Lake Diving – Is it for everyone?
Written by Melanie Hwa, October 2024.
For as long as I can remember, I hated lakes (or rather Malaysian lakes) and I go the distance to avoid diving in them. Even just the idea of dipping my legs into the lake, scares me. Somehow the murky and waters scares me and I have been diving for over 12 years! I now understand why non-divers are super scared of what they can’t see in the deep ocean.
But anyway – due to a Sidemount course that I had to conduct early March this year, I had no choice but to give it a go. Honestly, I was squeamish at first but it is surprisingly not as bad as I have imagined it to be! So, here’s my take of what lake diving in the Bandar Saujana Putra lake is like.
There was a small platform out to the lake – so we put our tanks on the platform and we stepped into the lake. First feeling – urgh – mushy, mushy mud. We donned our gears and we swam out. As we deflated our BCD – we descended beneath the surface. It was only the two of us and we both had very good buoyancy but honestly, we didn’t know where the bottom was and before we know it – we can’t see each other. So naturally we both went up to regroup. Surprised with how sensitive the silt is – we tried again – this time, we really, really controlled our buoyancy with minimal kicking. And yes, we got it. It was about arm’s length of visibility so we stayed close and calm. We completed our drills and we swam around excited to see what we can find.
There was a bus in one of the dive sites and an old BMW in another. There were quite a lot of fishes (to my surprise) but the fishes were really different from what I am used to. They were not as colourful, very brown/grey coloured and definitely less variety. As a macro lover myself, I started looking for any macro life we can find. There were variety of crabs, shrimps and also bottom dwellers – again, very different from what we can find in the sea.
Another stark difference for me happened when my mask fogged up. As I clear my mask, I got a huge whiff of the water. It smelled herbal and woody but not salty (duhh!) – another very unfamiliar feeling for me. But it was all good. There were no lake monsters or crocodiles and it was certainly not as bad as I thought it would be. In fact, I think it is a very good training site for Sidemount or even Rescue courses. It trains us to trust in our training and to remain calm despite bad visibility.
So, is lake diving (in Malaysia) for everyone? Hmm, perhaps not. But should you give it a try? I’d say definitely! It’s a very different experience and I think everyone should give it a go once in their lifetime! If you are keen, we will be organizing a Lake Diving trip on 17th of November. Drop us a Whatsapp or email if you would like to join us!
PS. On top of your usual diving gears, I would strongly suggest bringing a dive light and also booties with open heel fins for safety & a better experience.