Snorkeling at Tioman

During end May, my friends and I had a short getaway to Tioman for a nice deserved break!


And one of the activities we did was to snorkel around the coral reefs of Tioman. It was generally a relaxing and fun experience.


At that time, many parts of the living reefs are doing well, with areas that were not affected by the recent coral bleaching.


Though there were signs of bleaching that are starting to happen in some colonies.


At the deeper ends of our snorkeling, there were many small fishes swimming in a school.


Tioman is one place that you can find countless number of the Burrowing Giant Clams (Tridacna crocea). How many can you count from this photo?


A special find from this first snorkeling trip will be this Phyllid nudibranch (Phyllidia elegans). It's very pretty with yellow spots on the body.


During the next day, we took a boat out to the marine park to swim amongst the fishes!


Over here, there is not really a coral reef below but mostly covered with sand only. However, the authorities have built concrete unit on the substrate to encourage coral growth as shown in this photograph. Unfortunately, many colonies of corals I came across here were starting to bleach as well! I also came across a sea anemone with nemos that is completely white.


The boat also took us to the reefs fringing Renggis Island! This is the best snorkel site among the 3 that we had. The corals were plentiful, similar to the other reef animals.


The Acropora corals are almost everywhere, while there are also some boulder corals as well.


Another look at the colourful reefs off Renggis. I hope they are not bleached as of now!


The Fluted giant clam (Tridacna squamosa) is quite common on this reef!


At the deeper ends, there were many sea anemones with nemos! Here's a not so clear shot from the water surface.


It was heartbreaking to see some parts of the reef already starting or have been bleached. The waters that we were snorkeling in was indeed quite warm! I worry for the corals.


Here's my friend Sherilyn snorkeling. Well, snorkeling is a great alternative for people for don't dive to experience the reefs. It's like entering into a new realm of the underwater rainforest.