Pulau Tioman (Pulau meaning “island” in Malay) is a large forested island off the east coast of southern Malaysia. I first heard about it while watching a show on the National Geographic channel which featured a herpetologist who took a student team to document species in the interior of the island. Apparently Tioman has great biodiversity and lots of unique species and the scientists were shown happily slithering up trees and sliding down mud hills all in pursuit of some 5” long snake that has never been seen before. They were all covered in mud and leeches but seemed to be having a good time. My immediate thought was “OK, so that’s one island in Malaysia I can skip” but then I heard it had great beaches and some excellent snorkeling so I changed my mind.

Tioman was the next logical step in peninsular Malaysia as it was just 3 hours north of Singapore and we were ready for some laid back beach life. We had intended to stop at Mersing on the mainland for a day or two to do a snorkel trip in the surrounding archipelago but the tourist agency woman who grabbed us straight off the bus convinced us to go directly to Tioman. Our guesthouse was pretty basic with a fan and cold water and unfortunately it did not have a mosquito net but the island is beautiful and the beach was OK so we decided to stay a while.

Tioman is also a duty free island so the beer is cheap (about 50 cents a can), which made Pearse happy, but since the duty free shop was a 30 minute walk from our guesthouse and it was like 95 degrees out and 80% humidity, we couldn’t buy too many cans and even had to stop and drink some on the way back. Tioman was much less developed than we expected especially considering it has an international airport (flights come in from Singapore), although the runway is one of the shortest ones we’ve ever seen and there are large hills at either end of the strip. The coastal areas are settled and there are concrete paths running along each beach which motorbikes use, but the beaches are only connected by jungle paths or by the ocean. The interior remains unsettled and largely unexplored by tourists.

We stayed on ABC beach which has some nice reefs offshore for snorkeling, about 12 guesthouses, a few restaurants and a lot of nice people. The area is also chock full of wildlife. The first thing we saw on our first morning walk was a large monitor lizard digging for breakfast in the leaves right off the path. Knowing that my cousins Donavon and Patrick would love a photo of it, we calmly stalked the lizard for while but still didn’t have the nerve to get closer than this (sorry guys). That afternoon, while we were sitting on our deck trying (unsuccessfully) to drink our duty free beer before it went warm, we watched a troop of about 30 monkeys – many of them babies – cross the field next to us. A few times we also heard rustling in the long grass and a monitor lizard would cross the field as well. One of them was at least 5’ long – we didn’t stalk that one. There were also crabs galore on the beach at night and a couple of tarantulas in our bathroom on consecutive nights. We saw more wildlife on Tioman within 30 feet of our guesthouse than we’ve seen anywhere except a zoo and (other than the tarantulas) it was pretty cool.

Unfortunately, Tioman was also full of mosquitoes. They bit in the morning, afternoon, dusk and at night (at least until we moved into a room with a mosquito net) and we were covered in bites. It was so miserable that we had to take drastic actions and so we signed up for a diving course. We reasoned that the little buggers couldn’t get us underwater, and we were right. We had been thinking about getting certified as divers for a while but were a little apprehensive about doing it. I got a little freaked out during our Intro to Scuba class on Phi Phi. Pearse has made great strides in swimming in the past few years but still isn’t terribly confident in his abilities. But we both love snorkeling so much and we were traveling to some of the best diving spots in the world so we thought it made sense to at least give diving a try.

Tioman seemed to be the perfect place to get certified since a) it was relatively cheap (750 ringgit or $200 each), b) it was quiet and we would probably be the only ones in the class, and c) it supposedly had some great diving. So we signed up with DiveAsia and for 3 days they ferried us to their main dive shop on Salang Beach and Rob, from England, taught us how to dive. We were able to squeeze the regular 4 day open water course into 3 days because we were the only students and we (especially Rob) put in some long days. DiveAsia doesn’t teach in a pool like a lot of resorts do, they use the ocean in front of the dive shop for “confined water” dives, which makes it a bit more challenging but probably better for us in the long run.

Our first day was spent watching really cheesy videos, taking quizzes on the material we had read the night before, learning how to set up the equipment, and pretty much redoing our Intro to Scuba class, with a couple of extra skills thrown in. And then we took a dive. Just like that, we were floating around a reef under 3 m of ocean. It was pretty cool and unlike our Intro to Scuba class, I had no trouble clearing my mask and felt completely comfortable with the regulator. I didn’t sound too much like Darth Vader and my breathing seemed fairly normal. I won’t say I was loving it, but I was pleasantly surprised that I could do it.

We slept pretty well that first night and were up bright and early for day 2. To get your open water certificate, you have to demonstrate certain skills during “confined water” sessions (about 2-3 m deep), some surface skills, and then show the same skills during 4 “open water dives” (ours were about 12-17 m deep), as well as pass some written tests. That second day was a busy one since we needed to do 2 open water dives, 1 confined water session and some classroom work. Rob sent us on our first open water dive first thing in the morning and I think it threw us off since we were expecting classroom work. Both Pearse and I had trouble equalizing our ears and it took us a long time to get down to 12 m but once down there, I had a ball. Pearse didn’t seem like he was having as good of a time, but he hung in there and we both passed our 1st real diving test.

That afternoon, on our second OW dive, we got to see 3 turtles, one within 10 feet of us as well as some other large fish – a Napoleon wrasse and a really big grouper. Seeing the turtles was so exciting that I accidentally made an uncontrolled ascent to the surface. Apparently I was holding my breath from the excitement and I started to rise. I panicked, which made me breath faster and before anyone noticed, there I was, bobbing on the surface. Not my best moment diving, but I survived. The reef off Salang Beach and the visibility were just OK, not as good as the Similians, but seeing the turtles was a highlight of the entire experience; other than not dying, of course.

Our third and last day was spent doing fun dives and since the shop didn’t have any “real divers” going out that day, Rob hand picked the dive spots for us. We dove off Malang Rocks (17 m) where we saw a small spotted ray (again, a first for me) and some pretty cool coral, and then before lunch we proved we could swim around the boat and float for 10 minutes in mildly choppy seas. Our last dive was around Soyak Island, a picturesque island just off Salang Beach. The dive itself wasn’t great and there was a bit of a current but it was still thrilling to be diving – something I never thought I’d have the nerve to do – and I was sad it was over. After passing our final exam, we were certified divers, which does not mean that we are actually qualified to do anything and we certainly need further practice and instruction, but it means we’ve passed the first hurdle. Now we need to plan more vacations to practice our diving skills….

Overall, I was a little surprised by the experience. First, I was surprised that I liked it and that I could do it. Next, I was surprised that I didn’t love it. I had heard that diving is addictive and that if you like it, you really like it and I didn’t feel that way. I’ve seen much nicer reefs and prettier fish while snorkeling (I hate to bring up the Similians again, but I think I’ll spend the rest of my life trying to beat that experience), but I like the extra security and freedom of movement that strapping on a tank and regulator provides. I wouldn’t mind diving when we travel, but if it’s too much hassle or too expensive, I’d be just as happy snorkeling. Regardless, I’m glad we did the course and I’m glad we did it in Malaysia instead of Thailand. Rob was a great and patient instructor and we needed the individual attention. If we had learned to dive in Ko Tao, as we originally planned, we would have been stuck in a class of at least 6 people and I’m not sure that we (I) would have made it.

After 3 tough days getting up at the crack of dawn (7:30 am), we were looking forward to a late morning, but no such luck and the next morning we were on the move again, on a 7:30 am speedboat back to the mainland. We were leaving peninsular Malaysia behind and on our way to Borneo.