A NEW BOAT FOR TDC

The ‘Puteri Naga’

After 4 months of building, and a couple of Sea Trials up near Kuantan and also in Mersing, The ‘Puteri Naga’ has arrived safely to Tioman Island.

We unfortunately had to say goodbye to our beloved ‘ASMARA’, after 6 great years, but it has gone to a good home… as it now belongs to our boat captain, Wak! So you may still see Asmara around and about here at TDC.

The Puteri Naga was built by a Malaysian company, Sungai Soi Fibre Glass, who are located near Kuantan, just a few hours north on the mainland. The company specializes in fishing boats, and so their build is strong and solid. We (obviously) asked them to remove all the fishing mod-cons! as none of that will be happening here on our dive sites in Tioman, and they have done a great job decking the boat out as a dive vessel.

Puteri Naga is 33ft long and 9ft wide which is substantially larger than our other boat, Bayi Tulai which is 32ft x 6ft. With 2 x ‘4-stroke’ Mercury 115HP engines on the back, she is spacious and much more environmentally friendly, perfect for our double dive trips out to Coral Island.

The name was chosen after a FaceBook ‘competition’ and to be honest, it was a pretty easy decision… As soon as Elizabeth Eastwood, or as some of you may know her, Aliyah, typed in ‘Puteri Naga’ to the comments section, I couldn’t get it out of my head… the name was perfect, and we hope you like it! In Malay, it means ‘Dragon Princess’… Now for those of you who don’t know the legend of Tioman Island, it goes something like this…

The dragon-like appearance of Tioman Island is at the root of a legend surrounding its origin:

Legend has is that a magical dragon princess from China was flying to her prince in Singapore and stopped to rest in these calm, warm waters.

Enamoured by the beauty of the area, and the waves lapping at her sides, she discontinued her journey and took the form of an island, remaining to be a place of shelter and comfort to passing travellers.

Like a giant sleeping dragon, the dark green ridges of Tioman Island rise up above the waters of the South China Sea. On closer inspection, it becomes clear that the dragon’s dark green scales are in fact giant trees and the impenetrable jungle; that the grey claws are giant granite boulders and that the dragon’s horns are twin peaks with smooth, straight cliffs, surrounded with swirls of mist.