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Dive Operators in MalaysiaMalaysia comprises two regions separated by the South China Sea: Peninsular Malaysia and Malaysian Borneo. Peninsular Malaysia is immediately south of Thailand - Tioman Island is off its East coast and Kuala Lumpa is found on its West coast. Malaysian Borneo is home to Sipadan in the state of Sabah. Sipadan Tioman Sibu Tenggol Kuala Lumpur Kedah Layang Layang Books to Take Your Comments
Dive Sipadan, BorneoAll dive operators and resorts have had to leave the island of Sipadan on environmental grounds. A good place to base yourself for diving here is Semporna. Alternatively you can stay on the island of Mabul, which is 10 minutes boat ride away from Sipadan. However staying there is more expensive than Semporna.
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"Downbelow are a PADI 5-Star IDC Dive & Adventure Centre with our dive station based on Gaya island, just 10 minutes by boat from Kota Kinabalu, surrounded by lush tropical jungle and vibrant dive sites right on our doorstep. We provide complete SCUBA diver training courses from Discover SCUBA through to IDC Staff Instructor. Plus daily reef & wreck diving trips along Sabah's West Coast & the Tunku Abdul Rahman Park. "I found Downbelow Marine on the internet before our 7 days trip to KK then I called and emailed with the Travel Consultant - Carol, as I had an 11 years old girl to do Junior PADI Open Diver Course, and I had millions of questions. Carol answered all my questions in details and with great patience. My daughter's instructor was Wellson, he was very professional and good with kid. During the whole four days course, we were greeted cheerfully everyday from the staffs. Downbelow was always on time to pick us up from the hotel, then the transfer to Gaya Island was safe with life jackets. There were unlimited free water, tea, coffee, fruit, biscuits for everyone. Lunch was okay, not very exciting, but we can't eat much before the afternoon dive anyway. All equipments were in good conditions and have smaller sizes for kids. Everything was great and my daughter completed her Junior Open Water Diver course now and we would definitely go back next time. Gaya Island is beautiful and clean. I am so glad we went and found Downbelow Marine, I did not have a minute of worry during the whole trip, as I know, they are very professional and helpful. " " I completed my Open Water Dive fruitfully with DOWN BELOW MARINE WILDLIFE ADVENTURES..it was excellent arrangement n knowledgeable instructor.. during my course it wasn't only the qualification I gained but the experiences underwater is heaven to me....BEAUTIFUL!...Tunku Abdul Rahman Park's House Reef, Mangrove Corner and North Sulug..BEAUTIFUL!. " Downbelow Marine Wildlife Adventure..one word that i can say..AWESOME..i go to dive last week with my classmate...we enjoyed what we are doing...a lot of things that i can learn...the staff very friendly...i got the best instructor...TQ for teaching me how to dive.. " We stayed in an apartment and travelled to Downbelow meeting point everyday although they are happy to collect. Marvellous value for money. The team at Downbelow can cater for all ages. The variety of instructors means that my youngest son was taken care of by Bob whilst Tim Tan looked after me as I seemed to have difficulty sinking! My 19 year old and his 34 year old uncle went off with someone else. We all came away qualified open water divers and are going back next year to continue with the advanced. What a warm and friendly, relaxed and yet professional set up on a piece of paradise. " My girlfriend and I just completed the Open Water Diver course with Downbelow. They provided excellent, friendly and professional services to what I need for our 9 Days trip. We had a super great time in all of our dives with them. Highly recommended to everyone who is going to visit KK. We would like to return again for our AOW. " More comments on Downbelow Marine and Wildlife Adventures Sdn. Bhd...
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"Borneo Dream is an authorised PADI, SDI, TDI, IANTD and BSAC Dive Operator, as well as a licensed Tour Operator, based in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Borneo. We aim to cater for all levels of diving knowledge and experience - from non divers all the way through to technical diver. "I have just dived with Borneo Dream during my holiday to Kota Kinabalu in Sabah. They were excellent from the beginning to the end of the diving trip - a large well equipped catamaran for a dive boat, making the effort to take you to the nicest dive sites on the day with good vis (other operators didn't). "We dived two times with Borneo Dream and plan to go back, very friendly and very safe way of practising. Professional and friendly, Borneo Dream team helped us to discover the different bottom of the area. "1st time diving and tried PADI Discovery Scuba Diving down to 12meter. It was great. Free from noise, just hear your own breathing in the calm water. No one require doing any talking and just reading hand signal to communicate. The water world is really fascinating. Swim around queuing fishes, saw the sea cucumber moving slowly around, and look at the aquatic live. It was already 4PM when I was signalled to return to surface. Time flew without even realising it. great experience and thinking to continue PADI Open Water Diver Course!" "I would highly recommend Borneo Dream to anyone who wishes to explore the wonderful array of fish, and corals, that lie beneath the sea and who want to become a qualified PADI diver. Safety always comes first with Borneo Dream, which before meeting them was my main concern as I was a bit nervous at first. I was soon at ease though as they are a very experienced and proffessional team of people who's goal is seeing you safely through your PADI while teaching you the skills for safe diving and importantly having fun, thus enabling me to make the most of and enjoy this wonderful experience! " "We completed our open water referral with BorneoDream over two days. We had an amazing time and found them to be totally professional with good equipment and knowledgeable instructors, who put us at ease and ensured we had a good time. Excellent dive boat captain (Captain Merali) and good onboard facilities. We would recommend BorneoDream to any new or experienced divers wanting to dive in Sabah Borneo. We hope to go back and dive again with them in the future. "
A beautiful peaceful, paradise island resort with PADI Dive Centre, dive packages available with luxury accommodation. Enjoy diving the 6 nearby islands surrounding Pom Pom Island, amazing macro plus beautiful coral fish and turtles. Resort has range of luxury detached beach and water villas constructed for every comfort. Packages include 3 meals per day plus snacks, juices, coffee and tea etc in our famous traditional Malaysian Restaurant. Contact us for more details and prices. Sipadan Pom Pom Island Resort
Dive The World offers Malaysia resort diving in Sipadan, Mabul, Kapalai, Layang Layang and Lankayan Island, and also PADI dive courses in Mabul and Kota Kinabalu. Dive The World Head Office
SIPADAN SCUBA "Sipadan Scuba is a PADI 5-star IDC & National Geographic Dive Denter S-6528, the first and only PADI 5 Star Instructor Development Center in Semporna, Sabah, Malaysia and the first National Geographic Dive Center in Borneo. ."
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Owned and managed by Chrissie Mazzei. Borneo Action Dive Center
"I organized a two week trip with our dive club and Borneo Action and Chrissie took care of our entire trip from picking us up at the airport , the amazing hotel Nexus, the internal flight check out dives near Sapi, Mt Kinabalu, a 2 day trip to see the Orang Utang in Sepilock and 7 days diving on Mabul and Kapalai . Great Sipadan Mabul Resort and the top divemaster on the island . Borneo Action trip organization was excellent, accurate and certainly they know their dive stuff , Buon Lavoro !! Jumpa Lagi !! "I did my Advance and Rescue Course Total RM 800 including all gear. Great set up in the middle of town with the best sunset view. want to go back for my DM training." "10 out of 10 to BORNEO ACTION. I found out about them from the Lonely Planet Guide, and they turn my trip to Borneo into an unforgetable adventure. Professional, well organized and the greatest thing the owner Chrissie - she truly knows everyone !!! Thank you for teaching me dive and to appreciate spicy chilli and wierd looking food. One day I'll be back." "Wow...what a great experience!
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Run trips to Sipadan. This PADI centre is in Bangi, just outside Kuala Lumpur. 315G, Kompleks Diamond, Jalan Medan Bangi
"Responsible instructors, I took my advance Open water with them. They just been awarded as ECO operator by PADI. "
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Scuba Junkies
"Excellent, professional outfit, would dive with them again without doubt. Did 21 dives around Sipadan with them in October 2005 and had a great time." "These guys were brilliant! Myself and the missus did our PADIs a year ago and so we booked for a refresher dive with Scuba Junkies before heading off for a posh dive resort, but after a fantastic day with Scuba Junkies we really wished we'd booked with them instead. The equipment was great and it was a great three dives, and their rates were very reasonable, but what really made it for us was the brilliant atmosphere on the dive boat. We could have easily spent a week in their company. Can't recommend them enough." "Scuba Junkies is definitely one of the best dive operators I've ever come across. Took my Open Water course with them in May 2007 and they've got me hooked! My 2 instructors Tino from Germany and Cle from South Africa were definitely experienced and enthusiastic. 3 cheers to the various divemasters too! Very warm, friendly and interested! It really differs from those big so called 'professional' dive companies you find simply processing out schools of fresh-eyed divers for the sake of profits! I've even come to the point of putting up a big Billboard in the Backpackers hostel that I run in tribute to them, definitely recommending them to every single diver that that comes thru my door. Definite thumbs up to Scuba Junkie. Planning to do my Divemaster there the end of the year!!" "I personally would NOT dive or take any course with this company. Having undertaken my Divemaster course with them their standards and services were below expectations. They can not organize a piss up in a brewery. As for booking in advance, Ha, the amount of times they gave the same excuse that they had not received the information. This left many customers waiting an extra day or two to dive. As for the comment of hanging around in the evening it is the only operator I know that makes all it's customers go back to try their gear on! "I will not dive with them again! SJ just look to $$. We had a really bad experience and so did many other people.
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Causeway Road Semporna
"I do NOT recommend diving with Uncle Changs to beginners! In fact, I don't recommend Uncle Changs to anyone! Despite the friendly and helpful reception staff and the great location on Mabul Island this turned out to be our worst diving experience so far. "A group of six of us spent six awesome days diving Sipadan from our base on Mabul courtesy of Uncle Chang. The Divemasters and instructors were simply superb, taking care of everything for us, and Mabul backpackers lodge was simple yet outstanding. It has a real sense of community. Would recommend to anyone." "Great place to stay at uncle changs place at mabul island. However the equipment is poor! Old, leaking material and the bcd was sometimes not properly working (air in knob did not release after pressing, so I was inflated and went straight to the surface!) Even the boat was held together with bolds since the back board on which the engine was fixed had been broken off in the past. The price for diving is the same compared to other companies. The hostel although simple is rather cheap and of great value specially because of the friendly ambiance, people and music in the evenings. Mabul Island is a great place to be (cheap, simple and very friendly)." "I checked all operators in Sepmorna who were open for business and decided to try Uncle Chang. I stayed with him for the duration of my holiday. I delivered my equiptment on Monday morning. Each day it was taken to the boat; tank changes were made and it was then taken to the offices where it was rinsed, dried and stored until the next day. On my final day it was delivered to my hotel. "Hey! Have to say something really nice about Uncle Chang... Heard that some others had bad experience. I booked my dives with him together with a school of students from Singapore in spring 2004. He gave us extremely good prices and we had no problem with the equipment at all! He also collected us from bus station and set us up on the boat, was awesome. He's one of the old smaller local vendors that is not running it like a industry! (And seriously, he don't want to either.) Uncle Chang for president! And yes the diving is great and Barracuda point a must. "Great people to deal with: very helpful. The other companies are very hard sellers and run the other operators down saying they are the best which I did not like. Uncle Chang I would use again." "Hey Uncle Chang was simply great... In fact he has real caring Dive Masters who really track you every minute of the journey. In fact his ratio is like 2 Divemasters to a Group of 4. I have never seen a better ratio anywhere. And they are ALWAYS watching over you. I was particularly impressed with Mr Armando Gelan (MANDO) who really made sure we had a fabulous time. I shall MOST definately recommend Uncle Chang to everybody... Besides that Uncle Chang also throws great parties at night - and it is dinner and people and music with a most unconventional drum... Love it... " "Uncle Chang's diving organisation was brilliant for us. We did 8 dives with them for a rediculously good price and he was the most generous and friendly host possibly imaginable. I have every faith in Uncle Chang, so much so we are going back to dive with him this month (nov 05). As someone mentioned previously, great parties after a superb days diving." "We stayed on the Mabul Island with Ungle Changs divers which was excellent." "Uncle Chang's was a great experience. New equipment and boat with quality staff on Mabul island. It can't be beat in terms of atmosphere and quality. Highly recommended. Better than any other place I dove in south east asia." "Uncle Chang's Mabul Backpackers is simply the best. Diving at Sipadan at backpacker prices is crazy (my only problem was some equipment was a little old, but perfectly safe) they are really friendly. I could always get Sipadan permits etc as Uncle is the only true local Malay operator, great stuff, will go again if I'm lucky enough to be in Borneo again. Since I've been staying there they have, for the 1st time in their 8 year existence, got a website....ye ha!" "I've just returned from Semporna- Sipadan and Mabul. I completed my PADI advanced with Scuba junkies, but was unimpressed with their service, so on recommendation I decided to complete a few fun dives with Uncle Chang's on Mabul Island. I can definitely recommend Uncle's for both the diving, the quality of staff and the atmosphere. I felt at home and I learnt more in 4 dives with Uncle's then any where else. I will definitely be returning to this little slice of paradise!" "It was certainly an experience diving Mabul/Sipadan with U.C.! The equipment was very old and unreliable, not a problem for experienced divers.....NEWBIES BEWARE! Staff were friendly but it doesn't matter how experienced a divemaster is, groups of 12+ people is a problem waiting to happen. The free food is ok but the rum drinking at night might make some nervous about doing 3 deep dives the next day. The boats are falling to bits, but just work. Make sure you're not inexperienced as a diver. Large groups of divers with tatty old equipment panic...(it happened on 2 out of the 9 dives with Uncle Chang)"
Ground Floor, Bangunan SeaFest,
"Wicked Dive Master......Jeff Rocks.....
lot 28, 1st floor, blk E,
"I dived with them last month. Very professional, local guide with 5 years in that area. The homestay is clean with very friendly staff. I'm sure I will back again. "Would I dive with them again - no bloody way!! Unprofessional, untrained amateurs. The worst dive operator I've ever been with. Their equipment was life threatening - really awful.
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"Sipadan Dive Resort were not very tolerant of inexperienced divers. They do get more accepting as you dive with them. Cost was fairly ok with unlimited shore dives." "Excellent dive resort - would take issue with previous comments about attitude. If you go to Sipadan as an inexperienced diver - it's your own fault, read about the place before you go - common sense! The resort, although basic, had a great friendly feel to it - we were very happy there. Diving was excellent - staying at resort enabled us to do several shore dives in addition to the boat dives - diving the drop-off from the shore was awesome every time. Was up at 6 am almost every day to get as much diving in as my computer would allow! Good value for money." Dive TiomanThe Tioman season runs from early February to the end of October, the out of season time is associated with unpredicatable weather during the monsoon.
Malaysia Sea Sports. All ages, all sizes, all levels. "Not many areas offer scuba-diving locations as breath-taking as at Malaysia Sea Sports. From Tioman, and its sister islands Dayang and Aur, to the
relatively unknown yet idyllic islands of Simbilang and 'World Atlas of Coral Reefs' member Seri Buat, Malaysia Sea Sports boasts dozens of unique dive locations that will leave you speechless."
Provide a full range of PADI courses. Kampung Tekek
For more on the Tioman Dive Centre, and accommodation options, read our Tioman report .
B&J Diving Centre
"I did my Rescue with them - very professional instructors and cheap, some 30 US per dive but I did 10 dives so I paid only 22 US per dive. Dive SibuPulau Sibu is off the Malaysian Peninsula's East Coast, facing the South China Sea. Approximately 6 km long and 1 k m wide. The coral reefs around Sibu-Tinggi are a National Marine Park. The dive season starts in March
Scuba Schools International Dive Centre. Sea Gypsy Village Resort & Dive Base
Dive TenggolPulau Tenggol is off the Malaysian Peninsula's East Coast, facing the South China Sea. The dive season starts in March
"Mr Dive Malaysia is a freelance PADI Instructor working close with 2 of the resorts on the Island , discerning discrimination on your behalf , ie: you will Pay the same price as a Malaysian will pay, If any company asks for your passport info as you ask for a quote they are going to charge you DOUBLE or TRIPLE . There are NO double standards with Mr Dive Malaysia.
Accom is basic but clean , the food is good and the service is freindly.. and the diving ??? you will not complain thats for sure .. Happy Travelling."
Dive Kuala Lumpur
No. 8-1
"I would strongly recommend Scuba Dynamics for any divers planning to explore diving in the South East Asia region. My husband and I found out about Scuba Dynamics from a friend whom had just got back from Malaysia. Scuba Dynamics designed a few dive trips for us during our short 3 weeks holiday in Asia. Being a one-stop-dive center, they have made us very happy by organizing wonderful trips to Puerto Gallera in the Philippines, Perhentian Islands on the East Coast of Malaysia as well as the famous Sipadan in East Malaysia. The trips were planned out very well by Scuba Dynamics and their recommendations and advice were very much appreciated. "
Offer PADI, PSAI, TDI, IANTD and NAUI courses, normal sport diving and technical diving. Go on one of the group trips or book your own trip for resorts all around the region or go on a liveaboard trip to the WWII battleships HMS Repulse and HMS Prince of Wales. 10-1, Jalan 22A/70A
Founded in September 2004. They aim to make add divers feel welcome and above all, to have safe fun while SCUBA diving. Offer PADI diving courses, snorkelling trips and underwater videography. Orca Blue Dive Centre
Dive Kedah
Offer day trips to Pulau Payar Marine Park ; short holidays to Perhentian and Lang Tengah, South China Sea; longer dive holidays in both East and West Malaysia, plus further afield like the Maldives, Indonesia, Phillipines, Thailand, Seychelles, Mauritius and Papua New Guinea. East Marine Holidays Sdn Bhd
"Friendly, efficient service, reasonable prices. Our Malaysian dive master was excellent, very professional and full of enthusiasm." Dive Layang Layang
"excellent resort, We were well looked after and the food was outstanding and plentyful. My only complaint is that the tanks were consistently hot filled so they only gave us about 180BAR. If we got one with 170 they would change it! No Nitrox, Light fills, I never had a full tank [200 BAR or 3000 PSI] the whole time I was there for 6 days. Other than that no complaints. Books to Take
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