This is my scuba diving section, where I share my years of worldwide experience diving at some of the fascinating dive destinations. My journey started back in 2003 when I took up diving as a leisure hobby to see what it was like.

The best part is that I never got hooked on it or gave up my career to be a dive instructor, master, or even a trainer. Generally, I was focused on diving to share my experience through my social media, blog, and websites with other divers who were keen to visit these places.

Scuba Diving

I remember back in 2005, my late dive instructor was quite chilled but stern about diving safety. May his soul rest in peace. My open water course was split between here in Petaling Jaya and finishing in Koh Lipe, Thailand. Ever since then, the underwater world has been a fascinating place where I could find peace and solace while doing something without talking to anyone for 60 minutes.

Even though I was very into photography on land, I never got hooked on underwater photography. However, at one point, during the Canon S90 and S100 days of my diving friends over in Mabul, I started to show a bit of interest, but only by borrowing their cameras.

Eventually, I met Mohan from Scubaholics Anonymous, who tried to get me to go into underwater DSLR photography. He did not succeed, as I was still happy with my landscape photography. But I did do a lot of diving with him back then, and we visited many places.

I won’t say I’m the greatest diver, but I had my share of fun diving with my like-minded friends who were not interested in social media and photos. We did it out of pure fun, enjoying through conservation and drinks (before I quit in 2014).

Sipadan and Mabul (before the Chinese invasion) were some of my regular places, as I would visit there about six to eight times a year for diving. And no I was never an instructor or a dive tour operator, it was purely for leisure.

diving-in-aqaba-jordan Scuba Diving — Me and Shamsul (From that Sarong Keretapi thing in KL), diving in Aqaba, Jordan.

My Scuba Diving Journey

Since Koh Lipe for my open-water license, I have explored quite a few places worldwide, but not as many as many others who have been to many more places. Everyone has their own preferences for diving.

Malaysia Peninsular – The only places I have not dived at are Klang, Port Dickson, Melaka and Pulau Burung off Perak.
Sabah Malaysia – Almost all the dive locations except Layang-Layang Island, Banggi, Labuan, Darval Bay and Pulau Tiga.
Sarawak Malaysia – Kuching and Miri, but limited sites due to visibility issues every time I go.
Jordan – Gulf of Aqaba, on the Jordanian side.
Anilao – This has been my only destination in the Philippines.
Bali – The same old places that you have probably been to.
Komodo Island – Several times here with various dive operators.
Alor Island – This is hands-down one of the best places in my diving career.
Raja Ampat – The mecca of scuba diving and one of the major bucket list places for any diver.

scuba-diving-malaysia-2023-546x400 Scuba Diving — Checking out a Hairy Seahorse at Mabul.

cheap-diving-mabul-598x400 Scuba Diving — Jumping in at Mabul Island.

mataking-diving-photo-588x400 Scuba Diving — At the famous underwater post office in Mataking.

david-hogan-jr-birder Scuba Diving — Me at Lankayan Island, Sabah Borneo.

Conclusion

I hope this brief introduction gives you a perspective of how I did my scuba diving before I went into semi-retirement in 2018, after diving at Komodo, Alor, and Raja Ampat for two weeks straight. For some odd reason, my interest focused more on birds and bird photography.

If you’re interested in working together to promote your dive centre, resort, equipment, or even dive destination, please contact me. We can always discuss this further. I may be semi-retired, but I still do some diving from time to time. Plus, I have another team member who is an advanced open-water diver who loves to write about his experiences.