Diving in Perhentian

...dive map of Perhentian...

*yellow highlighted are the dive sites I went*

Don't bother about the weird map I have there as there were no complete dive map of Perhentian Island anywhere in the Internet. So to improvise, I took a photo of the dive map from the resort and just photoshopped whatever parts I can.

It was my first time to dive in Perhentian. Though I went there before during my Backpacking Trip last year, I wasn't a diver at that time, so I snorkeled only. This trip was one trip to remember...

Dive Site No.1: Tanjung Basi

I buddied with Mario, the dive instructor. I have yet to realize that Watercolours Paradise Dive Centre is actually operated by a group of Germans. We had a small team of divers. The dive started with a briefing at 1.30pm and later, we boarded the big boat to the site. Our team did an exploration to the other side of this site and to our disappointment, the so-called Giant Barracuda was not in sight. There were merely rocks everywhere and very little corals to see.

Dive Site No.2: Lighthouse

I buddied with Niki, the dive master. We were told earlier that visibility maybe bad because of water current as this site has the current stream. There we dived and yes! visibility was real bad. It was a 2metres visibility but thanks to my Open Water training in Kuching, I was alright with it. There were many corals though, and we were suppose to see Black Tip Shark and Turtles but we saw none! *sighed*

Dive Site No.3: DeLagoon

I was excited the moment I was told of this dive site because I stayed in DeLagoon resort last year and have been seeing many divers in one particular area in the sea. So this time, I had the chance to dive at that spot. We took a small boat to the site and it was amazing! We saw a huge Stingray and it swam gently passed us and hid underneath the rocks. We also saw two Blue Spotted Stingray swimming by. It was very interesting to see the Cleaner Shrimps as they are so tiny (lucky I had power mask during this dive). So far, this was the most beautiful site I went in this trip.

Dive Site No.4: Terumbu Tiga

We were supposed to head for another site that morning but the waves were too strong even for our boat to reach. So we changed site on the spot and headed to the other side of the island. There were 4 boats altogether in this site. Amazingly, it was like a cave dive as the rock formations were so beautiful and we had to swim through them. We saw a baby Green Turtle eating the soft corals at a depth of 15metres. Also, I saw a new species of Nudibranch (which I have yet to get the name of it) and a humongous Bumped Head Parrotfish swam behind my dive buddy...it was scary at first but it was huge!

All-in-all, I had a good 4 dives with Watercolours Paradise Dive Centre. I had fun during the de-briefing sessions we had after each dive. Although I did not get to do any Wreck Diving this time, I will be back for the Sugar Ship Wreck dive once I obtain my Wreck Diving Specialty! *smiles*

Looking forward to my next dive!