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It was pouring with rain and the sea was very rough when we got the boat from the strange little village of Kuala Besut. The boat was flying over the huge waves and belly-flopping back down with such force I honestly thought it might split or capsize! I was just worried about my backpack, and had visions of it sinking to the depths with all my possesions. I seriously considered putting a life-jacket on my backpack, it was that bad! Despite the crazy weather, we could tell it was gorgeous - the sea was still such an amazing bright turquoise it looked unnatural. We stayed in a little hut at the furthest end of the beach, a collection of huts called 'Lemon Grass Chalets' or something. To be fair it was literally just a shed with a bed, and it smelt fusty inside. But it had a mosquito net and it was cheap so it was fine!
It brightened up eventually and we we had a mixture of sun, cloud and rain. I won't give a day by day account as most days were spent lounging on the beach or sheltering from the rain and reading our books.
We went on a snorkelling trip one day and visited lots of different islands and bays. I saw a shark at 'shark point' - I had missed the first one which had apparently swam right under me - as I was too busy looking at a jelly fish I'd spotted! (the day before a girl had been badly stung on a snorkelling trip and had been taken to hospital!) But I saw a very big shark after that which swam along about 5 metres below us. We also saw turtles at 'turtle bay' - there was a huge one which we were swimming above, and it came up for air and was swimming along beside me! It was amazing! I also saw more nemo fish, a huge eel thing and loads of other amazing specimens (we failed to spot a stingray)
We got a lot of noise from a bar (Mohsin chalets and restaurant) at ngith, and could hear each song clearly. So we decided 'if you can't beat em, join em' and had some great nights there.
Some nights there was such bad thunder storms and it rained so hard we couldn't really leave the shed! The
roof started leaking at one point! I certainly never expected such weather at that time of year in south East Asia. All the locals were saying how unusual it was - just my luck that the rainy season decided to come early!
Our collection of huts didn't have electricity during the day - at night it ran off a generator. When I tried to use my hair dryer the lights went dim and the whirring of the generator seemed to weaken, I couldn't believe it!
I could have spend ages on the perhentians, they were perfect!
The boat journey back was even more scary than the one there - the waves were enormous - this time the boat was rocking from side to side, and really seemed like it would tip over! The woman next to me wanted a life jacket for her small son, and I wanted one for my huge backpack! In the rainy season the islands shut down and are deserted, and even fishermen don't brave the rough seas!
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