Weekend Scuba Escape from KL - Pulau Sembilan

After a while out of the water it was finally time to grab the gear and head out to Perak to see what diving around Pulau Sembilan had to offer….

Pulau Sembilan, Perak

With the relaxation of the CMCO here in Kuala Lumpur meaning that interstate travel was once again allowed, we decided to take full advantage and plan a cheeky weekend escape from the city as well as squeezing in a bit of scuba diving to help satisfy the itch to get back in the water that had been developing. As this was a bit of a last minute affair and we’d need to drive from KL we decided to head to Pangkor Island in Perak for some chilled out beach vibes, it was also handy that Quiver Dive Team, an established dive operator from the Perhentian Islands run a centre here offering day trips out to Pulau Sembilan nearby.

Getting into the car on Friday afternoon I was really excited, after about 2 months stuck in KL due to the rising number of COVID-19 cases we were finally allowed to travel interstate again. I’d been counting the days since I’d last managed to scuba dive and had been growing ever more frustrated as we’d had to cancel a trip to Palau in October which was replaced by a trip to Sipadan which we then had to move due to the lockdown. Although Pulau Sembilan was a new place for me to dive, being on the west coast of peninsula Malaysia I wasn’t holding out much hope for anything spectacular or even clear water as the straits of Melacca are notoriously murky. I dived in Langkawi a couple of years ago and experienced poor visibility and didnt see much apart from clownfish in anemone! Still, despite not exactly expecting much I was looking forward to getting back in the water and ensuring my skills hadn’t gotten too rusty during the enforced surface interval!

We’d booked a nice hotel on an island just off of Pangkor, which is around a 3.5 hour drive from KL, having loaded up the car we were on our way, it felt exhilarating to start a road trip and know that I’d be able to squeeze in some scuba diving whilst my partner was able to relax and soak up some rays on a beach - a win win situation all round. The drive up from KL was thankfully uneventful and we managed to avoid any Friday traffic jams by leaving before the rush and arrived at Lumut marina in good time to get our boat over to the island.

Hypselodoris pulchella nudibranch

Mark, our captain and lead guide for the day pilots the boat

Once settled into our hotel we were fortunate enough to be able to enjoy some cold drinks on a private beach watching the sunset, it reminded me of how lucky we are to be able to enjoy such simple, natural pleasures.

The next morning I was up early, grabbing a packed breakfast and jumping on the boat to take me over to the mainland to meet up with Quiver Dive Team. I was super excited as not only was it the first time I’d be able to scuba dive after about 3 months, but I was able to test out some new underwater camera gear (The perils of internet access and lockdown!). After a short bus ride we got to the marina where the boat was stored, threw our dive gear on and waited whilst it was pulled from its dry dock on a trailer and carefully manoeuvred into the water. There were 8 of us diving along with guides and thankfully the boat was big enough to accommodate us all allowing for social distancing. Mark, our lead guide for the day and also boat captain gave us a briefing about what to expect and we set off on the hour long journey to get to Pulau Sembilan.

The water was relatively calm as we made good time to the dive site, once we were there dive gear was quickly set up and we all eagerly awaited the briefing from Mark. The first site was call saga and we were told to stay close together as the visibility wouldn’t be great but to look out for small, macro subjects such as nudibranchs, seahorses, pipefish and even frogfish. We all back rolled in and descended along the guideline to the bottom, making sure we could see our buddies.

Soft Coral Spider Crab

Our guide was certainly right, the visibility was pretty bad, around 3-5m at best, but there was quite a surprising amount of macro life down there which I hadn’t been expecting. Straight away we spotted a pipefish and then quickly after that we were lucky enough to see a pair of octopuses hiding away underneath a rock, mating by the look of it. I tried to get some pictures of this but they were too hidden to be able to get both in the frame at the same time. Still, I did manage to get some nice shots off when a soft coral spider crab was spotted and was really pleased with how my new macro lens was performing, even in such bad visibility. I was also pretty surprised by how good my air consumption was, normally the first dive of the day I use more air than normal, especially if i haven’t dived fro a while but I must have been nicely weighted and relaxed as my air consumption was good, surfacing with over 100 bar after 55mins.

Seahorse at Pulau Sembilan

Once back on the boat and after a surface interval we prepared for the second dive, near to where we had just completed the first dive of the day. You could see the current was stronger here by the ripple effects on the waters surface. Once geared up we all rolled in and descended, at the bottom we all waited, the current was pretty strong but not too bad. I was starting to wonder what was going on when after about 8 mins of waiting the guide signalled for us to go up, it felt pretty strange as not all the divers were with us when we got to the surface. Turns out that one guy had forgotten his weight belt and by the time he’d gotten it a few of the other divers had lifted away in the current. Just goes to show how essential it is that you do a buddy check before you enter the water! Luckily the other group hadn’t drifted too far and we found them just round the corner where the current dropped off. It was a close shave and thankfully nothing bad happened, but because of one small error it put others at risk. Once everyone was back on board, we checked air, a couple of people grabbed new tanks and we headed to a more sheltered bay. Once we’d dropped into the water the visibility was really bad this time, probably max 3m but I really enjoyed the dive. My buddy and I were at the rear of the group and found a couple of really pretty nudibranchs and also saw a seahorse. I’d seen pygmy seahorses before in Mabul & Raja Ampat but never actually seen a normal sized one before!

Pipefish

The final dive of the day was at the same site, Buluh and after a surface interval and lunch (nasi lamak!) we knew what to expect. Again we were greeted by poor visibility but we managed to still see some pretty cool creatures down there anyway. We spotted another octopus hiding away in the rocks as well as pipefish, another seahorse, nudibranchs and whip coral shrimp. After 50 minutes we all surfaced feeling pretty happy with the days diving.

Overall I would say that Pulau Sembilan exceeded my expectations in terms of what we saw. I really wasn’t expecting to see so much macro life down there. I had headed there primarily because I just really wanted to get out of the city and jump into the water, wherever that may be! I had the benefit of being able to try out my new camera kit which was great and to tune up mu skills before the next big adventure around Chinese New Year in 2021! I’d definitely recommend Sembilan to those who, like me, want to get out of the city, keep their scuba diving skills up to date and have the chance to see some cool macro life as well.