Turtle Bay Divers — Attraction in Lesser Perhentian Island

Completed my Open Water with Turtle Bay Divers and enjoyed it so much, I had to do the Advanced Open Water course as well.

I started my OW course on Koh Tao, Thailand, but couldn’t complete it due to an ear-infection. Thanks to Edwin and the crew, I was able to continue and complete my OW course with Turtle Bay in Malaysia. Azwan (who was my instructor) is a great teacher, very patient, encouraging, highly professional and has a great sense of humour. He caters to every student’s needs and makes sure no one feels left behind. I always need a bit more time when it comes to equalising while descending, and instead of rushing me, he kept assuring me that it’s ok to take as much time as I need. I was a bit nervous (because of my previous instructor on Koh Tao, who was a nightmare and made me question if I should be diving at all), but diving with Azwan and learning from him has made me feel secure, confident, and relaxed whenever I enter the water. He replaced all my anxiousness and doubt with joy and excitement, which in the end made me discover my love for scuba-diving and was the reason for me to continue and join the Advanced Open Water course. He also does this really cool bubble-ring-trick (which I still can’t really figure out how to do). I truly couldn’t have wished for a better instructor.

The same goes for Yaakub, who was our instructor for the Advanced OW. He is very funny (be aware of dad-jokes), patient, encouraging, kind and definitely loves to talk (in a good way). Even though he can’t impress you with a bubble-ring, it’s still a joy to go diving with him. He helped me improve my diving-skills even further and taught us how to manage even the more challenging dives (like a night-dive with veeeery low visibility), which ended up boosting my confidence even more.

I really appreciate the fact that both Azwan and Yaakub took their time with the (re-)briefings, making sure to leave no questions unanswered. Both are very trustworthy, you immediately know that you’re in good hands. They allow you to make mistakes, so you can learn from them and try again until you get it right – all while remaining calm and patient.

Everything (and I really mean everything: from booking, to communication, to diving and the dive-sites, to the island itself, to the marine life (we saw turtles!) to the people and the overall vibe) was perfect. The whole crew is very welcoming, warm, hospitable, and knowledgeable – there’s literally no reason not to dive with these guys. You can consider yourself lucky if you get the chance to learn from them. A 6-star service indeed.

I want to end this (rather long) review with a big THANK YOU to Edwin, Azwan, Yaakub, Nisha, Nick, Aniq, and everyone else who made us feel welcome, helped me improve my diving-skills and made me laugh many many times. Your hard work is appreciated and your passion for diving is very contagious. I am very grateful for this experience – it will forever hold a very special place in my heart. I will miss diving with and hanging out with you guys a lot, and I wholeheartedly believe that I will be returning to Turtle...

I spent 3 awesome days (8dives) with Turtle Bay Divers in the end of July 2016 and I can totally recommend them! Everybody is very nice, relaxed and (when it comes to diving) very professional! Even between the dives you can always have a nice chat with the guys and they will explain you more about the island and the creatures living in the waters!

Turtle Bay Divers is located at Longbeach of Pulau Perhentian Kecil and easy to reach from any hostel/hotel at Longbeach or Coral Bay. They have 3 main dive times during the day: 8.30am, 12.30pm and 3.30pm. After arriving at the shop, you get your equipment and you can check everything (if you are not satisfied, they are helping you to find the suitable stuff for your). The equipment is in a good shape and well maintained. During a meeting before the dive, they will explain you (with nice self-drawn maps) the dive side, the important safety related things (how to act in case you get lost, safety stop, buddy check etc.), which part of the dive side or animal can be dangerous for you and what kind of sea creatures are around! After the meeting everybody grabs the equipment and you will get to the dive side by a speed boat directly from the beach in front of the dive shop. After the dive they will help you to keep your logbook up to date and will help you (with self-made photo books/pictures of the fishes!) to identify which animals you saw during the dive! :) If you wish, they will also tell you about your dive technique and will help you to improve your diving skills (Big thanks to Manu! :))! During my 3 days they brought me to different dive spots and I didn't dive a spot twice. My highlights were the pinnacle and the Vietnamese wreck (a school of huge pickhandle barracudas and nurse shark were around :))!

My friend also did a discover scuba dive, which I joined to take some pictures. After a instruction of the most important things in diving, they took us to a shallow water next to the beach, where some skills (recovery of the regulator etc.) were performed. After the skills, we could enjoy 30 minutes of diving a small reef with some rabbit, parrot and puffer fish. The instructor (greetings to Azwan! :)) was very patient and explained everything very well. I can definitely recommend to do the Open Water License there!

Overall I can't say anything negative about my experience and I hope I can dive with them again some day! :)

Greetings from...

I cannot recommend this PADI dive resort enough to other travellers and divers! We had a fantastic experience here. We are professional divers and “our fins” crossed several (... hundreds…) diving centers and liveaboards. When we’re travelling & diving for our own fun we always try to reach for professional dive shop. Safety is never an option.

Diving with the Turtle Bay Divers at Pulau Perhentian Kechil was an awesome yet very professional experience.

We did several fun dives with them and they made sure all our expectations were met: night dive, wreck dives, deep dives (... ahahaha 28 meters the deepest one!) and also a full - day in the beautiful Pulau Redang. We had part of our own gear but consider you can go there naked and they will provide some very well maintained dive equipment.

The dive sites are nice and easy to dive, the team makes sure that you can dive all the different spots during the stay. We felt very included in the atmosphere at this dive centre - everyone was so nice and went above and beyond to ensure we had an amazing diving experience.

Thanks to the awesome team, from the (super) front office - Azlan and Bridget - to the incredibly passionate, experienced, knowledgeable, funny and wise dive masters and interns, we couldn’t have run into a better bunch of people.

I couldn't help but observing their instructors on duty - as a colleague - and I found a really high level of training, reflecting a quality and integrity of the highest caliber. As PADI Pro member I've been proud of their teaching quality and glad for the students in the classes.

Most probably the best dive centre on the island - do not miss if you are planning a diving stay in Pulau...