We're up and at 'em almost as soon as a little while after the third press of the snooze button. Not the worst thing as breakfast doesn't start until 7:30 anyway. Shortly after there's a mad rush around to get our diving gear together. That's swimsuits, dive computers, oh, and a camera. Then you've got to slap some suntan lotion on, and a hat and...
At the dive shop it's all a bit haphazard but all comes through in the end. We climb into the dive boat -- an uncovered long boat with big outboard -- and charge twenty minutes to the minor Perhentian Island to The Pinnacle. This is a standalone pinnacle rising thirty odd metres from the sea bed with, today, relatively small waves crashing into the visible 1m. This sort of prominence attracts marine life and divers. The visibility isn't up to much, only 5 or 6m, but better than the 1 or 2m of yesterday. It's not a bad site but could clearly do with less silt in the water for us divers -- obviously the marine life thrives on it so maybe that's not an option. Common anemonefish at 12m depth with 5-6m visibility. cf. P9/DSC00112.JPG
Helen [went] trigger happy. two angel or banner fish anemone? anemonefish a joruna, a nudibranc an angel or banner fish
After lunch we went across to an easy dive site which was a bit wierd. It was a coral reef surrounding a beach relatively flat at 5-7m then a drop to the surrounding sandy bed at 12-14m. At the top layer the visibility wasn't good, maybe 7m at times but when you went down it dropped to 2m at most. Hopeless. Admittedly it's only costing RM60 (or less than US$10) but he did say they felt a bit embarrassed taking people out when it was like this. The real divers don't turn up 'til May. Hawksbill turtle. Helen, action girl. Some strange goo. Helen "my nose is all pointy".
Bah. We've got to do better than this in our time available so we aim to check out tomorrow and catch the early ferry to the mainland. Hopefully we'll reach Thailand tomorrow afternoon.
Not a lot else to do but finish Helen's book (well, she is steaming through mine) have some dinner and pack.
Coral View Island Resort, Pulau Perhentian Besar N5.90228 E102.74043 Elev. 20m Deluxe air-con (being cleaned -- I was too slow taking the photo on the last morning), Coral View Island Resort, Pulau Perhentian Besar
Copyright 2003 Ian Fitchet. All rights reserved.
