share gak experience aku dgn sume2. Well, this was my 2nd time to Perhentian. The 1st was in 2006 with Irah, Azrin n Azrin's dad. And this time, I went there with my hunny, Maniza n her hunny jugak..ehehe..We went to Besut using the East West hiway...xdelaa hiway mane pn sbb jln kiri kanan hutan....If u r lucky enough, u'll see the wild jumbos crossing the roads. But we weren't able to meet one. The journey to Besut jetty from Tronoh took about 6 hours. We arrived at 3 am and we slept in the car...not sleeping at all due to attack by the mosquitoes..except for Remy. He didn't really care about the presence of the blood suckers.14th July, we went to Perhentian by a speed boat at 7 am. The water was quite choppy though it was still early of the day. About 30 minutes, we arrived Perhentian Kechil and headed to Chempaka chalet. Rm30 per night..very cheap but those who couldn't withstand the conditions of that 'shrieking shack', it's better not to
book this kind of accomodation. We rested, while waiting for our rooms to be cleaned up, at Spice Divers. We were lucky to get the early check-in. Straight away changed our attire and prepared for our divings. We were briefed by Madeleine, a young Germany girl, who is actually a SCUBA instructor. 1st dive would be at Tabir Batu or in English, Rock Curtain. This site is nice and the water visibility is good. As usual, all typical n popular marine fishes were seen. Corals are damn colorful and beautiful. I was looking for nudes and sluts..I mean, the nudibranches and the seaslugs, but couldn't find any. I think there were many nudibranches and slugs at Rock Curtain, but it was just that my mask lense kept on fogging. I really got mad because I have applied a thick layer of anti-fog.At this site, I manage to see Blue-spot stingray, Nemo,brown-marbled groupers, yelow-tailed barracudas, big-eyed snappers, batfishes, blue-ringed angelfishes and Red-breasted fishes. I couldn't bring my digicam as we dived to the depth of 16 meters. 
For the 2nd dive, we went to Terumbu Tiga, or Three Reefs. While on the boat, I could see that this place would give me some problems. I felt like vomiting..almost having nausea. No idea why but I still wanted to do the diving. Upon 
descending, of course I had to deflate my BCD...until all air was out from the BCD, I realized that I couldn't descend. I forced my self to swim down but remembering that would create painful sensation to my ears, I tried to control breathing. It was no use because I still couldn't descend. En. Zainal, our divemaster, pulled me and then he gave me a weight. Struggling to descend itself caused me to use up 50 bar of pressure. The problem was, I didn't put enough weight and that caused me positively buoyant instead of neutrally buoyant. And the worst thing ever happened to me was, I couldn't do diving that well because of the strong current down there. I couldn't see the current, but I could feel it. Thank God I have that Atomic fins which helped me a lot to face the strong current. At that point of time, I made up my mind that I would try not to dive at a strong current site. For those who love thrill, drift diving is very fun, but can be very dangerous, or fatal sometimes, if u have the inability to use the drifting skills. But if next time I happen to dive in strong current, I'll just try to get out from the current. Actually, more varietie of marine creatures we can see when there's current, and the water visibility is much better. At last, I could see nudibranch and I just love looking them.The fun was only for a short while when current was getting stronger and I was running out of air. Before out of air, it's better to ascend. En. Zainal brought me to the surface, swim to the boat, detach all equipments and got onto the boat. I was too tired and headache and felt like vomiting. Drank a lot of water to replenish all the water loss. Do't ever think that when u r diving, you won't get dehydrated. It was quite a tiring day but it was worth with all those experiences facing the current and increased glycolytic rate in my body. 15th July 2007, our 2nd day started with diving at Temple of the Sea, a.k.a Tokong Laut. The boat ride from Perhentian Kechil to Tokong Laut took quite a some time. Along the ride, I kinda worried if I had to face another strong current like the day before. But tried to possess positive thinking by telling myself, just do it!! After 20-25 minutes, we arrived Tokong Laut. All I can say, Masya Allah...the water is very clear that we can almost see the bottom surface and that
was 12 meters deep. Wowww....baby jellyfishes were numerous, as if welcoming us to Tokong Laut..or perhaps, welcome to taste my stings...:p...I wasn't worry too much because those lil squishies were still young and their sthings wouldn't harm at all, unless those who has very sensitive skin. While descending, I had this strange feeling...a feeling of happiness eternally...yaikksss...There were so many things to see..Moray eel, lionfish, turtle, seaslug, pufferfishes, nudibranches, big Blue-ringed angelfishes, a shark,...just name it. I was soooo happy to see a green turtle. It was alone looking for food beneath the corals. Remy pulled my hand to approach the turtle but I didn't want to touch or approach it because it would run away if I do so. And at that point of time, I cursed myself for not bringing the digicam along. No housing, no photograph for more than 10 meters. Visibility was excellent, in addition to the 
wise-thing-to-do-to-change-the-mask. Before that, I saw a shark, but not a complete one, as I able to see only a part of it's body and tail..but not its face. It was hiding wihtin the corals. A shy type I guess. And that lionfish, it was a small one. Where was its friends? And I saw this one small seaslug, blue in color and taking the pattern of batik. I hoped to see more colorful nudes and sluts..oppss..I meant nudibranches and seaslugs. Blue-ringed angelfishes were 5 times larger than my palm and they moved like 4 in group. And they seem didn't bother our presence and enjoyed their meals on the reefs.In the evening, we dived at D'lagoon. Vis not that good, nothing much to see but there were several attractions, larger-than-me giant stingray, nudibranches, shrimps and beautiful coral garden. It was the worst dive for me because I got stung by a type of sea plant (or maybe a
type coral). Looks can be deceiving. Well...while looking at those shrimps, I placed my hand near that organism just to let the shrimps approach my palm. Unfortunately, I forgot to put on my glove. And when my two fingers touched that plan, I felt a burning sensation..or maybe, it was like somebody poured concentrated acid on my fingers. I pulled my fingers away from that thing. It was very painful and I have to hold on it until ascend.16th July, last day in Perhentian. We dived at Iron Cape..well not much to see but they have more triggers and sweetlips as compared to other places. Sadly, many dead and damaged corals over there. Something must be done to preserve and conserve them.
