Scuba Explorers is the dive centre that operates out of Tenggol Island Beach Resort, one of the three resorts on Pulau Tenggol. One of the resorts does not have a dive centre and from word of mouth regarding the other resort (not personal experience) Scuba Explorers is the better of the two dive operations. Tenggol is also visited by liveaboards.
Quick rating of Scuba Explorers and Tenggol Island Beach Resort—
Dive experience: Adequate but expensive.
Resort: Adequate but expensive.
Scuba Explorers’ customer service: Poor.
Dive Experience: The diving at Tenggol is very good, some divers rate it the best in peninsular Malaysia. Charlie, the dive operator, has a long experience leading dives on the east coast, having worked out of Redang for several years. The Scuba Explorers dive centre is basic but clean and well-laid out. Charlie has been diving Tenggol for several years and has a good knowledge of the dive sites. He has developed his own dive site map based on his experiences. His pre-dive briefings are excellent and thankfully so because the currents in Tenggol are unpredictable and divers need detailed briefings in order to be prepared to deal with the unpredictable dive conditions.
“No frills” is the best way to describe the service provided by Scuba Explorers. The difficult thing about this “no frills” service is the dive prices are some of the most expensive on the east coast, at RM80 per dive. When we settled the bill there was no discount given either, which had been the practice on my three previous east coast dives (Perhentian, Lang Tengah and Redang). In total, I paid RM1410 for three nights and 9 dives. That is RM720 for the dives and RM690 for 3 nights lodging. The price combined with only adequate service makes me pause at returning, although I probably will just because of the quality of the diving.
Tenggol Island Beach Resort: The resort is fairly basic. There is a great deck where most people sit and talk till late in the night, eat their meals or watch Astro. The food was good and there was a free flow of coffee, tea and water. Power is provided by a generator but it wasn’t working right so there weren’t hot showers but we did have electricity the whole time. There isn’t air conditioning in the rooms but honestly it isn’t needed. The resort is rustic compared to the resorts of Redang but nice to get away from all those modern conveniences and feel like one is roughing it. The problem is ‘roughing it’ for RM230 (meals included) a day. That gets a room in a three star resort in other places.
Service: The problem with Scuba Explorers was the service I received prior to arriving on the island. My initial enquiry was met with an email about a package that included four dives and two nights stay but I was planning more dives and 3 night’s stay. The price of the dives was not broken down individually just a total amount was given. I had to request the price of the dives. Then when I asked for it, I saw it was RM80 per dive. I hesitated to pay so much for diving but really wanted to experience Tenggol. I thought I could get a discount once I got there so I just deposited a minimal amount as a deposit. It took a long time for them, the office in the KL area, to get back to me when I asked if they had received my payment. Then there was no “Thank you for choosing us!” I was just encouraged to send in the rest of my balance. Finally, I asked to just pay for the lodging and four dives and was allowed to do so. Once I did that there was no further information given. Luckily, I knew how to get to Dungun and had the logistics arranged. I think it would have been a nightmare if I was trying to come in from overseas and dive Tenggol without a prior knowledge of Malaysia. The Scuba Explorers office seemed to be concerned with collection of funds and nothing more.
A couple of days before the trip, I emailed and asked for directions to the jetty and more details. The person in the office replied that he didn’t know the way! It wouldn’t take much to make the process of booking the dives more user-friendly and I hope that is a step Scuba Explorers takes in the coming months.
