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Guess it’s about time to get out of the city. It’s July and the “dry” season of the year for public holidays and celebrations, so we thought, “Why not get away for awhile?” And what better way to spend idle time than with the great ocean.
The Adventure Crew (Eric, Alicia and myself) decided, after a couple of months’ preparation, booking and last-minute packing, to head off to the island of Perhentian (literally translated, it means “stopover”).
Having slogged away in the city, the Adventure Crew decided on “comfort travelling”, dug deep into our pockets and booked ourselves for a 3-day, 4-night stay in Bubu Beach Resort located on the shores of Long Island in Perhentian Kecil. Hot water in the shower, air-conditioned room, 24-hour electricity – that’s considered luxury for a resort over there! If comfort is not an issue, then it’s wise to shop around at other cheaper resorts which tend to have fans and mosquito nets to help keep the bugs at bay, and electricity only during certain hours of the day.
We arrived on a Friday morning after braving stormy and wet weather with our dive gear in tow. Having dived with Turtle Bay Divers previously, we dragged our gear to their dive shop and set up camp for the next three days. The man about Turtle Bay Divers is Yaakub, and together with Aris and their dive crew, we set out to get ourselves some fish! Our dive master was Olivia, or better known as just Oli.
Day 1, Dive 1 - Sandray Alley
Visability: 5m
Temperature: 30 C°
As the weather was cloudy and the sea was somewhat choppy, we started out easy and headed out to Sandray Alley for our first dive. It was at the tip of a sheltered cove of sorts, where the rays were abundant and not camera shy. There were whiptails and blue spotted rays – some couldn’t event be bothered to move when we got really close to them. Other scenes include the bumphead parrotfish and a variety of batfish.
This was also my first time using a camera underwater, thanks to my dive buddy who agreed to lend me his set for an experience of underwater photography. Okay, so I fumbled with the flash a lot in the first 3 clicks, but after getting used to which button does what, I managed to take a couple of not-so-great-but-still-visible shots of some false anemone fish and silver batfish. Not bad for an amateur.
Day 2, Dive 2 - Sugar Wreck
Visability: 7m
Temperature: 30 C°
The sky didn’t look promising, and the sea even less so. As we look skywards we knew that the sun would have a tough time breaking through the looming clouds, or not at all. Nevertheless, the Adventure crew took westwards of Perhentian Kecil for a dive at Sugar Wreck.
Oli explained that the ship was carrying loads of sugar to shore when it sank hence the name. Whether that’s the true story or not, it still was home to marine life. Puffers are abundant there - blotched porcupine puffers, map puffers In even more abundance were the sea urchins sticking to the walls of the wreck. That made movement quite delicate if you wanted to navigate much closer to the wreck. We spotted some bamboo sharks, and if my eyes weren’t playing tricks on me, I thought there was a lionfish lurking about the top near the towline.
Current was somewhat strong, and though it’s not the kind which would tear you away in an instant, it did take a bit of propelling to get back to shelter once out in the open.
Day 2, Dive 3 - Teluk Dalam
Visability: 7m
Temperature: 30 C°
The day got worse towards the afternoon. The rain came pouring down, not hard but persistent enough to really put a damper on things. It stopped just after lunchtime, but as we looked towards Tanjung Basi (north of Perhentian Besar), we could see the waves break quite badly and according to Yaakub, we wouldn’t have needed weights to sink, we’ll sink with the boat if we had gone out there. So we decided to play it “safe” and head south of Perhentian Besar, to Teluk Dalam.
The boat ride to cut across the channel between the islands was perhaps the highlight of the day. We rode with Mr. Crazy Boatman who loved wild rides, and it was like being on a watery roller-coaster with no bars to hold you down. Maybe it was the lack of adrenaline activities back in the city, I couldn’t help but enjoy the ride and the thrill of it all.
The calmness of the water at Teluk Dalam was a far cry from the choppy seas we had crossed to get there. It was even better than Sugar Wreck in terms of the calmness, but visibility was still at 7m. Now, here we were welcomed by the phyllidia varicose nudibranches not many, but still different sight from the past 2 dives.
The boat back well, needless to say it was another wild ride, including the 360° turn at the shore. With the rain pelting down and 2 so-so dives, we decided to call it quits for the day and let nature take its course.
Day 3, Dive 4 – The Pinnacle
Visability: 10m
Temperature: 30 C°
Woke up early on Sunday morning. I poked Eric in the ribs and asked, “Don’t you want to check the weather?” And he replied, “You go, I’m too afraid to look” So I braved myself to look out the window and The sun is out!!! Finally, a sunny, glorious day, perfect weather for a good dive or three.
We took advantage of the calm waters and headed to The Pinnacle. Located northwest of Perhentian Kecil, it looks like a small piece of rock jutting out onto the surface of the sea. However, it cones downwards and has a rich seabed of marine life colonies.
Out of all our dives, this had probably the most variety ranging from snappers and porcupine puffers to fusiliers. The more interesting bit was when we went moray eel “hunting”. There was this thick and long moray lurking under the corals, and wasn’t camera shy when we went up close for a portrait picture of it.
It was slightly past our half tank mark when the most unexpected - yet highly anticipated - event happened. Oli and Alicia were up ahead making a left turn around the wall, while Eric and I were hanging back a bit.
Day 3, Dive 5 – Tanjung Basi
Visability: 7m
Temperature: 30 C°
This is one of the more talked about dive locations in Perhentian, with rich growth of soft and hard corals and extensive variety of marine life. Our dive was pleasant enough, with the usual suspects under water. I was disappointed that we didn’t spot any turtles; it seemed that they appear every year before that. Okay, so maybe I can live with no turtles at that time in exchange for no jellyfish. Strangely enough, July was the season for jellyfish but there wasn’t a single one out there.
The highlight at Tanjung Basi was when we caught a glimpse of the Talang Queenfish – its sheen glittered off its silvery body, and even from a distance we could see that it’s a big one, about 6 feet long. It didn’t hang around for long, so it was a “hi-bye” situation with the elusive.
Day 3, Dive 6 – D’Lagoon
Visability: 6m
Temperature: 30 C°
It was our last dive for the day – and for the trip too. Our energy spent, we decided on a closer dive spot, D’Lagoon.
Situated next to Sunray Alley, it was a good site to slow down and enjoy the underwater scenery one last time. Nothing really unique, but if you’re a fan of yellowtail trevally, giant morays, pink anemone fish, batfish and one really giant Titan trigger, then this is the spot for you to wind down or start your dive, whichever you prefer.
Most visitors would take the evening ferry back to the mainland. The last boat is about 4:30 p.m. , depending on your arrangements with the resort or inn you stayed with. We packed our bags, rode the waves back to Kuala Besut, endured a 40-minute taxi ride to Kota Bharu and left on Air Asia’s http://www.airasia.com night flight home to Kuala Lumpur. Perhaps the Adventure Crew would be back again next year for more dive adventures and discoveries of other dive spots.
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