Grand Day for Critters

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Today was our first full day settling into a new place where we plan to stay until about the 5th of June. It’s just one beach over from where we were on Mira Beach which is all still on Kecil, (the smaller island of Pulau Perhentian.) There are two places to stay here on this beach, Impiani and Patani, each with little restaurants that serve drinks.

We are staying at Impiani on one of their hillside cabanas that backs up to jungle—which will explain all the interesting critters. The cabins here are large enough for both of us to work in with a private deck that looks out to the sea and into the tops of the trees. The place at the other end of the beach is great, too, and we love the bar/restaurant there that has such a fun vibe.

We started our new everyday routine here of writing in the morning, then diving or snorkeling, lunch, reading, more swimming, followed by cocktail hour, dinner, and then whatever. We’re wanting to do some writing while we have a semi-permanent residence conducive to it—which means electricity at night, quiet, some internet, and space for both of us to work.

One element that we didn’t quite realize is just how many animals are all around us. It’s wonderful, and even though I read about it, I didn’t quite understand it. I mean, you don’t have to do anything to see them. So, after a night of hearing Mickey Mouse munching on my underwear and a Kermit the Frog bellowing about in our room, not to mention the lizards just staring out from the walls, we saw a shark, pit viper (which is one of the most venomous snakes in Asia), and sting ray, We heard there was a small shark whose territory was by the large rock at one end of our beach, so off we snorkel out to see if he was there. And yup, he was. I know that I’m completely being all Jaws about this, but when I saw him, breathing stopped. There he was just swimming about, and there we stopped, staring. I moved right up on Adam’s side and hoped that suddenly we looked like one big fish. Once the shark turned away, we turned away, trying to get some distance between us so we could pop up and tread water, yelping about how cool that was.

So, since that little encounter went so well, we heard that at the other end of this beach was a big shark. Back out we go, and I saw a huge sting ray with a tail about six feet long and curled up. We were a little too close, could easily have bumped against that tail as we were snorkeling in some shallow water, so I just steered us a bit away after I watched that body ripple on. Ghostly color. And all of this on our quiet day.

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Photos

Impiani
This is where we are staying for a little while. Our chalet is the one highest up the hill. Prices here range if you get hot water or not. We are paying about 50 bucks a night. Great place.

Mud HIke
This is Adam's shoe covered in mud. Loved this hike, but we did have to stop every now and then and scrape our shoes off.

Coral Bay
This is a nice beach on Kecil. Mellow and pretty. No bars, but there is a good restaurant with tables on the beach at night.

Long Beach
This is the more social beach on the island.

Comments

[Helen Rebmann]

Wow!
Awesome blog with awesome photos. I will enjoy 'taking the trip' with you. ~Cousin, Helen

[Melissa Gresalfi]

Um...PIT VIPER?!?!
Well, you win the tough award for the month! I never want to hear any whining from you from now on! It looks beautiful there--what a great summer!

[mama]

It looks like paradise until I come to the bathroom comments and animals therein; I do like my creature comforts. Really enjoy seeing the other side of the world w/you.