Trip tp Perhentian Islands
TRIP TO PERHENTIAN ISLANDS
With the departure of Joe & Marlene (Canadians) and Renee (Australian), the Great Eight diminished to the Fab Five. However, now that Mike (Irish), Sara (English) and Julia (Polish) have gone our group has shrunk to the Dynamic Duo, Colleen and me. So, since we had a three day weekend, we felt it was imperative that we take a trip in their honor. We bought a package at a tourism fair in Kuala Lumpur and headed for the Perhentian Islands, a group of small islands off the northeast coast of Malaysia, almost up to Thailand. It was an excellent choice. A 55 minute plane ride, a one hour taxi ride and a thirty minute boat ride and we were there. Paradise. Clean, sandy beaches interrupted by huge boulders worn smooth by the sea. Crystal clear water and lots of coral just offshore.
We stayed at the Perhentian Island Resort which is right on the beach nestled in the palm trees. The beach in front runs for couple of hundred yards in each direction before it end in a wall of huge rocks leading into the sea. (We found later that we could take a walkway through the woods along the beach to get to another isolated resort area which was not quite as upscale as the Perhertian. By not so upscale, I mean it was more of a backpackers destination). There was a nice restaurant, a tiny gift shop, and a dive shop. Nothing else. A great place for a quiet, relaxing vacation. The sky was overcast when we arrived but the sun popped out while we were having lunch. The restaurant was not crowded and we surmised that, according to the Lonely Planet, we had arrived at the tail end of the season. We went to the dive shop and arranged a snorkeling trip for that afternoon. We went out with four other people, think they were Japanese. The snorkeling was great. Identified lots of fish thanks to a book about The Coral Reef that Julia had given me as a parting present. Butterflyfish, Angelfish, Parrotfish, Triggerfish, Wrasses, and assorted small, brightly colored, beautiful fish. It was an undersea wonderland. We saw Giant clams maybe two feet across, interlocking scalloped shells that opened to reveal a bright colored mantle covering each side giving the illusion of two huge lips ranging in color from blues to greens to browns. Beautiful to behold. Giant anemones swayed with the current and clownfish swam blissfully in and out of the poisonous tentacles. Long spined sea urchins that must have been at least 18 inches across. Christmas tree worms that disappeared into the coral when you got close. All shapes, sizes and colors of coral.
They took us to three different spots, each a little different, with different things to see. The last was close to the resort and offered the most fish. The guide threw some bread into the water and we were engulfed in a mountain of small fish in a feeding frenzy, some nipping at our arms and legs. Even when they weren’t being fed, the little ones swam right up to your mask an peeked in, as if to say “Who are you and what are you doing here?” You could almost touch them but never quite as they would scurry just out of your reach.
Saturday was overcast and we hesitated to go out on a boat if the visibility was not good, so we just snorkeled off the beach. It was great. Not as many fish nor as many varieties but loads of things to see. I particularly liked the anemones with clownfish swimming in and out and the colorful giant clams. Went to one spot where a sea turtle hangs out and watched him feed on the bottom. Dove down to get close to him but he wasn’t having any of that and immediately swam away. It rained in the late afternoon so we read and worked Kakuro, the latest craze in numbers puzzles. More challenging than Sudoku.
Sunday we had to leave at noon in order to catch the ferry. Went snorkeling off the beach again. This time very close to the spot where the guide had fed the fish. We worked our way out to the tip of the island to a wide channel which separates two islands. Saw lots of fish (as usual) but some were different from what we had seen before. A blue spotted lagoon ray. A school of what they called sword fish swam by. They looked like needlenose fish but larger, a miniature version of barracuda. I first though they might be a cousin of the barracuda as they had a big mouth full of needle sharp teeth. My book tells me they were Halfbeaks and they don’t look near as dangerous in the book as they did in the water. We passed a couple huge barracuda resting comfortably on the bottom between two boulders. Colleen didn’t realize what they were and was only interested because they were so large. I, on the other hand, knew exactly what they were and became very nervous. I remembered that I had forgotten to take off my necklace. I’m not afraid of many things in the sea but I have a healthy respect for the damage a barracuda can do. I was happy to leave them behind. When we got to the end of the island, where we could feel the current, we saw a couple of black tipped sharks, not big, maybe 2 to 3 feet. They didn’t bother me at all. They are beautiful to watch move in the water. There may have been more than two. We weren’t sure as they circled us a couple of times before moving away. As we worked back toward the beach, the barracuda swam by us, closer than I wanted. I’ve seen lots of barracuda in the water in the Florida Keys but these made me really nervous.
The Perhentian Islands are great to visit. They told us the best time is June and July. It was wonderful and I’d like to go back for a totally relaxing vacation. But we had to leave and head back to KL for one more month of teaching before going to Australia.
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