Malaysia: Perhentian Islands

The Perhentian Islands are situated off the north east of Malaysia.  There are 2 main islands; Big Perhentian Island and Small Perhentian Island.  I’ve met a few people on my travels who have been raving about scuba diving.  I’ve always enjoyed snorkelling but I’m not a strong swimmer and the idea of scuba diving, being so deep under the water with just a tank on your back, terrifies me.  But I have never actually tried to scuba dive and if you don’t try you never know!  So I looked into courses and the Lonely Planet told me that the Perhentian Islands were one of the cheapest places to do it.  A quick Google search later I found a dive school there with glowing reviews (Turtle Bay).  I contacted them about doing a day introductory course to see if I liked it, then if I did, I would progress with the course.  No problem they said, so I booked myself on it.

I arrived at Long Beach on the small island on the Saturday evening after a very long and uncomfortable bus and boat ride.  Peter was also there as he was doing his rescue divers course.  And Matt and Sarah (from Melaka) were also there, as well the two Swiss girls from the Cameron Highlands, Sabrina and Daniella.  I went for dinner with Matt, Sarah, Peter and Alex (hilarious Polish girl from the bus journey) and had a lovely evening on the beach, despite the torrential rain meaning we were stuck in the restaurant for ages!!  Later we met up with Sabrina and Daniella for a drink.

Sunday morning just after 9am I found myself sat in a room above the dive shop alone, watching a really cheesy American DVD and the start of my dive course.  What was I doing??!  I got through the first level and then before I knew it, I was out in the sea with 3 other people and my instructor.  Eek!  I took quite a few attempts to take my mask off under water, I freaked out a few times and my legs were shaking.  By the end of the day I was still unsure if I liked it, so thought I'm here now, I’m not in a hurry, I may as well finish the course and then decide.  Why not!  

The next day I continued with the dive course.  Videos, tests, practising various safety requirements in the sea, setting up my equipment, taking it off etc.  That afternoon I went out to sea again and I was already nervous about the removal of the mask.  Once down the bottom, I had to do it and managed to swallow a lot of water and freak out! It really wasn't nice.  I managed to calm myself down but the rest of the dive, I couldn't relax.  I had a word with my instructor afterwards and he said he knew I could do it as I had done it a few times before, it was just in my head.  He asked me if I wanted to continue the course and I said I'd have a think about it.  I walked away deflated.  Met Peter and Alex and over a beer they gave me words of support and talked about their diving experiences and I didn't want to quit, so I thought no, I'm going to do this!  I felt terrible that night and went to bed early.  Slept so well.

Day 3 and I said I wanted to continue but didn't want to go into the sea that day.  I finished all the videos, reading and tests.  Did a swim and treading water test and finished around 3pm.  The rest of my group finished that day - well done guys!

Day 4, this was it!  My instructor had to go to the mainland that day so I had another instructor, an English guy called Joe.  I explained my situation and we went out to the shallow sea to practise.  He was really patient with me and showed me if I put my head right down I don't breathe through my nose. This was easy!  I managed to do it several times.  Then we went out to sea and did it again.  Then in the afternoon my final dive, I was nervous again but managed to do it.  We did a few more tests and before I knew it I was back on the boat.  I had passed!  Yippeeeee! TBH I still wasn't sure if I liked diving but now I was qualfied I could dive without having to do any of the tests so will see what happens.  Peter also passed his rescue diver course so we agreed to go on a 'fun' dive the next day.

I was still nervous about the fun dive but once I got in the water the nerves disappeared and I started to enjoy it, especially when a turtle swam right past me.  So cool!  Peter filmed it too and it looks ace!  I struggled a bit with my buoyancy but I'm told that comes with time.  Looking forward to doing some more dives on my trip now I'm a PADI Open Water Diver!!!!

Really loved my time on the island. Its so relaxing and chilled.  The evenings were spent meeting up with the people I'd met in the last week, enjoying the food and watching fire shows on the beach.  So lovely here.  I did manage to get 45 mozzie bites at one point and I'm not even kidding!  So I was sad to leave but also glad that I wouldn't be scratching any more.  Loved my time here.  Now onto Penang.