON'T take me as an authority on Tioman. These are just personal observations from my few trips. At the end of the day, Tioman is still a great place to be - Arthur March 2003)   
 

 Previously stayed at: 

• Paya Beach Resorts - Nice establishment with a good restuarant serving a la carte menus. During my Mar trip, they were building more chalets. This place's much better than Tioman Paya Resorts. Provide a snorkelling trip to Coral island in their package. House reef 50m right of the end of jetty - pretty good. 

 
• Kampung Air Batang - Can't remember the accomodation I stayed at, but things were pretty basic, at least at the chalet we stayed at. (Here's a hint I picked up while I was there: sit under a ceiling fan when having a meal, the flies have a more difficult time trying to navigate around you & your food. But don't blame me if the wind blows them straight into your dinner.) 

 
• Berjaya Resort - Accomodation is suppose to be the only one of its class on Tioman. (So is the price). It has its own swimming pool, golf course, fruitmachine room, game machine room, billard room, restuarant serving good buffet dinner. You can hire a kayak, row to the small island in front of the sea sport centre & do some good snorkelling (Turtles, shark, stingray, fishes) but watch out for the current & boats. If you want to be pampered & need the crowd atmosphere. This is your paradise.

 

(P.S. latest update : We saw some Dredging works going on at the mouth of Mersing .... not sure if the water is deep enough yet??)  

If you're going by coach from Singapore, be prepared to sweat it out if you're going thru the Singapore-Malaysia Causeway. There is usually a long queue here, esp over weekends & holidays. While there's a new link over at the western side of Singapore (Tuas), the Toll Charges at the new link may be too hefty for some coach operators to absorb, so they stick to the old causeway. JAM JAM JAM (Do you know that the malay word "JAM" translate to "Hour" !!). If you have the choice, stick to the new link: Pay that little more for your own comfort. 

The Catamaran Ferry from Tanah Merah Terminal (Singapore). While the timing is more reliable, the price is definitely much much higher. The ride - depending on the high seas, you'll need to prepare for either a bumpy ride on either leg of your trip or on both your forward & return trips. Takes about 4 hours one way. Stops at Berjaya Resort. You either have other arrangement for transport to the other village (Check with your resort) or be prepared to pay quite a high price for their water-taxi. 

I've yet to try their airplane.  

Each time I've been there, I keep telling myself it be my last, but like what the above trips tells you, Tioman keeps beckoning me. 

Diving in Tioman is pretty ok. At the Marine park, they've recently sunk 7-8 Thai fishing boats , which were caught fishing illegally in Malysian waters. Acting as artificial reefs, they are attracting quite a good number of large jacks, snapper & groupers. Downside: visibility not that great, esp if novice divers start kicking up the sediments. 

Over at the Coral island, places where snorkellers seldom frequent are still the best diving sites. Where you can find snorkellers, the corals are usually dead or dying: too much touching & breaking of corals. Remember this the next time you do any snorkelling or diving: Look only, don't touch. 

From: Cecilia Berlin  
Subject: Diving at Tioman Island 
Date: Mon, 3 Aug 1998 16:02:50 +0200 

Hi! 

I found your address when I was searching for information about Tioman Island. I am going there in the beginning of September to dive. Do you still remember the name of the PADI diving centre and do you still have their e-mail address? 

How is the night-life at Tioman Island? What I have heard here from Sweden the island is really quiet, and there is nothing to do except during daytime (water sports, trekking aso) Do you agree on that? The reason why I ask is that my brother and myself are diving, but my friend is not, and she will be really bored if we are going to stay too long at Tioman if there is nothing for her to do... 

All information that can be useful for us will be appreciated! 

Hope to hear from you soon! 

Cecilia 

Hi Cecilia, 

What's your travel plan like? Are you flying directly to Malaysia? Means of getting to Tioman? Accomodation in Tioman? Which town? 

I usually arrange my dive trips thru a dive operator  in Singapore.

He has his own boats, coordinates the transport, accomodation & meals. It's much easier for my wife & myself. You may like to check out his webpage. 

If you're making all the arrangements on your own, you might want to try & stay in the town of Salang in Tioman. I've only been there on a afternoon visit, but I was impressed with the place (Relative to other towns). There are also 2 dive centres there (Sorry, can't recall the names). You may like to send a email to the Vincent & ask if he's familiar with the dive operator there. 

Your non-diving friend might be interested to do a little snorkelling. The water here is clear & has plenty of fishlife to nibble at her toes. An introductory dive can also be arranged with the dive operator here. 

As for nightlife, there's usually not much things happening (unless you're with a group of divers : I saw this... I saw that). Occasionally the local band might decide on a "Disco Night". Dazzling lights but horrid music. 

Another alternative would be to stay at the Berjaya Resort. The resort is suppose to be the top end of accomodation on Tioman. It has a good buffet spread in the evening & has other activites for the non-diver: computer games room, pool table, fruit-machine room, swimming pool, sea-sports centre (with diving facility as well), horse-riding, cycling. The rooms here are definitely much better than else where. And with the currency crisis in Asia, you might just get a good deal here as well. So check it out. 

Hope the info above is useful. Do try & get a book on Indo-Pacific marine life, it helps you identify the fishes & corals. 

Don't forget to send me a post card. Cheers 

Arthur & Corrine 

(P.S. We're both going Palua Redang this weekend, an island north of Tioman. This place is suppose to be better than Tioman as it is a better managed marine reserve. Like to know how our trip went?) 

Getting there: Getting to Pulau Redang must be the lowest point of the trip!  From Singapore, we took an 10+ hrs coach ride to reach Kuala Terengganu.  You can either take the coastal road all the way up north or a slightly longer but smoother route via the North-South Highway, turning off at Segamat & heading north east to Kuantan & then Terengganu.  However, if money's not an issue, you can travel via Malaysia Airlines' efficient domestic routes.  (We actually took a flight back instead of going thru the 11 hours coach ride back to Singapore) 

I believe there is also a rail system which would bring you up north, but with the turmoil & chaos over the Railway Immgration checkpoint during the period of our trip, it was a definite no-no choice .... until Singapore & M'sia sort out their differences. 

In Kuala Terengganu, there are quite a few resort operators.  A few had a backdoor to the river behind their office, where a speedboat would whisked you off to P. Redang within an hour.  (of Our S'pore dive operator) made his arrangement with the Redang Aquatic Adventure Sdn Bhd.  I had a peek at their brochure (RM399 pax for a 3D/2N all inclusive package, minus the ground transfer).

Accomodation Meals & Activities:   The accomdation is your typically island chalet Malaysian style.  Made out of wood, it has a verandah/balcony on all its single & double storey chalets (great for hanging out your washing .  It has its own en-suite bathroom (no hot water), aircondition, 2 queen sized beds (for Quad sharing).  Do bring your own towel.

Meals are also included in the package.  Serving mostly Chinese style cooking, the quality is pretty ok. Meals are served Buffet style with tables accomodating to groups of 6-10.  What I like about this place is the green garbage management:  different containers for food waste, plastics, aluminium cans, etc  ...  rather uncommon practice in these parts of Asia.

Beside the resort lobby, there's a small bar serving drinks & snacks. You can buy a couple of drinks, lay yourself on the hammock & laze your day away. On the first night, we had a wonderful view of the full moon rising from the east. There were plenty of oohs & aahs. Simply Beautiful.

Later in the evening, Corrine & myself took a stroll down the beach & laid down on the beach chairs, gazing at the stars above. (We actually saw a very fast moving 'star'/light above us: no airplane beacons to indicate it was a plane, too fast & too high for a commercial plane, definitely not a shooting star, a satellite? a UFO? We'll never know)

During the day, package tourist are usually rounded up twice a day for their activites: snorkelling, snorkelling & snorkelling.  Other activites like hiking, fishing (outside of Marine Reserve), Mahjong, etc, can be organized .... for a fee.  Other free activites include:  Beach Volleyball, lazing in the hammocks, watching TV, swimming.

Diving:    The Dive centre's pretty well equipped & organised.  The Dive master at the resort usually brief us at the Centre, giving us profiles of the day's dive site.  Vincent managed to hire 2 fishing boats to cater to our group.  And because there's no jetty at the resort, we usually waddle out to stomach high waters to get onto the boats. (Thankfully the water's pretty calm & very clear)

There are a couple of dive sites within easy reach from the resort.  We did five dives over the 2 days (Sat & Sun).  At most sites, there's a current problem to deal with, so its better to let the most gungho diver onboard to gear up & jump in first to check out the current.  (There was this eager beaver diver called Mark who was first to gear up & executed a giant leap .... minus his flippers ... he had a terrific swim back to the boat after the strong surface current swept him away.)

The most impressive dive we did was at the Mini-Mount:  Stingray, Long finned travalley, giant barracuda, school of juvenile barracuda, kingfish, triggerfish ....  Visibility was up to 20 m.

On the whole, diving in Redang was a hair better than Tioman.  Its plus points include visibility, accomodation & dive facility, beautiful beach, sand & water, and last but not least, its green concept of management.

Would I be back?  Minus the travelling, it is worth the effort & time .... maybe diving at a different site.