Perhentian
Hey! I did make it to Perhentian!!It was totally unexpected how we ended up going..
Initially we had 8 people who were supposed to go and as the date drew closer, we were left with only 2 and therefore cancelled. I got a kind of depressed for a while.
Over lunch one day, sitting next to this colleague who I barely know. Wanted to strike a conversation. One of those stupid questions I ask…
“Can you swim?”
“Yes”
“Do you scuba dive?”
“Yes”
“Wanna go Perhentian?”
He did.
After some phone calls and arrangement, we were set to go. 4 of us.
It turned out to be a really interesting trip. We witnessed the wonderful marine life, the great dives, professional instructors… I was very happy with the turtles we saw. Think I sighted turtles once last year but the visibility was low and we couldn’t make out much other than the outline.
Oh it was 2 whole days of sun, sand and sea. I loved my new bikini too! Hahaha!!
(And another 2 nights of traveling, but the coach we had was excellent)
I have a friend, who has been scuba diving since a rather young age… she tells me that she loves the boat ride more than the diving. And at times, when we are on the boat, making our way to the dive site, I can totally understand what she means. It was a little boat we had, rather bumpy, but with the wind and the occasional sea spray, there is this sense of peace that pervades you. Absolutely no cares, not concerns, just being happy for that moment, you feel suspended in time while in the middle of some big sea with only blue all around you.
This is the first time my dives did not require me to use the giant leap for entry. I really hate doing that leap thing cos its tiring to make your way to the back of the boat, fully geared up… and since those boats tend to be bigger, more divers, we usually have to wait too. Having to wait with a tank on your back, or just trudging with that tank to leap off, is like super tiring. Its like, before we actually start the dive, I am tired. Ok, I’m pathetic. Anyway, let me extol the virtues of a back-roll. The most tiring part of it is simply to shift your ass to the edge of the boat. You don’t even need to stand! To enter the water, just lean back and fall over! Since your tank is already that heavy, rolling back is not an issue at all.
Trigger fish! There were countless of them at Perhentian. And they look so pretty you will never think there could in any way be menacing! I have often heard about how vicious trigger fishes can be, but seriously, during one dive, I was so beguiled by the nice patterns on its body (Titan trigger) that I failed to recognize it as a trigger! It was quite exciting to realize that something was wrong when the fish charges at you, and despite its beauty, you immediately sense that something isn’t right. And then you look around and everyone is behind you and your instructor is poised with a dive knife in his hand!
Don’t think I ever turned around that quickly before, but I fled. Later Pete was like “What the fuck were you doing??” Sheepish grin.. oh I really didn’t see that, nor your hand signal for ‘danger’. Sighs… sometimes, its little encounters like this which makes your dive more memorable. Though I seriously don’t want something to be memorable at the cost of chunk of flesh taken out of me. ow can anyone not stare at these fishes in fascination? (ok when I get the image from Melvin, I'll upload it)
I am a lazy diver. I hate currents unless it’s a drift dive. Most of the time, I let the current carry me along. There were some dives with currents so it got kind of tiring. Its frustrating when you seem to be fining so much but yet not move! Argh, anyway wreck dive was rather challenging too, well not that bad really, just hated the descend. Anyway, I just let the current sweep me towards the wreck, too close to the urchins and such before I attempt to fin away… I was probably moving in some bizarre zigzag pattern. Pity, no penetration. Thought there would be, cos the dive briefing was like “you have to really maintain your buoyancy well, try not fin up the sand…” bla blab
Its been quite a while since I had such a great dive trip. The last time I was so happy with my dive trip was 3 years ago.. or was it 4, at Tioman where I did my open water.
Labels: travels
posted by eline @ 3:08 PM
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