One thing that I missed the most when I was in the UK was to go scuba diving. Don’t get me wrong, you can still go diving in the UK, but you have to wear a drysuit as the water is just too cold. This is not a pleasant feeling for a guy that lives in the equator for his whole life. When I finished my masters, the first thing I did back home (of course after quarantine …) was to jump back into open water. And the first place to dive was at Pulau Payar, where my underwater adventure began since 2012.
Pulau Payar is an island in Kedah, Peninsular Malaysia (West Malaysia), and it is one of the very few (if not, the only one) worthy place to scuba dive at the west side of Penisular Malaysia. Therefore, it is not uncommon to see many people from different states coming all the way to enjoy the scenery here. It is by far not the fanciest nor the most glamorous
dive destination to scuba dive, but it will get the job done.
It is a perfect place for me to perform a lot of testings, experiments and practices. If I want to refresh my scuba diving skills or to test the latest GoPro cameras or merely getting some footages for editing, Pulau Payar is the place to go (For me at least). It is a relatively easy dive site for many people to handle, an excellent place to obtain your certifications.
Throughout my years of diving here, I had come across some extraordinary animals, such as turtle, moray eels, giant groupers and more. Most of these encounters were at either Grouper farm or Coral garden dive sites. But to be brutally honest, there is significantly less diversity compared right now, and it is almost a norm to view bleached coral in Pulau Payar.
Nevertheless, Pulau Payar will always be necessary for my scuba diving life as I am aiming to improve my underwater videography skills or to chill and relax in the water while escaping any negative thinking for a moment.
While you are here… please watch my diving video! Thanks!