Perhentian Dive Trip

Prior to the trip, I was quite busy with my fieldwork. So, I didn’t have much time to plan. There are various dive operators in Pulau Perhentian. I ended up choosing Panorama Divers. I took the diver package of 3 days and 2 nights including 5 dives, equipment rental and dorm accommodation as well as free panorama diver t-shirt. I booked my trip two weeks prior to the trip and deposited RM200 to secure my booking. 

On 1^st May 2015, I travelled to Kuala Besut Jetty by Sani Express bus at 2200. The journey took me 8 hours. I arrived at 0600. I spent my time watching sunrise at the jetty since the boat would leave for Pulau Perhentian at 0830.

TBS has their own boarding ticket. If you bought the bus ticket somewhere else (like I did), you have to exchange the boarding ticket at the TBS counter before you proceed to the boarding gate.

Sunrise at Kuala Besut Jetty

After 30 minutes of boat ride on calm seas, I was transferred to taxi boat near Perhentian Kecil. I went straight to the Panorama Chalet reception and since I was early to check in, I stored my backpack at the reception and headed to Panorama Diver to check my dive schedule. I was greeted warmly by Chris and she asked me to fill in the liability release and assumption of risk form. I added another two dives on top of my package to maximise my time with diving. 

Panorama Chalet has 30-beds mixed dorm.

My bed.

SeaBell 

During the first dive site briefing, Chris helped me to get red filter which belongs to Victor as I misplaced my red filter. Thank God he rented me his Oculus red filter for RM10 for each dive. My first dive schedule started at noon and SeaBell was my first dive site for the dive trip. 

I noticed that most of the divers love donning their Buoyancy Control Device (BCD) in the water. It was intriguing. So, I gave myself a try. I found it easier to don the equipment in the ocean. For the past dive trips, I have always put my BCD on before entering the water.   

Clownfish is the only fish able to resist the toxic effects of sea anemones poison. The anemones protect them and they eat the leftovers from the clownfish.

The visibility was quite bad. We could only see up to 5 metres. The dive lasted for 56 minutes.

Map Pufferfish

Staghorn Coral

Angelfish amongst Staghorn Coral

Staghorn Coral

Tanjung Basi

My second dive site was at Tanjung Basi. I spotted an interesting creature of marine life called “marbled-sea cucumber”. I usually find them in plain and dark color. The visibility was getting better here. The dive lasted for 58 minutes.

Grouper

School of yellow-tail fusilier fish

School of yellow-tail fusilier fish

School of yellow-tail fusilier fish

Maxima Clam

Marbled-sea Cucumber

Marbled-sea Cucumber

Sugar Wreck

My third dive was at Sugar Wreck. I was told by the Dive Master during the briefing that the Sugar Wreck is the farthest dive site in Perhentian. It took us around 20-30 minutes boat ride. As the name of the dive site, the ship was used to transport the sugar and it sank in November 2000. This dive site will always be my favorite because of the visibility and the wreck itself. The dive lasted for one hour.

Pipefish

Procupinefish

Cuttlefish

View from top of the wreck

What did I do during the safety stop? Face-palm.

Tiger Rock T3

My fourth dive was at Terumbu Tiga. There are several caves and we did a lot of swim through. It reminded me of my buoyancy control test when I took the Advanced Course in April 2013. It was pretty amazing because I did quite well. I also managed to see durban dancing shrimp but no photo was taken. The dive lasted for 53 minutes.

From left: Chris,Emilie from Norway, me and Cricket from USA

Pikachu Drift

My fifth dive was at Pikachu Drift. There was enough current to drift at that point of time. So, I only used a lil bit of energy during the dive. The broccoli soft corals were everywhere. This dive was totally different. Though the name of dive site is Pikachu, I could not see any Pikachu Nudibranch. But, I met a really big unknown Nudibranch but no photo was taken.The dive lasted for 45 minutes.

Temple by the Sea

My sixth dive was at Temple by the Sea (Tokong Laut). I saw a lot of white-eyed moray eel. This time, they were not hiding behind rocks and corals. I was lucky to spot banded sea krait. I swam through a school of huge fish on this dive. The dive lasted for 55 minutes.

Banded Sea Krait

Colorful Reef

Spotted hawksbill turtle during safety stop.

Batu Caping

My last dive was at Batu Caping. It took us 20 minutes boat ride to the dive site. I saw a lot of nudibranch. Some were new to me. Some I have met them somewhere during my last dive trip. My dive buddy, Cricket found the big bump head parrot-fish and as usual, she used her spoon to attract my attention. The dive lasted for 58 minutes.

Once we were on the surface, I checked with my dive-master, Victor how much air he had left? To my surprise, he left with 70 bar and mine left with 110 bar. He then asked me whether I forgot to breathe under the water. 

Bluespotted lagoon ray

I left the island at 1600 on 4th May 2015 and the boat ride was bad. It took us slightly longer than usual because of the crazy choppy seas. My bus to Terminal Bersepadu Selatan was at 2030 so I decided to have a drink at TLodge Cafe to kill my time. 

How much did I spend for Perhentian Dive Trip?

For my Perhentian Dive trip, the 3 Days and 2 Nights summed up to RM815/person.

Please see the breakdown below:

	RM
Return bus Terminal Bersepadu Selatan - Kuala Besut	90.00
Return boat Kuala Besut - Perhentian Kecil	80.00
Diving Package 5D x 3D2N	400.00
Add 2 dives	130.00
Marine fee	5.00
Meals	40.00
Rental of red filter	70.00
Total cost for Perhentian Dive trip	815.00