Diving in the Perhentian Islands

We arrived at the Kuala Besut port at 4am after a reasonably quick and comfortable journey from Georgetown. The journey by coach took us across the Penang bridge which has a length of 13,500m. Quite the bridge. At the port side travel agency we met an entertaining character by the name of Firdaus. Because we were now travelling with Anton (flying Jew) and three other girls we met in Penang, Firdaus was adamant that he be our pimp and try to hook us up with the girls. He was a terrible pimp and his hoes weren't much better.

Our main reason for visiting the Perhentian Islands was to complete our open water diving course. This would allow us to do fun dives around the world at a cheaper cost and also make us licensed divers, wooooh! The Perhentian islands are split into 2, big island and small island. The small island is the cheaper option and was our destination. The speedboat across took around 20 minutes and was a thrill in itself. The driver sped between potruding rocks and on our approach to the shore about 4/5 other speedboats were weaving in and out of our boat nearly colliding with one another. They were definately pro's. Charged us an extra quid each to make the 20m journey from speedboat to the shore, robbing gits. When we arrived at like 8am (yeah 3 hour wait for the bloody boat) me and Maj took about another hour trying to find the best deal for the diving course and our accomodation. The best we found was diving course for 950 Malaysian Ringit, about 200 pounds, and 2 triple rooms for 30 ringit a night, for island accomadation prices, that was a bargain. Got free internet too :)

For our diving course we had to watch a dvd and complete a booklet with 5 sections with mini quiz's as part of the theory side of the exam. We had a test at the end of the course to take, which I can tell you we both passed with ease. But that was the boring part. The diving itself was amazing. Neither of us have done diving before, only snorkelling, but so many people we have met on the travel have advised us towards it.

We had a sexy French instructor for our course called Suzie, plus it was only Maj, myself and a Malaysian guy called Nadzim on the course at that time. Our first dive that we completed involved us going through a range of skills such as taking our masks off underwater, replacing them, and clearing the water from within. We also learnt about equalizing the air spaces in our lungs and sinuses by pinching the nose and blowing gently, you had to do this all the damn time! The first time we were moving about freely underwater whilst being able to breathe was incredible. It felt like you had entered a whole other world.

Our second part of scuba training involved a lot more techniques, for instance swimming underwater without our masks, and also the cesa technique (controlled emergency swimming ascent) for use when you run out of air in your tank. We also used the alternative regulators on our partners air tank. All stuff that would potentially save our asses if shit kicks off at a deeper level. Maj kept cramping up underwater whilst we were doing the techniques and I couldnt stop laughing and filling my mask with water, it was really funny to witness. At the end of the session we were front/back flipping, spinning on out heads and floating like Buddha underwater, it was so sick!

So with 3 dives still remaining, Suzie decided that we would finish our theory test early doors, so that we could just finish the course with some fun dives. Like I said before we both passed the test, and only had a swimming and water treading exercise to complete along with the dives to become certified.

So on our remaining dives we got to a deepest descent of 17.5m, and saw a whole load of marine life. Our best spottings were a sea turtle, a school of bumphead parrotfish, some triggerfish (which can bite if you piss em off) countless nemo's or clownfish, some angelfish and a megalodon!

So yeah, the course was amazing and I recommend everyone to give it a blast. Plus it also makes future diving available, so I think I may have to look into diving spots in Indonesia.....

On our final day instead of relaxing, we joined in with a volleyball game, I was on a different team to Maj and Anton and we absolutely dicked on them. They didnt know what the hell hit them. Baaammmm!!! Bussin shots like Gaylord Focker in meet the parents. What it do!

Nadzim, the guy from our course switched details with us and said that he will meet up with us in Kuala Lumpur when we get there, since thats where he lives. We also bumped into Timmaaaay again from Koh Tao. I dont know if we mentioned him before but he is basically a pisshead who slept out in the corridor 3 times because his room-mate had the key, and once on the beach where he got his watch robbed. He arranged to meet in KL also, so that should be a fun night.

Next stop, Taman Negara jungle.

Perhentian Islands Photo Link:

http://www3.snapfish.com/snapfish/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=5506526011/a=2264773011_2264773011/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/