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Published: September 8th 2012
We read that boats to
Perhentian Islands had questionable safety level but when we actually got on one we had no idea what that was about. It was small, new and very fast speedboat and it looked very comfortable. We were lucky that the weather was fabulous and water almost flat with no waves. After 10 minutes we understood what that comment was about. Boatmen treat them as their personal racing vehicles and the boat took such a speed at one point that we were literally
‘flying’ over small waves created by other boats. Once again not my definition of fun but Tomek had a great time!!!
What we did not know at the time was that we arrived just in the middle of school holidays and
Perhential Kecil was full of local tourists. Not many
falangs showing their tanned bodies on the beach but groups of covered up woman swimming in burkas. We walked from guesthouse to guesthouse around
Coral Bay and we could not find any free space – just the expensive hotels seemed to have some rooms – we got seriously worried. For some reason we decided to check in the most splashy place on the island
– Sharila Resort- as we thought we heard that actually had dorms - BINGO. We got last two beds in the most beautiful dorm room we have ever seen with soft carpets, AC and nice white linen. We could use free juice and water as well free Wi-Fi and 3 private beaches. All of that was just for 20RMB/person when prices of crumbling bungalows started from 50RMB. We liked it there so much that we did not even want to move to a private budget room when it became available. We also stayed longer than planned.
Coral Bay did not amaze us at first glance as big pier just spoils the view but when we looked closer we really got to like the place. Clean small beach with palm trees and restaurant huts as well as coral reef extending just before your eyes. Of course we enjoyed the private beached more because there were almost no people there and snorkeling was much better. Long Beach is just a 10 min walk away on the other side of the island and it has much better swimming. We have learnt so far that western side of any island is always wavy
and does not offer fab flat water (at least in summer season). We loved flat turquoise green color of water and amazing snorkel by the bridge. You can also see huge monitor lizards when you walk between sides of the island and sometimes they just come to walk around you on the beach;-) The private beaches around Sharila gave us a lot of privacy and peace as majority of customers were locals and they don’t sit around and get brown on the beach. That would be a total waste of money spent previously on all the bleaching lotions they put all over;-) There are some stunning spots there including
Romantic Beach and snorkel is great as well (unfortunately we lost a lot of photos from Perhentians when our hard drive broke few weeks later so we cannot show how they looked like).
We heard that snorkel trips are really good at Perhentian Kecil so we signed up for one with Sharila as they offered massive budget style breakfast included in the price (30RMB/10$ per person). It was amazing 4h and we got to swim with reef sharks, turtle and saw amazing big fish. The sharks were so completely oblivious
of us that it was unbelievable. We felt sorry for the turtle though as there seem to be only one and every boat was chasing him/her around the bay ;-( We snorkeled in some nice places before (Blue Hole in Egypt and Great Barrier Reef) but we thought that Parenthians was just a top spot - maybe because of the wide range of nice, big fish and coral together. We saw the usual:
Parrot Fish, Moorish Idol, Clown Fish , Regal Angel Fish, Box Fish, and Barracudas etc. We heard that great spot was around the lighthouse so we made sure our itinerary included it as well. It was totally worth it and we loved it.
Food was not bad either and we enjoyed some nice Perhanthas for breakfast as well as fresh baguettes with tuna and cheese. Obviously prices are way higher when compared with mainland but still very affordable (6RMB/2$ per meal). Only alcohol is scarce and is way more expensive than anywhere else. It is a Muslim country in the end. Every evening restaurants would create nice alfresco dining options at the beach with candlelight, nice music and fresh seafood BBQ. This alternative was more expensive (15RMB/plate) but you could enjoy some
fresh squid or even lobster. Just next to Sharila Resort is a nice outdoor theater restaurant screening different movies every night. On our last evening we got invited in to watch Twilight Saga witch I was very delighted with (love the books) but surprisingly Tomek was up for it too. All of us girls were sighing from time to time and boys looked more than bored when they found out that this particular part of the Saga did not show many of the vampire-wolf special effects hahhah. Nevertheless we thought it is a nice place to spend an evening and we can really recommend food in that restaurant too.
Perhential ticked all the boxes – nice beach, small profile, relatively not crowded, nice accommodation and selection of food and amazing marine life. Frankly speaking we had a big problem when it came to deciding when to leave but once again we had a flight booked from Singapore (hate flight deadlines) and we still had to make our way down to Cameron Highlands and KL so could not linger around for much longer;-(
Interesting fact: • Later on our travels we found out that there
was actually a very exciting option of accommodation on the island –> squatting for free in a deserted resort just 10 min south of the Coral Bay. We walked there one day and we saw this place but it did not even occur to us that there was any room that is suitable for staying. We met some travelers who stayed there for weeks and apparently it became some kind of cool place that every person who is camping there is repairing a little bit more. There are hammocks and kitchen utilities and fresh water spring. As for food you have to cook by the fire and be prepared for lack of power supply – sounds like a nice and unusual experience to us and we wish we had heard about that before;-)
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Wow...
...what a gorgeous picture. Oh, I do so wish that I could nominate this for Picture of the Week ;)