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Published: March 25th 2006
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Longbeach on the Perhentian islands
our room was the top floor of that little wooden shack you can see The next day we got up early, had just a few hours sleep, so was really knackered. Caught early boat to Krabi and got put on various buses till we eventually arrived at the Malaysian border 20 minutes after it had closed. It was noticeably predominantly Muslim down there, and I felt a bit uncomfotable not having my head covered, but im sure they were used to thousands of tourists. We spent the night at a random hotel, which was actually very nice, then got up really early the next day and attempted to find the border. After a bit of aimless wandering, we got a 70 year old guy on a bicycle to bike us there. I felt so guilty, i was convinced he was about to have an anuerysm. We crossed the border hassle free, waved goodbye to dear old Thailand, and set off to get a taxi to Kota Bharu. The taxi man offered to take us straight to the port at Kuala Besut, and we jumped at the offer - 5 pounds each for an hours travel. We changed our last bhats, got money out, and set off. The countryside was beautiful - extremely green and lush,
with the typical ragged forested hills and rolling fields. The taxi driver was lovely and friendly, turns out every Malaysian we met was incredibly lovely and friendly! We got to Kuala Besut and caught a speedboat to the Perhentian islands - actually two islands, Perhentian Kecil and Perhentian Besar (small and big islands). If we weren't awake before, we certainly were now. The monsoon was only just over, and the swell and waves were pretty big. The speedboat jumped these every few seconds - when a boat goes up the face of a wave at speed, it doesnt slide back down the other side: it jumps it and slams back down to sea with a thundrous smack. I want you to smack your hand down as hard as you can on the table infront of you. That was our poor fragile bodies every few seconds - multiple whiplash and headaches!
We finally got ferried ashore at Longbeach, on Small island. Stunning white sandy beach, coconut trees and lush tropical jungle backing off the beach and curving around the penninsulars. We managed to get a decent room at a place called Moonlight chalets, really lovely staff. Attatched was a dive school called Sunlight divers - made the fatal mistake of asking about the Advanced Open Water course, having promised myself i would only do one fun dive and move on quickly to see as much as possible in the 5 days left. But, dear readers, Im afraid to say it was not to be. It didnt take much convincing by Dan, an instructor from Morpeth (he knows Jess Holmes!) and i was sucked in again. I want to take this opportunity to rather guiltily announce that my adoration of diving has well and truly hi-jacked this trip. We got geared up for a deep dive that afternoon, but the swell was too big, so postponed it for the next day. The Advanced course consists of 5 specialised dives, two compulsary: Deep and Underwater Navigation. We also chose AWARE Fish identification, Wreck diving, and Night diving. We went to bed early, absolutely shattered. Next day we went on our deep dive with Dan and another couple, Pete from Sydney and Miriam, a Brit. We set off in a tiny little boat, and backrolled off - my first backroll!! Unfortunately we were slightly misplaced, there was a massive current and the tide was a bit out, so we only got down to 26 metres. I felt a tiny bit narked (suffering from nitrogen narcosis, similar to being drunk due to the partial pressure of nitrogen in your system) Dan gave us simple skills like writing our names backwards, maths, and drawing something. I managed to spell SMITH wrong, and my maths is atrocious anyway, so im thinking getting that wrong didnt count. We swam around a bit there but was nothing to see...i realised on ascending that i had loved the dive despite all that, i was well and truly hooked.
We had a break and some food and me and Phil went with Sunny, another instructor, on our Fish ID dive. We went to a site called Temple of the sea, a pinnicle rising up in a cone from the bottom of the ocean - it was teeming with life. There are 21,000 species of fish out there - roughly memorising 12 families was bad enough, but we did spot tons: moray eels, bamboo sharks, puffers, triggerfish, thousands of damselfish and fusiliers, butterflies and angels, loads of squirrelfish! Had a few hours to spare before our night dive, so lay on the beach and did our homework for the next dives. Managed to burn my back (curses!) having just got rid of all the peel from the previous burn. As the sun set, we were briefed and geared up and went out with Steve, doing a shore dive this time - wading out into the sea with torches, swimming out then descending. It wasnt deep, just 11m. It was completely different from a day dive, it felt like we were floating in space. I could only see around my torch beam - i spent more time making sure i could see the lights of Steve and Pete than concentrating on aquatic life! Still, i saw loads of squirrelfish (they come out at night), a couple of groupers, and spotted Rays. When we finished, Phil had some food and i caught up on my diary then had an early night.
Thursday morning i got up and finished off work for the days dives, then met up with Dan and a couple of guys from Belgium doing an adventure dive. We were going out to Sugarwreck, a cargo ship full of sugar that was sunk in 1999 supposedly for insurance purposes. There was a really strong current, really needed the reference line to cling on to on the descent. But OH MY GOD when we got down there, i was in heaven. The wreck loomed infront of us like something from another world - fish and plants had taken over, turning it into an artificial reef. I felt like i was in the opening scenes of Titanic, exploring the sunken ship. We even swam into the the wreck through the cargo doors. Saw 4 lionfish swimming in formation - definitely kept a good distance! Puffers, Groupers, Snappers...everything was abundant, it was the BEST DIVE EVER!!! I came back extremely reluctantly, grabbed some lunch and sunbathed on the beach before meeting up with Pete and Miriam again for our final dive - Underwater Navigation. Practised reciprocal headings and navigating a square using given bearings on a compass on the beach - Steve rapidly realised the pitiful extent of my maths ('what's 130 minus 90?' 'Er....60?' I blame the previous alcohol abuse) He subsequently gave me the easiest bearings..'Emily, navigate a square, left turns, first bearing 180' Still, it turned out great fun measuring kick cycles and using natural navigation (remembering the reef, and specific rocks and boulders etc) On the way back we were truly rewarded - saw a green turtle!!! AND a giant Barracuda!!! Gutted it was my last dive (for now) but ecstatic that i was now an Advanced Open Water Diver!! Tonight we found out that the resident DMT was none other than Ali, who founded this very website! Small world 😊 Had food and a celebratory drink, then bed...that nitrogen really floors you.
Got up early next morning to head to KL, got to Kuala Besut 10 minutes before the morning bus, so had to wait 11 hours for the night bus...in a ghost town. God we were bored. Slept most of the way, got dumped 30km short of Kuala Lumpur, then the taxi driver couldnt find our hostel, and other taxi drivers refused to use the meter, so we just walked till we found a decent hostel. Had a sleep then walked around KL. Didnt do much sightseeing, saw a 1909 mosque, and the famous Petronus towers and KL tower (highest in the world 1996-2003) Did a wee bit of shopping - bought a new digital camera - bargain, got the camera, a Canon IXUS 60, plus 512 memory, bus two batteries plus case, for just 200. SOOO good to have a digital camera again, but i found myself pining for my old one...went out to use the internet and here we are now! Got to get up at 5am tomorrow, so early night tonight methinks. Melbourne, here we come!
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omar faruk
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nice travel
your travel was wonderfulland you know your taste of traveling.. I wish I were there with you in the stay of phil :)..have a nice day..if you will visit istanbul wanna to meet you..