Pulau Perhentian Kecil, Terengganu, Malaysia
Friday, August 26, 2011
fortunately we weren't staying too long in
Georgetown. I was a bit of a grumpy guts there due to Philippines-withdrawal syndrome, sleep deprivation, caffeine deprivation, and just being a general misery guts. Jarleth was lovely, took me out for a nice curry, and sorted out the onward transportation to the Perhentian Islands.
This tropical island paradise is now becoming a bit of a fixture on the Backpacker Circuit, but due to a lack of electricity, internet access and readily available alcohol, gap year teenagers usually arrive, stay for a day or two, then head off somewhere else where they're much more likely to get laid.
It is beautiful here. The journey was a bit knackering - 7 hours on a bus, over a mountain, through the jungle, stuck in a traffic jam, then eventually rumbling into the tiny seaside town where we caught the boat to the islands
. The sands are white, and the jungle rises up on the hills in the background. I was a bit tired lugging my backpack around, so when we made it to Longbeach, I offered to sit and watch the bags (and have a cheeky ice cold coca cola) while Jarleth found us a room for the night. I didn't feel quite so smug when I saw the beach huts Jarleth had checked us into.
"It's a bit basic, but really cheap, only three quid a night!" he enthused. My jaw hit the floor when I saw the garden shed he'd check us into. Electricity only ran from 7pm to 7am. There weren't any windows, but lots of holes in the floor and wall (not large enough to have any sunlight streaming in though). The mozzie nets stunk of something unholy, and the "bathrooms" were concrete holes, with no sunlight, and were rather smelly. It was a bit of a comedown from the Marriot...
Fortunately we didn't spend a lot of time in the rooms (sleeping only). I managed to find myself a Dive Shop where I could do a bit of scuba scuba scuba, while Jarleth and Amy (who we picked up at the Traveller's Lodge in Georgetown) got to work on their tans.
I signed up with Quiver Dive Team, and we set off for the Sugar Wreck site the next day
. It's a cargo ship that sank in the mid-late 90s. It's an awesome site - unfortunately I didn't see much of it as the current was insane. Our Divemaster Joe had the swim up and drag me down to the site, as I didn't have the strength to swim through the current down to the wreck. I did try - but ended up slicing my fingers to bits on coral in the attempt, so just stuck around on the buoy line (at about a 90 degree angle) until the cavalry arrived. It was a real rough and tumble ride, and pretty fantastic, but as most of the dive we were concentrating on survival we didn't really see much apart from some Lionfish skulking near the bottom, trying to avoid getting blown away into oblivion.
My next dive with Quiver was much calmer: Joe and I headed to the Sail Rock - or Batu Layar - where we saw some gorgeous corals, lots of lurvely fish, and a five foot long, black tip reef shark! It was one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen - and swam past, quite close to us, calm as you like. I'm still buzzing about that one now!!!
Jar and Amy ended up doing their Advanced Certification with Turtle Bay Divers, so we were on separate trips most of the time, but we all agreed that the diving here is sublime:
- Sugar Wreck is awe inspiring - 96 metres long, loads of barracudas nearby, and is really beautiful (I went back a second time when the current wasn't quite as insane, and was blown away)
- T3 is fantastic, loads of superb swim-throughs, lots of tiny sealife (sea slugs, shrimps, crabs) and some gorgeous corals nearer the surface
. I've also seen hump-headed parrot fish there (MASSIVE!)
- Temple of the Sea is stunning too - like a giant aquarium, loads of coral and fish, and a resident 3-legged sea turtle called "Tripod" (she lost a fin in a boating accident and lives at the Temple site)
We also dived the Vietnamese Wreck (crappo vis, rubbish current, so not much of a drift dive) and Shark Point, where the visibility was so poor that I missed all of the sharks, and the sunken piano ...
Aside from diving there's not really much else here to do. The snorkelling is good, and I plan on doing a snorkelling trip before I disappear. The jungle is also pretty cool - and the wildlife is inspiring too. I came across a five foot long Monitor Lizard near the loos behind Bubus Resort (and a rather cheeky 4 foot long one skulking around near my new digs yesterday!). In addition to diving, snorkelling and wandering across the tiny island, the only other things to do are sunbathe.
We came over to the island just before the end of Ramadan and Hari Raya - the National Malaysian holiday. Because the transport network was going to collapse around this time we decided to just stick it out here a little bit longer, then make our way out into the rest of the world when Malaysia finished celebrating. Let's face it, there are worse places to be stuck!
