The ABC Jetty - Tioman Island

It's been years since I have been to Tioman Island on the east coast of Malaysia. For Singaporeans, this is a weekend away from the city, as a diver this is a destination I like to visit. I reckon it has been about a decade since I have been to Tioman Island so another trip should be considered reasonably soon.

I have been lucky enough to visit Tioman Island twice, the first time in the mid 1990s and the second time about ten years later in the mid 2000s. The second visit was during the Easter break, we flew to Singapore from our dual destinations to meet up. From there we caught a bus to Mersing before catching a ferry to the island getting off at ABC Jetty, that was the fourth stop as I recall. Usually I am diving in South East Asia, on this occasion I intended to hire some dive equipment as I usually carry my own.

As this was the Easter break, the island was full of Singaporean divers on their dive break, I made the decision not to dive as I expected the dive boats to be full and the sites to be overwhelmed with divers. My dive holidays usually involve mid-week diving so I miss the crowds so on this occasion I decided to not dive and instead stay on the island and relax instead. Wandering down to ABC Jetty, better known as Ayer Batang in the evening was the best time, the sun was setting and the jetty was now mostly solitary, what a great evening.