Underwater at Perhentian

A school of fish in the South China Sea. Pulau Perhentian.

    No matter how long I manage to slip off to this haven, it seems as though it will never be enough. It's like an addiction that cannot be kicked. Like a forest fire that that just won't stop. Like an infection that has invaded my every pore. Arggghhh! The moment I get on the boat to come back to the mainland, I immediately want to turn around. Come on, let's go. Get me out of dry land, return me to the sea. Take me back to me li'l fishies.
    I don't know why I never had the desire to come to Pulau Perhentian earlier in my life. What on earth was I thinking?!

Swimming amongst underwater life.

    I fell in love with the Pulau last year. My first time to the island.  It was a quick 24-hour turn-around, one which I had to twist my friend's arm, beg and plead for her to go with me, even if she didn't have time.  The result: we both loved it!  Me more so than her. I had sea legs, she didn't.  The speedboat ride out from Kuala Besut to Teluk Dalam at Perhentain was thirty minutes long.  I swear I was wearing a smile the whole way.  To feel the wind in my hair, looking at the waves, the horizon, the salty smell of the sea...everything felt right. Nothing else mattered. I had left all my worries somewhere else. All I was, was free.  

    Last year, Perhentian opened my eyes and opened my soul. I felt revived there. It was a reaction from the very depths of me, like something that I've searched for eternally and far and wide only to find it so close to home.
  

Green acropora coral. So soothing to the eyes.

    Yet this year topped last year. A repeat visit was inevitable. By hook or by crook, I was getting there. It wasn't easy to find a companion.  My friends were busy or unavailable or just not interested.  I managed to convince my generally non-committal brother to go there with me since by sheer chance he was available because he was in between jobs.  "You'll fall in love with the place!" I said.

    To make a cruel observation on my previous companion - having my brother share my passion for the open water took the cake. We bonded. We now share the same enthusiasm and passion for going to the Pulau.  It  was a shared understanding of the pleasure we got out of it. We saw the same things, we snorkelled in the warm tropical waters, swam amongst fish and over other sea creatures and feasted our eyes on the underwater world.  It was strangely in this realm that I felt safe, where danger lurked. I felt like I was in another dimension of awareness.

A clown fish at home in the anemone. 

The anemone keeps it safe because it's a bit stingy to other fish.   

    At the first couple of snorkel sites, I was hampered by that ubiquitous orange vest that tourists don.  I felt restricted and clumsy.  My brother however was brave in his first attempt, taking off the vest and going free or skin-diving.  Seeing how freely he moved and how he could actually dive down inspired  me to do the same.  I threw myself, vestless, into the sea and let myself sink into the vastness that was the South China Sea.  I was surprised by the buoyancy of the sea. You can try very hard to sink, but you won't.  Unless of course you struggle and panic. Then all bets are off, my friend. Otherwise, the sea simply carries you with ease.

The guide offering some bread to fish at the Marine Park

    In some spots, there were lots of fish.  The marine park at Redang was a prime example. The fish are used to having food that the guides bring in to lure the fish to us tourists.  I'm not sure exactly where I stand on that practice.  On the one hand, I want to see fish, but on the other hand, it's tampering with nature.  To feed or not to feed, that's the question.

    When we were at Shark Point, a dead fish was used as bait for sharks. Last year, I spotted an adolescent from afar. This year I was up close and personal with a baby black-tip shark.  It moved so elegantly in the water, swaying from side to side, circling us playfully for more of the bait the guide held in his hands. I am sure that without the bait, the baby shark would not have bothered to come at all.
    When you watch documentaries like BBC's Life or Planet Earth, know that some scenarios are entirely set up for filming.  For example, a palm frond was used as a lure to film flying fish mating.  Ordinarily, that palm frond would not be there.  But I digress. I'm not going to go on a rant about the "politics" of nature.

Pink acropora or table coral. Beautiful!

    Back to the sea ~ The coral was mesmerizing.  They were all kinds of pink, green, blue, brown, red, yellow. They were abundant. They were alive. They were dead.  The coral is varied around Perhentian.  Not so everywhere in the world. Certainly not so around Malaysia. An experienced boatman told me that he was offered jobs at Tioman and Langkawi. After visiting and inspecting those sites, he decided that Perhentian was still the best in Malaysia, having the most variety to offer tourists.

Blooming flower-like beauties. Not sure of their real name.

   I saw lot of species of fish: too many to count, and even harder to name.  I held a couple of sea cucumbers. I even managed to handle a sea star cushion.
I can't quite explain why this is so mindblowingly exciting.  No experience in my life beats the simplicity of just being underwater at Perhentian.   But it wasn't only the underwater world that sucked me in.
    I was taken in by the simple life that the people who made their livelihood in Perhentian led. Most of them worked there because they wanted to.  It wasn't because they were forced into it. They made a conscious choice to be at the mercy of the island, with limited luxuries and few opportunities to go back to the mainland.  They seemed to share the same fondness for the island life.

My brother floating effortlessly in the South China Sea. 

  
    I got to know some of them in a very short time.  In truth there are many island stories to be told. That's for another time though.

    I left Perhentian with a heavy heart. I was happy because it was a defining trip taken with my brother. It was a trip to remember and savour for all that it was.  But I still needed another day. Another day to sustain that wonderful feeling of wonderment and joy!  Or another week. Reality bites. It pulls me back to my life.  Responsibilities. Family. Work.
    Even as I am writing this, I know that tonight when I'm in the arms of Morpheus, in my dreams I will be in the embrace of Perhentian, my island paradise.