Re: Pandan Island
 

Your remark about Robinson Crusoe was spot on.

It was beautifully rustic. Very simple relaxed living.

If you wanted wifi, your best option would be to grab a sim card while you are there to use as a router. We had unlimited connection for 1000 pesos a month with one of the local phone card companies. But I think the point of the place is to disconnect for a while.

Your son and yourself would have an amazing time there I am sure. But the real special part for us was the remoteness of the location. We were there during the quiet season, which meant that water visibility was poor, but we happened to be the only guests for two nights! Very special. We felt like we had found a hidden paradise.

We lived there for a whole year and never took malaria medication. We found that prevention was the best cure and always made sure we had plenty of mosquito repellent. There were good quality mosquito nets in every room for sleeping.

While we were there, some dutch and french couples organised to go on a day trip to apo reef. They were after the wreck and wall diving. I don't know if that is something you would like, but live aboard tours are quite popular in the area.

When do kids learn to dive? Is there an age requirement? What age was your son when he started skin diving? I would love for my son to be skin diving with us next time, but they grow so quick!

Some of my family live on the other side of the island, maybe one day I will time a visit with the turtle hatching season!

Cheers,
Julz

The videos on youtube that I linked to are from the first time my son did serious snorkeling. He was 6 and a half years old then. We had practiced a bit in the swimming pool in advance, and I was very happy to see how well it worked out. My son is very safe in the water and swims very well. We have been going to swimming classes once a week since he was 1 years old. Now when he is 8 I really have to work hard to keep up with him, and I used to train swimming.

One thing to remember is that it is essential to have a long wetsuit on to protect him against the sharp coral when entering the water.

I did not try to encourage him to do any freediving back then, but he did a little bit of very shallow dives himself. He liked to dive under mom to scare her. Once when we were on a snorkeling tour the tour-guide dived down like 4 meters to pick up a sea-cucumber to show him. Then the guide dropped the cucumber down again. To everybody's surprise and joy the first thing my son did was to dive down himself to pick up the poor cucumber again.

I will not give my son any weights yet and I do not encourage him to take time, measure depths or do any apnea training. Without any weights and a wetsuit on he will not come very deep down, that feels safer. I do not trust him enough yet to make the judgement when it is time to turn to the surface. Snorkeling and shallow less-than-1-minute freedives he does very well today at the age of 8. He hasn't learned how to equalize pressure yet, and that keeps him safely above 5 meters. If we went to an island like Pandan I'm sure he would quickly learn how to equalize though and try to follow me down.

Did you stay at the resort on Pandan island or did I understand you correctly that you have family living on this fantastic island?

well, it seems you have already been to very nice places for diving!! Maldives is the best :)
you can come to Malaysia it is such a beautiful country with many location for diving and adventure, many of the hotels have baby setting and children entertainment programs. in some islands you can take water or tree chalets which is very amazing...