So, I went lake diving again. This time, a change of scene. Instead of my regular playground at Saujana Putra Lake, I went to explore Tasik Puteri, Bukit Besi at Dungun with Scuba Dobedo Divers. It was a quickie weekend trip from Kuala Lumpur to Dungun, Terengganu.
We started our journey after working hour on Friday evening and reached our accomodation in Kelab Golf Bukit Besi just before midnight, and here’s giving you a glimpse on how our room at Kelab Golf Bukit Besi looks like.
I was booked into a triple share room where I shared it with my husband and son. It’s pretty much a basic room, but very spacious and comfortable to stay in. There are no entertainment unit in the room; eg- TV, but that is understandable cuz this is a golf club, and it doesn’t make sense to have a TV in the room when most of the guests are golfers and stays out playing golf all day and only return to the room to rest afterwards.
Here’s my view in the morning, accompanied by chirping birds. The scene is very serene, isn’t it?
Day 1- Diving spot: The Slipway
I did some Taichi practice in the morning before heading to breakfast, and our dive commence at about 9.30am.
Gearing up is done by the shore.There are no changing room whatsoever near our first diving spot, so if you’re diving here, it would be best if you wear your diving attire first thing after taking your breakfast. Sure, you can change by the lake shore if you don’t mind joggers giving you an eyeful, but if totally recommend you to get change first before heading there. Alternatively, you can bring a pop up changing tent so that you can get change by the shore.
Lake diving squad for the weekend
We did a quick shore entry at The Slipway
This is the best lake I’ve dive in so far.
I was expecting a limited visibility dive, as most lake I’ve been before kinda lacking in the visibility department, but apparently it’s not. The Vis was about 8-10m.
I was armed with two torch and a knife as I usually would whenever I go for a lake dive.
But ended up I didn’t even have to use the torch to see at all. It was an easy and extremely leisurely dive for me and I can tell you that I’d probably be back for more in the nearest future. I enjoyed the dive immensely.
This particular dive spot at Tasik Puteri is called ‘The Slipway’. The site features a couple of car wrecks, a submerged house, tree roots and an abandoned railway. We didn’t managed to find the submerged house and railway, but we did manage to see the car wrecks.
So is this suitable for Open Water Divers? Yes it is. And I’d say it’s a good training ground for those who are doing Open Water and Rescue or specialty courses as well. I recommended for those who like freshwater diving to try this spot at least once.
I have this habit of hunting for stuff and picking up rubbish whenever I go diving, so this is my loot during my most recent trip; a couple of plastic bottles, food containers and some plastic trash.
I forgot to get my mesh bag, but luckily our guide have one so I didn’t have to let the rubbish remains in the lake. Special thanks to Yin Chao for helping me carry all the rubbish while we’re diving and helping me dispose them afterwards.
People, please stop littering and throwing things into the lake or the sea while you’re having picnic. These stuff don’t belong in the sea or lake, okay??? I found loads while diving in both sea and lakes and this stuff is endless. If I get paid to pick up the rubbish in the sea and lake while diving, I have no doubt I can be a rich woman in just one week. Will you please just stop?
I bet there are more from where these are coming from. I think the next round I’ll make it my personal mission to find more rubbish around the area and get it out of there. Next round can be my lake clean up dive.
One for the album. Happy faces during the lake dive trip.
More pictures from my diving trip last weekend. This was taken during our second dive at Tasik Puteri, Bukit Besi in Dungun.
I have yet to dig for underwater pictures from the GoPro, so I’m just gonna share these pictures pics taken by my Shi Jie first. Pretty, ain’t it?
The water was crystal clear in shades of blue, and one can easily mistaken the picture for a picture in the sea. Again, it was an easy dive for me.
The weather was good on the surface and wasn’t windy, so there were no current down there. This is a clean dive site and no trash was spotted underwater. But there are some at the shore.
Buoyancy control is crucial over here cuz you can easily kick silts up and create a storm of clouds, but wasn’t a limited visibility dive. No torch was necessary to dive here during the day, just like the first dive site at The Slipway and I can see my buddies around me easily for about 8-10m, and my guide made me lead the dive for a little at the end and and we did some simple navigation practice with the compass before ending the dive.
This site features plenty of slopes, tree roots and grasses near the shore, and again, I can say it can be a great training ground for Open Water Divers or those taking courses. Highly recommended for those who would like to practice skills but hated the pool like me. Yes…I kinda hate the pool with a vengeance. I can’t stand the crowd and the cold pool temperature, so I avoid the pool like a plague unless I’m taking course and is training.
If this place is near Kuala Lumpur, you’d probably spot me lugging the tank pretty often to Tasik Puteri for a weekly weekend dive. Tsk. I’m just so sad now I won’t be able to go to this place often cuz it’s far from Kuala Lumpur.
Day 2- Historical Tour
The second day is practically a non diving day if you choose not to proceed to Tenggol after your lake dive.
So what did we do? We visited the the Bukit Besi Museum and go for the Heritage Tour by bus.
Visit to the museum is not included in the Scuba Dobedo Divers Lake Dive package, but here’s the rate if you’re interested to visit.
Opening hours of the museum
There are plenty of educational exhibits here that tells the history of iron ore mining in Bukit Besi.
If you’re ever here, I’d recommend you to go for the museum first before signing up for heritage tour. That way, you’d have more insights on what it’s all about.
Bukit Besi Heritage tour with my Shi Jie and family.
Our tourguide Ms. Wazie Ab Hamid, guiding us throughout the entire heritage tour.
This is a part of Scuba Dobedo Divers
Tasik Puteri Lake Dive trip’s package and we’re supposed to join the tour with other divers, but only 4 of us ended up going together cuz the rest either had to rush back to KL for work or went off diving in Tenggol.
I skipped Tenggol in favour of this, and I’m glad I opt for this instead of continuing to dive in Tenggol. Everywhere is fullhouse in Tenggol anyway and can’t manage to make arrangements to dive there. 😅
You know, family is not always by blood or by marriage, but those who comes into your life and be there for you during your toughest times.It’s been a real privilege for me to have my Shi Jie in my life. Last year’s lockdown was mainly bearable because of both her and my Laoshi accompanying me.
Anyway, back to the heritage tour.
The tour took about 1hr 30 min. It’s a very interesting tour and we learned quite a few things about iron ore mining today.
All things considered, I’m really glad I opt for the heritage tour instead.I had so much fun with them, and hopefully one day can be back there for a repeated experience. We weren’t dressed for hiking, so we kinda skipped some checkpoints.
So, did I enjoy my time there in Dungun? Yes, of course. Do I want a repeated experience? Yes, definitely.. hopefully one day I will go again.
For more info on Tasik Puteri, Bukit Besi lake dive trip, contact Scuba Dobedo Divers here:
https://www.facebook.com/scuba.dobedo.divers/
To book your heritage tour, hop over here: