When I opened an email from Scubaverse advising me I had won the Scubaverse diving holiday to Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei, little did I think that I would be on a Royal Brunei Airlines flight a mere eleven days later. Thanks to the efficiency of In Depth Tourism Marketing, my husband and I found ourselves enjoying a trip of a lifetime where everything had been organised for maximum enjoyment and minimum stress.

Our trip began with a night in Singapore. New to this city, we took the advice of the friendly Furama Hotel concierge and went to Clarke Quay for a Singapore Sling and a bite to eat. Singapore is fascinating: spotlessly clean, safe and vibrant, it comes alive at night when the skyscrapers light up the skyline.

Next morning’s transfer to Mersing in Malaysia was an enjoyable and comfortable car ride through palm oil plantations and jungle. Headed for Rawa Island Resort, by lunchtime we had arrived by boat and were enjoying a delicious buffet.  Owing to its close proximity to agricultural land, Rawa’s dive sites do not enjoy the best visibility, but there is an abundance of soft corals and a plethora of marine life. It was encouraging to see entire families being taught to dive together by Orca Scuba, as it is very safe, relatively shallow and non-taxing diving. Orca Scuba also took us to wreck and coral reef dive sites by boat and shore dives around the jetty, but the best dives were actually shore dives at the north end of the island where there are even more corals. The dives with Orca Scuba were not part of the prize, but my husband and I were happy to pay for them ourselves.

After four nights on this tropical paradise, we returned to Mersing and were taken back to the Furama Hotel in Singapore. This time, armed with local knowledge gleaned from fellow divers, we headed straight to the Fullerton Hotel’s roof top bar “The Lantern”. Drinks here were not cheap, but we had the perfect viewing point for the Marina Bay Sands Hotel’s light and laser show, a sight I am glad we did not miss.

The next day we flew from Singapore to Brunei and, yet again, everything went smoothly and exactly to plan. Poni Divers in Brunei collected us daily for boat dives, and in two days we had dived three, coral-covered boat wrecks, an oil rig and a coral garden. The diving off Brunei is wonderful: colourful, full of life and with good visibility. Puffer fish, sting rays, huge shoals of fish and every type of coral are in abundance. I would thoroughly recommend adding Brunei to any diver’s wish-list of places to visit, especially as it is still relatively unknown and therefore in pristine condition.

The ten days we spent on holiday were spectacular! Thank you to Scubaverse, In Depth Tourism Marketing, Royal Brunei Airlines, The Furama in Singapore, Rawa Island Resort, Orca Scuba, The Radisson in Singapore, and Poni Divers in Brunei.

Lucy McCorkindale