Diving at Pulau Weh at only RM1,500 for 5 Days 4 Nights, Banda Aceh

- September 20, 2018

Malaysia is considered as the cheapest diving location in the world. Yes, surprise!!! Not all islands though but it is considered quite a lot which are Pulau Perhentian, Pulau Tioman and Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park. Not all the countries can compete with the price here except Pulau Weh, Indonesia. You only have to spend a minimum of RM1,500 for the whole 5 Days 4 Nights trip which includes everything that I am about to tell you below except flight ticket.

Pulau Weh is a small island off the northern tip of Sumatra. The northern-most point of the Indonesian archipelago is known as kilometre zero,or KmZero. Pulau Weh is also often known as Sabang which is the name of the largest city on the island. This island was originally connected to Banda Aceh but due to volcano eruption and it got separated and now it is at the Andaman Sea.

The moment you arrived at the airport, there is a land transfer waiting for you to pick you up to Ulee Lheue jetty. The travel duration is about 40 minutes. There are two types of ferry which is a slow ferry which you can take your car or motorbikes with you at additional small fee.The other ferry is obviously is called the fast ferry which is only able to ferry passengers and bicycle with additional fee. The schedule and pricing is as follow:

Fast Ferry (45 minutes) - 80,000 IDR - 100,000 IDR

From Banda Aceh

8.00am, 10.00am, 4.00pm (Mon, Thu, Fri, Sat, Sun)
10.00am, 4.00pm (Tue, Wed)

From Pulau Weh

8.00am, 2.30pm, 4.00pm (Mon, Thu, Fri, Sat, Sun)
8.00am, 2.30pm (Tue, Wed)

Slow Ferry (90 minutes) - 25,000 IDR - 50,000 IDR

From Banda Aceh

11.00am, 4.00pm (Wed, Fri, Sat, Sun)
2.00pm (Mon, Tue, Thu)

From Pulau Weh

8.00am, 2.00pm (Wed, Fri, Sat, Sun)
8.00am (Mon, Tue, Thu)

After reached the jetty at Pelabuhan Balohan, Pulau Weh, we are pickup by another driver to our hotel which is located at Pantai Iboih. The ride was very bumpy and curvy for 40 minutes. We stayed at Fina 2 Bungalow which is also included in the RM1500 for the whole 4 nights. By the way, all our land transfer are included too. It is a Toyota Kijang 7 seaters which is commonly known as Toyota Avanza.

The bed was comfy and clean. The only problem is the shower which does not have hot water and it is not strong. Other than that, it is still a fine room! For your information, the breakfast is included too!

Yes, I have to inform you that this place is a Tsunami disaster prone area. Pulau Weh itself contains an active volcano and their last earthquake triggered in 2004 which claimed more than 130,000 live in just Banda Aceh alone. The destruction did destroyed the properties in Pulau Weh but fortunately no casualties has been reported.

The reconstruction is still on going despite it happened 14 years ago. The place is still a paradise after all. The sea is so calm and no wave at all.

Most divers will choose between Pantai Gapang and Pantai Iboih. These two are the best places for the divers to stay and dive. For non-divers will choose to stay at their biggest city, Sabang.

The beach is not very long and big at Pantai Iboih but I like how calm is the sea.

You can click on the image above to view the panoramic photo of this place.

The only thing I dislike about this place is their food. It is not that their food is not delicious but it took them extremely long to cook and prepare. Every time whenever I had my breakfast and dinner, I had to wait more than an hour for my food. Even for my drink, it took them 30 minutes. It is really frustrating especially you are so tired and hungry.

The fastest way is to pick your favourite food from their ready-cooked dishes. However, most of the time it is only available for lunch but not for breakfast and dinner.

Do not miss their local "Ayam Bakar" and "Ayam Penyet" which is really delicious with their homemade sambal.

Personally I like a restaurant opened by a French who has married locally. The restaurant is just past our hotel, Fina 2 Bungalow. They have more choices and the food is delicious. However, it is still slow. It is like their norm for being slow.

Enough about the transfer, accommodation and food. Let's get wet! The dive sites are mostly close to Pantai Iboih. Every morning, we have been picked up by a boat from our hotel to the dive center. It is also included in the package. The best part of the dive center is not just the equipment rental is included but the dive master that is so personalized and will only take maximum of 3 divers with them. If you are coming in a group of 4, they will arrange extra one to support the diving group. I have been to Pulau Tioman and 12 divers were following one dive master. It is ridiculous.

The dive center that I went was Rubiah Tirta Divers. They are so friendly, nice and helpful. We enjoyed our dives a lot. I really cannot complain more especially all their dives include lunch!!! I never came across in my life that a dive center will include lunch unless it is a boat dive which is far away from the dive center.

The island is known for its ecosystem; the Indonesian government has declared 60 square kilometres (23 sq mi) of inland and sea around the island as a wildlife protection area. A rare megamouth shark species was found on shore and the island is the only habitat for the threatened toad, Duttaphrynus valhallae (formerly Bufo valhallae). Coral reef areas around the island are known for their large variety of fish species.

Pulau Weh is the home of all kinds of Moray Eels. If you are a big fan of Moray Eels, pack your bags and come now.

They are all come in different of sizes. They can be very huge and look very ferocious but actually they are very shy. Do not feed them, you do not want them to mistaken your fingers as sausage for them.

Last time I used to think a ribbon eel is so rare. But after visiting Pulau Weh, it is just everywhere but only on specific dive sites.

Something rare for me is this Zebra Moray Eel. This is the first time I have seen this Eel after I have done almost 150 logged dive.

This is a special eel which I can't even find the name in Google. Anyone who knows, please leave a message to me below. Very much appreciated it. The other moray eels are White-Eyed Moray Eel, Giant Moray Eel and Yellow Margin Moray Eel.

Pulau Weh is also a place for Reef Octopus. You will never see this many octopuses in one place. It was an eye opener to me. You can see more in the video at the end of the post. I can't get many shots as the octopuses always shy away when you get near them.

Lion fishes are a poisonous fishes. Lionfish pose a significant danger to the entire ocean eco-systems they invade economically, environmentally, and ecologically. In their non-native habitats lionfish have no predators having any effect on their exploding population. They are highly resistant to disease and infection. Females can lay up to 2 million eggs per year that largely escape predation due to a repellant occurring in the fertilized egg mass. This means that huge percentages of lionfish fry will recruit to the safety of structure and mature with little predatory stress. That's why you will see the lion fishes swim freely without worry for any threat. They are like a bully in the ocean.

Since fishing is not allowed, I do believe lion fishes will get populated one day. They will eventually threaten the ecosystem in this reef.

There are a lot of Scorpion fishes too. Lionfish, scorpion fish and stone fish are the in the same family. Lionfish has the mild poison, scorpion fish has the medium to high level of poison and the stone fish is the most poisonous fishes among all. It can kill a healthy human. So whenever you dive, just stay away from the reef. Do not hold or touch anything.

There are some of the juvenile marine life that's so beautiful and cute such as Yellow Boxfish, Harlequin Sweetlips, Flamboyant Cuttlefish and Emperor Angelfish which is what you see in the photo above.

Blue spotted Stingrays which is common in Malaysia. So it is not as excited enough like what I see the above.

The sharks here can be found swimming on top of me. There are black tip reef shark and white tip reef shark. For your information, the water on the surface can be very calm but once you are under the sea, you will mostly experience drift dive. This is the unique of this place.

This is the White Tip Reef Shark found at 5m. Some sharks you will find them below 30m. There are a lot of sharks but they swim around very fast and seldom you will see them stop like this.

A paddler is selling a local bites during our dive interval. It is cheap. Just 5,000 IDR. Do support them! By the way, one thing special about Pulau Weh is there is no activity is allowed from Thursday, 6.00pm to Friday, 12.00pm due to religious reason. Sumatera is the largest Muslim devoters in Indonesia.

Are you hungry? Yes I do whenever I see a lobster especially this big.

And Mantis Shrimp too. They really looks like a cockroach in the sea. I mean the way they walk. Check out the video below to see.

Time for picture! Anemone Crab is doing the Usain Bolt pose! Anemone crab always live together with the Clown Fish but surprisingly, it is hard for me to find Clown Fish a.k.a Nemo here! That's weird!

Hermit Crab and its house.

Lots of cat fishes under this rock.

Feeling dirty. Cleaner shrimp at your service!

Shrimps!!! Yummy!!! I had a total of 7 dives for 5 days 4 nights. I can do another 3 dives more but it will be on your own expenses.

Pipefish hiding so well with the corals but too bad the visibility at Pulau Weh is too clear. I can see them easily. You can enjoy up to 50m visibility. My vision is never say clear and far under the water like this before. It is amazing.

The night dive here is dirt cheap. It is just 50,000 IDR (without torch) and 80,000 IDR (include torch rental). At Malaysia, you are easily charged extra at least RM120. It was unbelievable when the first time I heard this. I am a big fan of night dive so I know the pricing very well. Unfortunately, the dive center doesn't have torch for rent so I have no choice but to visit again the next time for the night dive.

During the no flight time, you can choose to travel around Pulau Weh or visit Banda Aceh. My advice you can do both by choosing the 4th day for Pulau Weh tour and half day on the 5th day for the Banda Aceh tour. Just choose a later flight back to Malaysia. The tour is included in RM1,500 too! It is really cheap! You just have to make your point here. However, there are 3 cons that I can mention about Pulau Weh, if you are fine with it, so it is not a big problem.

As I mentioned in my post above, their food preparation is extremely slow.
Mosquitoes are annoying!
No alcohol on this island means no nightlife. It is a religious reason.

Total Damage: RM1,500/pax
Ambiance: 4/5
Cleanliness: 4/5
Service: 4/5
Freakout Level: 2/5
Recommended?: Absolutely and I will be back! Sorry to say, the combination of Pulau Perhentian, Pulau Tioman and Tunku Abdul Rahman Park really cannot beat just one Pulau Weh. Either in marine life, price, visibility and service.