Pulau Tioman

After a very successful stress free bus journey (5hours) we
got to Mersing on the East coast of Peninsular Malaysia and took the ferry over
to the island (1.5hrs). We stayed in Johans accommodation which was fine. The
island was a piece of Paradise and I see where they got the inspiration for the
film! There were huge palm trees everywhere, and although it was the Malay and
Singapore holidays, it felt like we were the only ones on the whole island
because it is so big. There were monkeys swinging through the trees, big
monitor lizards and cats everywhere. The backdrop to the beach was amazing lush
green jungle. We stayed in Air Batang (ABC) which is great for chilling out,
but there isn’t much to do apart from lounge on the beach or go diving. The
second night we met a bunch of boys and had a big poker game on one of their
balconies, and we all put in 3ringgits (70p) and we all drank our gin (huge
bottle for 22MR(5 pound!) was lots of fun, and I nearly won! Today Alex and
Sarah left to get the ferry back to the mainland, as they weren’t doing the
diving, and I moved accommodation, and had a bit of trouble because everything
was all booked out, but luckily met an english girl (Jenny) and am now sharing
a twin room for really cheap at Mawars. I have booked my PADI dive course to
start tomorrow so really excited about that!

PADI Open Water Dive course

Ok finished the open water, I am now a certified diver!
Yay!! Had lots of fun, and I was the only person doing the course at the time
which was really cool because I got to decide when I woke up and when I did
what. I had a really funny malay instructor who is actually the most relaxed
person I have ever met. We started off in the pool but I had done the three
main skills before in Australia on an intro dive, so I whipped through them,
and did a few extra such as taking your whole mask off while underwater, taking
the BDC (the jacket with tank attached off) and taking regulator (mouth piece)
out while underwater and taking someone elses alternate air source and swapping
to that. But I found it all surprisingly easy! Andy asked me if I had been a
fish in my previous life, joker. Did two dives off the beach which was cool, but
didn’t see that much, but following day we went to two dive sites off the boat,
and that was so much fun, saw amazing bright purple soft coral and loads of
things I had never seen before, including a HUGE moray eel in a hole, and one
came out. Also a long black and white sea snake, which has such a poisonous
bite, same as a cobra! We went through lots of underwater passages which was
both thrilling and a bit scary as you feel like you might get a bit stuck with
all your equipment but its important to control your breathing to give you
buoyancy when you need it. By the end of the course I had read most of the
textbook I was given and watched 5 videos on all the theory I needed and had to
do a final exam, which I got 96%! So feeling a bit proud of my self we all went
for a celebratory meal at Nazris 2 with Andy and Jenny. I nearly did my
advanced course too but felt a bit ill and needed a little break, so plan to do
it in Sipidan in Borneo. Its been really nice hanging out with people I met
from the dive school, and because its such a small isolated part of the island,
everyone knows everyone and we all have drinks overlooking the ocean in the
little bars, and tonight there will be a movie on outside next to the beach at
Andy’s Bar, which Jenny works at, so I sometimes stop by and help her out and serve
some beers, and in exchange got a few free.

I am currently writing this on a hammock between two palm
trees looking out to the ocean, with beautiful turquoise water with a coconut
and a little monkey sat next to me. I think this is the life! Kindof don’t want
to leave this island!

My final day, I met a dutch guy called Thomas, and as Jenny wasn’t
feeling well, we did the trek together over to Juara. There was so much up hill
through the jungle we were so worn out but we made it over to the otherside of
the island in 2 hours. We had a wonder around Juara but there wasn’t much
there, had some lunch, and after finding out how much a taxi was back we
decided to trek back over the way we came. But we luckily managed to hitch a
bit of the way at the beginning up hill so was mostly down hill. I did expect
to see some more wildlife on this trek but it was good fun, and Thomas was
great company. Tomorrow (19th) I will be getting the boat over to
the mainland to Kuala Lumpar. Feel sad to leave Tioman, had a great time and
had lots of fun.