Redang & Perhentian Islands · Malaysia · Reef · Sand slope
Paku Kechil
Coral slope two minutes off Long Beach, ending on rock
Area photo: Ditch Townsend · CC BY-SA 4.0
Paku Kechil is a boat dive two minutes off Redang's Long Beach: a coral-covered slope that begins at a 7 to 9 m entry and runs down to sandy areas at 18 m, ending over a rocky patch. Working depths are 18 to 20 m, which makes it one of the deeper dives among the short hops from the beach.
Where it is and how deep
5.7721° N, 103.0393° EPublished position for this site.
The dive
The boat ride is two minutes from Long Beach and you drop onto the top of the site at roughly 7 to 9 m. From there the ground slopes away, coral-covered the whole way down, and the route is simply to follow that slope out with the shallow side on one shoulder. There is no structure to navigate around, which makes it an easy site to read on a first dive of the day.
Sandy areas open up at 18 m, and the deeper part of the dive works the edge between coral and sand, with 20 m the usual limit. The site finishes over a rocky area, and that is the natural turn-around: from there you come back up the slope, spending the last part of the dive shallow and the safety stop over coral. No marine life, current or visibility figures are published for it, so plan around the profile rather than a particular sighting.
Marine life and season
The sources we used don't single out particular species here.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Off-season | Off-season | Good | Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Good | Good | Fair | Off-season | Off-season |
Season follows Redang & Perhentian Islands: The marine park is officially closed November 1-February 28 for the northeast monsoon; conditions are calmest and clearest April-September.
Questions divers ask
How deep is Paku Kechil?+
You enter at about 7 to 9 m and the site works down to 18 to 20 m, where the coral gives way to sandy areas and then a rocky end point.
Sources
- Paku Kechil - Scubago — Scubago (SSI)
More dive sites in Redang & Perhentian Islands
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Six impounded fishing boats sunk together at 23 m
Pinnacle
Tunnels through a pinnacle in 20 m-plus visibility
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A shallow shark nursery reached straight from the beach
Reef
Redang's Long Beach house reef, 3 to 15 m off the sand
Pinnacle
Submerged pinnacle from 14 m down a wall to 32 m of sand
Pinnacle
Exposed northern pinnacle sloping from 5 m to 30 m
Reef
Stacked boulders and swim-throughs on Besar's east face
Wreck
A 32 m patrol vessel scuttled as a reef, top at 16 m
Similar dives elsewhere
Flat sandy bottom around the corner from the North Jetty
Staghorn coral and garden eels on a long sandy slope
Scattered boulders on sand, with overhangs holding the fish life
Seahorses and bamboo sharks on a slope that ends in sand at 16 m