Malaysia :: Tenggol Island

This tiny island is situated between Redang and Tioman on the east coast and around 20 kilometers offshore. The big attraction here is wall diving as the island has steep rocky cliffs on its eastern side facing the South China Sea. There are several submerged rocks and some pristine coral formations here with the walls dropping down some 48 meters in depth. Fish life here includes bumphead parrotfish, jacks, lizardfish and occasional whitetip sharks.

Popular dive sites include "Amazing Grace", "The Fishbowl" and "The Highway" this last one named after the strong currents that are often experienced there. There is also Teluk Air Tawar, a gently sloping bay on the west coast of Tenggol with some impressive coral gardens.

Kuantan Wreck
She is resting on her port side, at 23 meters deep. The top of the wreck is at 14 meters and is easily dived by novice divers. Surrounding the wreck are large wire-mesh fish traps scattered by local fishermen. Her length is about 80m and she is 10m wide. The propeller is still in tact and quite large. It is covered with growth and its crack is also the home of a moray eel.

She carried crude oil when she sunk. The wreck is situated at about 20 nautical miles off the coast Kuantan. There are two resident, big, groupers of 1.5m and 1m in lenght, sometime you'll see two leopard sharks, a guitar shark, schooling jacks, batfish, barracuda, giant sting rays, snapper, eels and turtles.

Pulau Kapas
This small island north of Tenggol also has a wreck off its coast, the 50 year old Japanese landing craft wreck sits upright. Her anti aircraft guns lie at the bow, carpeted with growth of soft corals and sponges. Frequent encounters with whale sharks at this site makes up for its poor visibility.