October weather in Tioman

[GreyMatter]

Greeting all,

I was just wondering if anyone dived in Tioman last week, or if you are diving this weekend if you could provide some information on the weather condition and visibility UW? I am planning to go from 16 Oct to 19 Oct, and wondered if it's a good idea especially with 2 kids who will want to play on the beach in the sun.

Thanks in advance...

[miss_v]

Greeting all,

I was just wondering if anyone dived in Tioman last week, or if you are diving this weekend if you could provide some information on the weather condition and visibility UW? I am planning to go from 16 Oct to 19 Oct, and wondered if it's a good idea especially with 2 kids who will want to play on the beach in the sun.

Thanks in advance...

Hi there,

i tink there's a couple of tioman posts in the forum, for your reference.

went for tioman dive on the 28th Sep, the visibility quite bad,although its a sunny day.

however, it depends much on the dive site you gg. tomok is good though, spotted couple of turtles.

perhaps can check with your dive centre.

[GreyMatter]

Thanks for the feedback. The reason I asked was because we are getting close to the monsoons.

i spoke with Rafi from Dive Co. today and he mentioned the weather last weekend was calm, but it rained on Saturday at 2 am, and again on Sunday evening, forgot to ask him about visibility    but I doubt it would have been excellent.

I have planned for a trip this Sunday to Wed- will dive with B&J - and update this post.

[miss_v]

Thanks for the feedback. The reason I asked was because we are getting close to the monsoons.

i spoke with Rafi from Dive Co. today and he mentioned the weather last weekend was calm, but it rained on Saturday at 2 am, and again on Sunday evening, forgot to ask him about visibility    but I doubt it would have been excellent.

I have planned for a trip this Sunday to Wed- will dive with B&J - and update this post.

tempting to dive tioman again... but on the weekdays? cheaper?

[GreyMatter]

Weekends are difficult due to family commitments - kids tuition.

Primary schools in Singapore have next week Monday to Thursdays off due to teachers involved in PSLE markings - hence my escape to Tioman with new dive kit.

Weekends in Tioman are too crowded with new OW divers going through their drills anyway  haa haa.

[miss_v]

Weekends are difficult due to family commitments - kids tuition.

Primary schools in Singapore have next week Monday to Thursdays off due to teachers involved in PSLE markings - hence my escape to Tioman with new dive kit.

Weekends in Tioman are too crowded with new OW divers going through their drills anyway  haa haa.

totally agreed, you dun wanna hit by the fin! lolx

[Dirt-diver]

Was there end Sept. Tioman corals & fishes getting lesser & lesser

i think the island will be closed fr mid Oct till next yr but u can check with the dive centre. Let me know if u need any contact.

[GreyMatter]

Howdy divers,

I just came back from my Tioman trip - Sunday 16 October to Wednesday 19 October.

On the ferry heading to Tioman, we could see that there was rain on the southern end of the island, but further north the weather on Sunday and Monday was excellent at Salang, bright sunshine and calm.

Visibility for Monday morning dive at Tioman North Point was not very good, maybe 15 metres with a lot of debris, but the noon dive at Soyak had great visibility.

Tuesday morning - family reported a slight drizzle starting at about 9 am, however we were diving  at Chebeh and Labas which had great visibility, although when we arrive at Chebeh at about 10 am waves were choppy and I was getting nausea - surface conditions had calmed down significantly when we surfaced at about 11 am.

Did a night dive on Tuesday evening at Soyak - average visibility with strong current, as we surfaced at 8 pm a storm was approaching. Had a thunderstorm that evening.

Wednesday was cloudy and drizzling as we boarded the 10 am ferry.

I dove with B&J at Salang on this trip, my third to Tioman this year. They told me that they will be closed on the 15th November 2011 for the monsoon season.

EDIT: It was very noticeable that diving in the off season and on weekdays was notable in the much reduced number of divers. On most of the dives on this trip, there were only 8 divers, 4 Fun Divers, and another 4 doing their AOW on the same boat, and we were the only boat in the vicinity of the dive sites. On the Monday afternoon dive there was only 3 divers in the water at Soyak - the DM and the 2 Fun Divers. On my last dive during the July school holidays there were often 3 or 4 boats full of divers at any one dive site at the same time.

The amount of broken corals around these sites do show that the dive sites are suffering from diver fatigue.

I stayed in Salang this time instead of Paya after realising that most of the dive sites are on the northern parts of the island, and that this location will reduce daily travelling time. The water and house coral off Salang beach had more fishes as well, ideal for snorkelling off the beach. Wife still prefers the accommodation at Paya though 

[smiley]

Tioman island started to rain in the early afternoon and late night since 2 days ago