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Langkawi, Payar Marine Park - Kedah , Malaysia Scuba Diving Guide
Langkawi detail dive map
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Pulau Payar photo
West Malaysia overview map
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Pulau Langkawi is the biggest offshore island of Kedah state, Malaysia.
Strictly speaking, divers do not actually dive in Pulau Langkawi. The actual
divings are usually done in a group of 4 nearby islands lying in the south of
Langkawi. Together, they form the Payar Marine Park. The four islands are Pulau
Payar, Pulau Kaca, Pulau Lembu and Pulau Segantang.
Payar Marine Park pride itself to have the widest variety of habitats and
largest number of coral species in the whole of Malaysia. Here, you can find
the most colorful soft corals this country has to offer. And because Payar
Marine Park is gazetted as fisheries protected area in 1985, the marine life is
abundant.
However, Langkawi and Payar Marine Park both lies along the strait of Malacca.
This is one of the busiest shipping lane in the world. Couple with it being
narrow, the water here cannot clear itself easily. Therefore visibility is
normally poor. This has taken away some of the shine of Payar Marine Park being
a good diving spot in Malasyia. Nevertheless, there are a few good dive sites
that can still offer a great diving.
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Dive Sites
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Coral Garden
This dive site lies in the southwestern tip of Pulau Payer. As with all dive
site in Payer Marine Park, visibility is only average. It is usually around 10
meters but can extend up to 20 meters. This site offers a scenic dive with
multi-colored soft corals. There are plenty of jacks, titan triggers, moray
eels and lionfishes. You can also find many barrel sponges here.
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Grouper Farm
Groupers are what you come here to see. This site lies in the south of Coral
Garden and is also the home to mangrove snappers and barracudas. Unfortunately,
visibility is usually very poor here. Reaching only to 10 meters on a good day.
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Tyre Reef
Tyre Reef is found in Pulau Segantang. This site has a steep vertical wall that
extend down to 26 meters. There are lots of fish life here. Shoals of
barracudas, red snappers, jacks and mangrove snappers can all be found here. In
the deeper water, you will be able to find sea fans, black corals, wire and
whip corals.
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Kaca Sunken Boats Point
This is an artificial reef created off the southern tip of Pulau Kaca.
Confiscated fishing boats were sunk here to provide a safe haven for fishes.
You will chance upon lionfishes, giant groupers and mangrove snappers here.
Best Time to Go
Langkawi has 2 seasons, the northeast monsoon and the southwest monsoon
seasons. The best time to dive in Langkawi is from November to April during the
northeast monsoon. This is the dry season for west coast of Peninsular
Malaysia.
Where to Stay
Divers hoping to visit Payer Marine Park can choose to stay either in Langkawi
or Penang.
Langkawi
Coral, a local company provides both eco-tourism excursions and scuba
diving expeditions to Pulau Payar Marine Park. The company pick up passengers
going to Payar Marine Park from Swettenham Pier, Penang at 8am every morning or
from Kuah Jetty, Langkawi at 8.45 am every morning.
For Last Minute Reservation (Lowest Rate Guarantee)
For Hotel Reservation (Best Rate Guarantee for Hot Rate Offers)
See a complete listing of Langkawi Hotels and Accommodations
See a complete listing of Penang Hotels and Accommodations
How to get there
For those going to Langkawi, there are two ways to get there. Travellers can either choose to fly or take a ferry.
For those whom choose to fly, there is an airport in Langkawi. The location of the airport is shown in the map above.
From the airport, transportation to major hotels in Langkawi can be easily arranged. Most hotels are only minutes away by taxis.
There are directs flight to Langkawi from Singapore and Kuala Lumpur.
Some of the major airlines that operates regular flights to Langkawi are:
To get to Langkawi by sea, there are ferry services from Kuala Kedah Jetty, Kuala Perlis Jetty, Penang Island Jetty or Satun (in Thailand) Jetty.
Ferry schedules are shown in the table below. Getting to these jetties can be easily arranged with any local tour agencies or coaches companies in Malaysia or
Thailand.
Kuala Kedah To Langkawi
(Daily) |
Langkawi To Kuala Kedah
(Daily) |
| Fare : |
Rm 13.00 |
Fare : |
Rm 13.00 |
| Time : |
7.30 am (Sat only)
8.00 am
10.00 am
11.30 am
12.00 pm
2.00 pm
3.30 pm
4.00 pm
6.30 pm
7.30 pm |
Time : |
8.00 am
9.10 am
10.00 am
12.00 pm
1.30 pm
2.30 pm
5.00 pm
6.00 pm
7.00 pm
8.00 pm |
| (Journey takes app. 1 hour) |
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Kuala Perlis To Langkawi
(Daily) |
Langkawi To Kuala Perlis
(Daily) |
| Fare : |
Rm 10.00 |
Fare : |
Rm 10.00 |
| Time : |
8.30 am
9.00 am
9.40 am
11.00 am
11.40 am
1.10 pm
3.10 pm
3.40 pm
6.00 pm
7.00 pm |
Time : |
7.20 am
8.00 am
9.20 am
10.00 am
11.30 am
1.30 pm
2.30 pm
5.00 pm
5.30 pm
6.00 pm |
| (Journey takes app. 50 mins.) |
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Penang Island To Langkawi
(Daily) |
Langkawi To Penang Island
(Daily) |
| Fare : |
Rm 35.00 |
Fare : |
Rm 35.00 |
| Time : |
8.00 am |
Time : |
6.00 am |
| (Journey takes app. 2 hours) |
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Satun (In Thailand) To Langkawi
(Daily) |
Langkawi To Satun
(Thailand)
(Daily) |
| Fare : |
Rm 15.00 |
Fare : |
Rm 15.00 |
| Time : |
9.00 am/1.00 pm/4.00 pm |
Time : |
8.30 am/12.00 pm/3.00 pm |
(Journey takes app. 1 hour)
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For those going to Penang, the easiest way to get there is by air. Penang has an international airport.
From the airport, there are taxis and limousine services to bring you to your hotel.
Some of the major airlines that operates regular flights to Penang are:
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