Perhentian Islands

Perhentian Islands

The Perhentian islands, off the east coast of Malaysia, are the countries showpiece beach destinations. There are two islands, Perhentian Kecil (small island, which is where most travelers stay, as I did) and Perhentian Besar (big island). It takes a day from the Cameron Highlands (which is located in central Malaysia) up north and across to the east coast. You then have to take a speed boat to the island of your choice. Every boat that I had previously been on in Asia (there were many), had been pretty slow, so even when they claimed this boat was speedy I wasn't holding out hope of getting there any faster than it would take a turtle. Oh was I wrong. This wasn't a boat - it was a converted space rocket. We didn't sail over waves - we were jumping them. In fact we spent most of the time off the water than actually on it - and so yes, we got there quickly.

The islands are stunning - easily a match for those in southern Thailand. Unfortunately it was difficult for me to stay there too long simply because it is so expensive, which is a shame. I did however have time for an all day snorkeling trip - as the islands are famous for having some of the clearest waters and most spectacular coral in Asia. Well I can tell you now - come to the Perhentian islands just to snorkel. It was incredible. Far better than anything I had seen in Thailand's waters. The coral was colourful, the fish were abundant and the species - varied. I took the trip with Elmar and our pilot - Youseff. We ventured to 5 locations, one was called "shark point" where guess what - you see sharks. For the second time in two months I had now been swimming with sharks and this time it was even better. They were the same species as in Shark Bay in Koh Tao, - Black Tipped Reef Sharks and they are harmless. They were far bigger however here than in Thailand - about 2 - 2.5m in length.

Another snorkeling location was called - "turtle point". It took a while but finally we found them. How we missed them in the first place was beyond me. We are not talking about small turtles here - these were about the same size as me (maybe bigger)!!! It was incredible.

Most of the other fish - I had no idea what they were. There was one species I did recognize however - amongst the coral was Nemo, more technically known as Clown Fish.

However, within the beautiful watery world beneath me was a menacing creature, a truly evil thing that any snorkeler dreads to have around them - I speak of course of - Sea Lice. They are, as the name suggests - like lice in the sea. They give you an itching feeling all over - there are so many of them. Some swimming areas have the problem worse than others and it is very annoying. Nevertheless, the whole experience was fantastic - definately worth taking a bite or two.

The evenings were chilled out beach bar vibes, like that on Koh Chang, Koh Tao and ko Lipe. It was nice to get back to a beach for a while. Hung about with Peter - who had joined me from the Cameron Highlands, Elmar and two English girls we had met (Cherry and Jesse), also from the Highlands.

At the end of my Perhentian experience, I said goodbye to Peter for the very last time. He was heading to Singapore and then home and I was off to far away places. It was weird - we had traveled together - on and off - since Vietnam when we unexpectedly got put in the same room. We had been through a lot, from the Temples at Angkor (Cambodia) to the Full Moon Party on Koh Phangan (Thailand) to the jungle trekking in Taman Negara (Malaysia). Now it was the end. Like all the other goodbye's I have made - it was hard - but thats how it is and I had to move onwards.......so thats what I did.