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We had heard from other boats that a whale
shark had been sighted at the Coral Garden dive
site, so four of us headed out there in the hopes of
seeing it. As I reached the top of the reef pinnacle
and aimed my camera at the soft coral bouquet,
I noticed a large moving shadow a few metres
above me.
There it was … a rather large fish with a
flattened head and a blunt snout atop its mouth.
I moved my camera towards the behemoth above
me and my fingers started clicking my camera. I
choose not to continuously tail the whale shark
as I knew its curiosity and friendly nature would
bring it back to me. True to form, the whale shark
made another two passes at us, allowing us to take
plenty of pictures.
Pulau Segantang
Pulau Segantang is about 25 minutes away by
boat from Pulau Payar and lies next to another
island named Secupak. Pulau Segantang is slightly
bigger than Pulau Secupak. Both islands seem
to be rock formations that have been pushed up
from the ocean depths, possibly due to seismic
activity centuries ago
Upon entry into the water, we came across a
large school of yellow-lined snappers hovering
mid-water. We moved through the pinnacles and
reached a valley filled with white soft coral and
a large swath of anemones. We were fortunate
to witness the arrival of another whale shark on
that dive as well.
Diving in Payar Marine Parks is quite
interesting as it has everything to make a good
dive, from macro subjects to pelagics. The
regular appearance of whale sharks has also
served to spike the interest of divers. “Consider
Langkawi for your next dive trip,” declares Dato’
Izham Yusoff, Group Managing Director of Bina
Darulaman Berhad.
Frommacro
subjects to pelagics,
there is a lot to see
under these waters
The friendly whale
shark is an amazing
creature to behold
The Payar Marine Park consists of a few islands
and the largest is Payar Island, where the Marine
Park office is located. Every day, hundreds, if not
thousands of tourists visit the island to enjoy the
white sandy beach, snorkel, feed the coral fish and
to see juvenile black tip sharks plying the island
shallow crystal clear water. There are two dive
sites which stand out around the island.
Payar Jetty
The area is a good site to conduct open water
training as well as being a good first dive to start
the day. The dive is done below the pontoon and
the jetty and boasts of a visibility of 15 meters on
a good day. It is a shallow dive that allows one
to view a decent list of fish life as well as some
nudibranch species.
Coral Garden
The dive started among the rubble which slopes
down into sandy bottom at 15 metres. Trevallies,
barracudas and even tunas are regularly sighted
at the dive site. I had been told that there had
been sightings of whale sharks and this turned
out to be true as I saw this majestic creature with
my own eyes.
Diving at Langkawi
will show you a whole
range of colours and
stunning beauty