Our couchsurfing host had dropped us off at the pier in Kula Besut to access the Perhentian islands. These are in a national marine park and usually you have to pay the fee for the ferry and for the marine park. Due to our couchsurfing host also dabbling in being a travel agent we got tickets for the ferry for 50 MYR instead of 70 MYR and our marine fee was waved. Once on the pier we had to express where we wanted to stay (which island and which bay we were heading to on it) and we then were told which boat to go onto. We stayed on perhentian Kecil island, the smaller of the two islands and the one known for having backpacking options rather than the more luxury resort friendly Besar. There are several bays that you can stay on in Kecil. To have the most options backpackers tend to go to long beach as there are lots of guesthouses, hostels, diving centres and campsites and you can access coral beach behind it for further options. However, after a five-minute conversation with some fellow backpackers whilst we were in Cherating we decided to try our luck at staying in a bay with only one option as it was supposed to be much quieter whilst being cheap and still providing you with island paradise. So we set our destination to D’Lagoon.
We got onto the boat, with big bags and all, set of for our next adventure.
The boat ride itself was fairly uneventful (thankfully) taking about an hour to arrive to the islands. The world is made up of first impressions, and although I had been to the Perhentian islands before I was still amazed by what we saw. The term tropical paradise is, to me at least, over used… until you find one. The colour of the water was a beautiful gradient from deep luscious navy, to crystal clear blue shallows. We made a stop to allow some people off the boat at different bays and we then continued to further along the island.
As we head around the crest of the island we came across a small bay. Looking into the water we can see below us was a dazzling display of movement and coral, deep enough to be unaffected by the boats. Both Alex and I sat in the boat excited as we realised this was going to be where we had planned to stay, D’Lagoon.
The boat dropped of us at the beach (luckily not at the floating raft in the middle of the water that is necessary during low tide) and we arrived. We disembarked and my heart sank a little, you see, the beach was covered in dead/white coral. This is normally a tell-tell sign that they have issues. However we walked up the beach and headed towards the desk. After drinking our complimentary orange drink (in SEA, unless I see it made I would say it is a drink rather then juice) we where told that we could have a private room but only for 2 days (we hadn’t booked and it was the holidays). We had planned to stay on the island for about 5 days or so and as such were a little disappointed that we would have to move between a double private room and a dorm (with no lockers or doors). A little time passed as we sat enjoying the view, we both feeling instantly relaxed after the madness of the previous days. Good news as we started to head towards the room to drop of the bags, we could stay the whole time in the room. Fantastic! The beachfront started to “fill up” as another boatload of Malay’s arrived, clearly timed that perfectly, so we continued up to the room. Basic for sure, but a double bed and a wardrobe to store our big bags out of the way, as well as a drying line meant we had everything we needed.
Well, first things first when you arrive to a tropical island, lets get into the water. After we both “suited up” we walked 2 minutes towards the water’s edge. The water was perfect; mildly warm would be the best way to describe it. We enjoyed the swim immensely as we looked at the coral (alive thankfully) with our snorkel and mask’s (mine from my dive experience, Alex with her cheap Thai one.) The fish, a variety of colour and size gleamed in the immense sunshine, great fun overall. The rest of the first day was one of relaxing (like most of the other days), we read books, sat in hammocks, ate fried rice and played cards. Those days are the best, the days that feel like we are on holiday.
Over the next few days, we spent a good amount of time in the water of D’Lagoon, watch and filming the fish and sea life. We saw everything from clown fish to stingrays.
We also walked to some different places on the island, making the most of our time, trying to visit different beach’s we could by foot, as we were too cheap to get a boat taxi. This included venturing over to long beach (which is the main beach) and Coral beach on the other side of the island a good one and a half hour walk up and over the island through the jungle, but worth it, but we only did this once due to the heat and trek. Both beaches had lovely golden sand and clear blues waters. Long beach had a lot of restaurants on it but busy so we ventured to coral, which was nicer in our opinion and still had some restaurants. We went for a lovely swim and snorkel seeing triggerfish and potentially a shark, swimming out to the jetty. After a bit of sunbathing on the beach we found some luxurious milkshakes at Amelia café on the beach.
Pictures of different beaches and walks
Five minutes walk from our bay was turtle beach, a small, quiet beach and bay good for seeing sharks and turtles at times and for swimming. This was initially too rough to go in the first day we visited but went back another time.
About 20 minutes walk through the jungle was also Adam & Eve beach. This was a nice beach with rocks to walk out and look over the ocean and a crafted swing at one end. One day Alex and I had met a boat caption whom had told us that we could see baby sharks around the corner from the beach we had been sat when we met him, a fact that we had read about previously (Adam and Eve beach). The following day we went on a shark hunt. Swimming around the large rock, felt like we ventured more into the unknown when compared to the coral park outside our accommodation, nervousness and excitement merged into one emotion of glee as we swam further out. Hugging the rock, I guided Alex as we swam out (her goggles are not prescription so her sight is limited). Suddenly I see it, the tell-tell movement of a shark. The way they move is unlike anything else you see the water, stalking rather swimming. The rush of seeing sharks is one I wanted to feel again (even if this one happened to be likely no bigger than about 12”-24” long). It was also a great beach for sunset photos and we made the most of this having a sunset shoot before scrambling back through the forest at night.
Another day, I left Alex reading happily in a hammock on the beach as I ventured out into D’Lagoon bay, GoPro in hand. Swimming around I saw many of the same things we had seen, parrotfish, clown fish, stingrays, wrasps and other colourful fish. When snorkelling I like to dive underwater and get closer to the bottom to feel more “at one” with the fish so I kept doing this. In the distance I saw some movement so I started to head towards the rock I could see. As I got closer, I was shocked. The rock was being circled by about 6-10 VERY LARGE bump head parrotfish, each being about as long as I was and much wider. What a sight. Nerves hit me by the sheer size of these fish, however I was sure they where harmless, (sometimes having a rather large knowledge of the animal kingdom comes into use). I sat in the water and watched these fish for about 10 minutes before I headed back to shore to see if Alex wanted to see them (she declined enjoying her hammock too much).
D’lagoon, the place we stayed gave us the opportunity to be unhealthy with such delights as peanut butter and chocolate fried/grill sandwiches (10MYR) and wonderful chocolate and coffee milkshakes- 9MYR (we best do some more swimming to burn off the extra calories). They also had pretty decent deals on food with breakfast sets (about 9 MYR) and cheaper meal options (also still paying island prices)- which was good as it was the only place we could get food without walking to the other side of the island or paying to get a boat and we weren’t feeling particularly flush. Although we spent a bit more than our set budget on food it was worth it.
Our stay on the Perhentain island was a great relaxing 6 nights for us (we had extended a couple of nights as we enjoyed it so much), we had moments of frustration, loud children during the night, loud tokay gecko which didn’t want to let us sleep and lived in our room and other such trivial things however we both enjoyed the island lifestyle, reading books and enjoying each others company. The lack of Internet made the place a nice change of pace as well. I would go back to the Perhentain Island for a third time to see how much it changed. Due to where we stayed- it being relatively budget amenities were ok- cold showers and squat toilets. But you get over that when you are in paradise on a budget. For 6 days in D’Lagoon for accommodation and most of our food and drink we spent about 830 MYR which is approximately £160, perfect budget paradise. After a lovely week off we said goodbye to the Island and headed back via boat to Kota Bharu for a night before venturing forth.
Dave
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