This fall break was exhilarating for me, as I got to go diving and snorkeling in one of Malaysia's most well-preserved marine environments, the Perhentian Islands.
DAY 1
Transportation to our hotel was difficult. We first had to take a taxi from my neighborhood to the second terminal of the Malaysian airport, which was about a one hour ride. We then had to get all checked in, travel through the maze of the airport's pathways, before finally finding our gate. Our flight was around 1 hour with Air Asia. When we arrived, we had claimed our baggage and boarded a crowded bus, in which we spent an hour in riding along the dangerously bumpy roads of the Perhentians. We arrived at the hotel base, where we filled out legal forms, and then boarded a boat which took us to our hotel in about an hour and 15 minutes. When we finally got to our destination, my family just crashed, while I took out my sister's waterproof camera and snorkeled around the area.
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| A large collection of sea anemone. I know it's illegal to touch sea life in the park, but I couldn't resist in touching the anemone. As my skin came into contact with the anemone started to stick to my skin, and brave fish charged for me to defend their home. Some even nipped at me a couple times - it felt like a little pinch. The greenness of this image is caused by the ocean color. I think it gives this image a nice little environmental effect, which definitely symbolizes Malaysia's economic marine diversity. |
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| Another collection of sea anemone, surrounded by a beautiful variety of the corals native to Malaysia. |
This is only a small sample of the gorgeous 'city' I saw underwater. I did not want to leave, but eventually headed inside after 4 hours and a nasty sunburn.
DAY 2
On the third day, my dad and I headed over to a couple of the diving huts next to our hotel. My sister, also a certified diver, did not come with us since she ended up puking the night before. We talked to the dive masters about our afternoon dive, and legitimated our PADI certification. After a fantastic lunch next door (our hotel food was not very good, and the staff were quite rude), we got equipped for our dive.
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| A cute little Mayan Temple sandcastle at our hotel |
Our dive site was called Terumbu Tiga, which was a dive which required a high level of fitness and agility. We were constantly turning left and right, up and down through the caves, and by the end of our dive we were wiped. We ended up not going on another, and just went back to the hotel beach area to snorkel for a bit.
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| As you can see, our hotel was somewhat touristy. There were benches set up along the beachfront, and a jetty that transported people (via water taxi) to other islands or resorts. |
DAY 3
Day 3 was devoted to snorkeling and meeting friends. It turns out that my mom's coworkers were staying at the hotel next door, so we ended up spending the day with them. We took a water taxi to another island, and spent the day island hopping for snorkeling.
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| We passed a mosque that was on the island adjacent to our island. Every evening we would hear the Islam prayer call. The mosque in a tropical island emphasizes the importance of religious practice. |
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| We also passed a little school, which also emphasizes the importance of primary education |
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| The local petrol station for refilling boats. |
Our water taxi driver took us to a small bay dotted with resorts and restaurants. The food was extraordinary, and the water clarity was unexpectedly clear. As shown in the above image, my sister is relaxing in the water. The crystal clear clarity allows viewers to even see her legs submerged in the water.
After we ate, the taxi driver took us to yet another island, which was completely desolate and empty. We had the whole beach to ourselves for 3 hours, and the water clarity there made the water at the bay seem murky.
We spent about 2 and a half to 3 hours snorkeling around (excluding the women because they prefer relaxing), and I can honestly say that I seen nothing quite spectacular as the snorkeling at that island. Visibility was spot on - you could probably see about 20 feet clearly into the distance. The corals made me feel like I was in the movie 'Finding Nemo', living in their marine town. I visualized the coral as buildings and schools, and longed to live in an environment just like that.
I also spotted my first shark at this snorkel site! We were heading back to the beach when I decided to inspect a piece of sea anemone, when all of a sudden I spot a shark swimming right underneath me. I filled with excitement and joy, and gestured towards my dad and sister to follow me. We followed the shark, and they, not knowing what we were following, were disinterested. It wasn't until on the beach when I told them it was a black tip reef shark that they got jealous and wished they swam faster.
That afternoon, we returned to the hotel and decided to check out more snorkeling spots near our beach. We had to navigate around sharp, loose rocks, and occasionally had to swim around corners if it looked to rocky on land. We reached our snorkeling spot, where we saw a poisonous stonefish. It was scary because both my dad and I nearly stepped on it (we would have died, since the only proper, developed hospital was about 330 km away, in KL).
On the way back, a foolish accident happened. We were navigating through spiky rocks, and my dad offered some help to get onto a particularly slippery boulder. I refused his help, determined to show him my independence. Instead, while attempting to mount the boulder, I slipped, fell back into the water and sliced my arm on barnacles. I laughed it off, and just decided to slowly swim back. My parents were ahead, so when I lifted my arm out of the water for about 10 seconds, blood was streaming down my arm. It was a very wide cut. "Almost a stitcher" my dad said.
We had to wrap it a couple times that night. We saw a couple of ISKL students at our hotel, and they looked at my arm foolishly. The cut is still healing and still hurts, and will leave a scar on my arm forever.
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| Photo taken using an iPhone camera in poor lighting, thus the substandard quality. |
Day 4
On the fourth day, I was extremely scared to go diving. I was afraid because I didn't want my cut to randomly start bleeding, and attract sharks (I get very paranoid at times). Nevertheless, I did it anyways. This time my sister came along because she was feeling better.
We went to Batu Layar, which was sort of a hit or miss dive site. It is sometimes amazingly spectacular, sometimes so murky you can't see more than a foot in front of you. The day we went was a hit AND miss. When we first entered the water, it was beautiful (viewed from the top). However once we descended towards the seafloor, the water started to get more and more murky, until everything was brown and you HAD to make sure you kept your eye out for your buddy, otherwise you would have drifted and gotten lost. It was like this for about 20 minutes, and I was very miserable. I kept saying to myself, "Can we please just ascend and relocate to a different site?" The dive master seemed to have hope, and he was right. For the last 20 minutes, after rounding a corner, everything became so vibrant and magnificent, and visibility was again spot on. We saw turtles with 2 gigantic remora attached (basically the 'car washers' of the ocean). We also saw pufferfish, triggerfish, clownfish, and a school of barracudas. It was a fantastic 20 minute dive (the first half didn't count), and I wish we could have stayed longer.
As usual, after the dive, we devoted our time to snorkeling on the beach. We also went on a little beach walk at night, which was absolutely marvelous.
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| We began at sunset, the most spectacular part of the day |
As we walked, we kept an eye on the water and the shore to look out for sea snakes. While we didn't spot any, we did see an eel scouring the shore for little schools of fish for dinner.
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| As we walked across the beach, we found huge collections of starfish and jellyfish washed up on the beach. |
Day 5
The fifth, and last full day spent in the Perhentians was another island hopping day. We went back to the little bay for lunch, where we all relaxed and tried to get a tan on.
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| Drinking a healthy smoothie while trying to tan under an umbrella certainly is paradise |
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| A panorama showing the wonderful view of the bay. I remember hearing one tourist say, "I'm dreaming. No, I'm not here. I can't be here," as the overwhelming beauty filled her emotions. |
We then sailed to the Rawa Islands. While snorkeling there, we saw a total 10 black tip reef sharks. Several of them (mostly the smaller ones), freaked out at the sight of us and bolted off at lightning speed into the distance, whereas some sort of circled us and eyed us, examining us to see if we were a threat to the reef. One got so close to us that I thought it would attack, but it turned away at the last minute.
We got back to the hotel to relax, and pack up for our departure the next day. It was a wonderful trip, and I wish we could have been there longer. I do recommend the islands for snorkelers and divers. Those who have grown to be spoiled, only liking the beautiful unique corals will not be disappointed.
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