Tioman · Malaysia · Pinnacle · Wall
Karang Tohor
Coral-covered pinnacle with walls falling to 40 metres
Area photo: TMbux · CC BY-SA 3.0
A large pinnacle standing in the middle of the bay east of Juara, with soft and hard coral on its shallower shoulder between 9 and 15 metres and walls and large boulders falling away below. The ground around it reaches 40 metres, and the current here can run stronger than at the sheltered bay sites nearby.
Where it is and how deep
2.7918° N, 104.2146° EApproximate position — the dashed circle shows where the site lies; your operator's briefing has the mooring.
The dive
The boat drops you five minutes east of Juara Bay over a large pinnacle that stands in the middle of the bay. The top of the structure is where most of the dive happens: soft and hard corals between nine and fifteen metres, on rock that is broken into short walls and large boulders.
Below the coral shoulder the rock keeps falling, and the ground around the pinnacle reaches forty metres — deep enough that anything down there is a short, planned leg rather than the body of the dive. Current runs stronger here than in the sheltered bays, so the usual approach is to descend on the up-current side, work around the pinnacle in its lee, and come back up on to its shallow end for the safety stop.
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 | Fair | Good | Good | Prime | Prime | Prime | Good | Good | Fair | Off-season | Off-season |
Season follows Tioman: Northeast monsoon brings rough seas and closed resorts November-January; calmest conditions and best visibility run May-September.
Know before you go
- Current can run stronger than at the sheltered bay sites; drop in on the up-current side and keep the pinnacle between you and the flow.
Sources
- Karang Tohor - Scubago — Scubago
More dive sites in Tioman
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Sloping reef and island-side pinnacles, dived off a mooring
Pinnacle
Twin rock islets over boulder coral, overhangs and small walls
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Towering rock formations and walls to 30 metres, often drifted
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Volcanic boulders stacked into tunnels, with a cave at 21 m
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Boulders and overhangs sloping to a 30-metre sand bottom
Pinnacle
Untouched hard and soft coral on a rock topping out at 8 m
Easy shallow reef with blacktip sharks and green turtles
Reef
Sand shallows, coral garden and a sheer wall to 18 metres
Similar dives elsewhere
Large schools of barracuda on an exposed pinnacle in strong current
Submerged pinnacle from 14 m down a wall to 32 m of sand
Granite arches at the exposed north end of the chain
Purple soft-coral wall dropping past recreational limits