Tioman Island is situated in the far western reaches of the South China Sea & is approximately 56km from Peninsula Malaysia's east coast.  It is the largest of 9 islands that comprise the Pulau Tioman Marine Park - Malaysia's largest marine protected area.  The forests covering the interior of the island are protected as a wildlife reserve and the waters around Tioman have been described by WWF Malaysia as a 'paradise...home to many beautiful, colourful & diverse coral reefs'. 

Coral reefs are not only the foundation of marine life in Malaysia, but they are a vital element of what attracts many tourists to the country. There are some 3,600 km of reef around the country, including fringing reefs and offshore islands. Over 350 species of hard coral have been identified in Malaysian waters.  183 species of coral and 233 species of fish can be found in the sea surrounding Tioman alone.  These numbers are higher than any other island on the east coast.

A lack of comprehensive management programmes, however, is leading to degradation of this important economic resource, a situation which is exacerbated by inadequate information on the status and location of the reefs, further hindering management efforts.

In 2001, Reef Check appointed a National Coordinator for Malaysia, to promote Reef Check and carry out training and surveys.  Aqua-Firma has developed a close relationship with Reef Check Malaysia to develop an experience on Tioman which enables you to actively train in the monitoring and surveying of coral reefs providing the skills necessary to collect data which is vital to ReefCheck’s efforts to conserve these habitats.

Divers completing the Aqua-Firma Reef Check course on Tioman Island will be certified by Reef Check and become part of the world’s largest international coral reef monitoring programme involving recreational divers and marine scientists.  The certification entitles divers to conduct Reef Check surveys, and to join survey teams anywhere in the world helping to form a complete picture of the status of the world’s coral reefs.  Integrated into the experience will be lectures and briefings instilling the knowledge of marine and coral habitats with the species identification skills necessary to be an effective Reef Checker.  Our experience also includes intensive buoyancy training designed to hone your buoyancy skills to a level suitable for close monitoring of these fragile habitats.

At the end of the course you will also have a chance to relax ‘off-duty’ and enjoy several days diving around the coral reefs and islands of Tioman as a leisure diver.  The island has plenty of reefs and wrecks within its warm tropical waters that teem with a myriad of marine species.  These include schools of chevron barracuda, bumphead parrotfish, napoleon wrasse, fusiliers, jacks, blue-spotted rays, batfish, green and hawksbill turtles and black-tip reef sharks. 

You will also spend a day in the forests of Tioman treking through the interior of the island amidst its flora and fauna.  Only 5% of Tioman is flat and this is limited to the island’s coastline – the other 95% is thickly forested terrain ranging from mangroves and coastal vegetation, to dense, lowland dipterocarp, and hill dipterocarp forests.  One expert, writing in the Malaysian Naturalist - the journal of the Malaysian Nature Society -has described the island's flora and fauna as one of the world's greatest displays of biological diversity.  New species of wildlife are continuously being described on Tioman, many of which are endemic.  The island’s diverse array of different habitats means that is has unusually high biodiversity.  Interestingly, many species researched have been found to be more closely related to Bornean wildlife than that of Peninsula Malaysia giving clues to the island's geographical relationship with Borneo during the last glacial period.

Apart from being able to join a Reef Check expedition, completing this course can enhance your ordinary leisure diving as you will develop a deeper appreciation and understanding of the underwater environment.  Identifying what species are there but shouldn't be and conversely what should be there but isn't, enables you to better recognise the health of the coral reef you are diving on.   

For a detailed draft itinerary, please click HERE