16 April

This morning we rose early for breakfast and headed for the Thai consulate. We arrived there minutes before opening with hordes of people waiting outside much to our dismay. To our glee we found that all the people outside were represented by a tour guide who collected all their passports and documentation and only handed it in. We filled in the forms and were informed that we could get a 2 month visa at no cost!!! Take into consideration that at the boarder they are 15 days and you have to exit the country every time to get a new one and then you will understand the joy of the news.

We returned to our accommodation, collected our bags and headed for the bus station only 50 m away. The tickets were bought and snacks for the 1 ½ hour journey acquired, we hardly had to wait 15 minutes before we departed for the Perhentian Islands, most of the trip was through rural towns although large sections were cut out due to both of us catching a nap J

As we arrived a lady called us and rushed us to the agents stall where we arranged a ferry and paid the RM 140 fee. In less than 15 minutes we had arrived, bought the tickets and were on the boat on our way to Perhentian Kesil (the small island). We arrived at Coral bay at 14h30 and started our search for accommodation going from place to place, luckily there were only 5 on the Coral beach side and after 15 minutes we were set with a nice cottage with good bathroom and bed, on the hill with an unbeatable view. Staying for one night is a little more than we budgeted, but for RM 48 including breakfast (2 pieces of toast and coffee/tea as always) its not bad.

After this we set off to find out more regarding diving and the costs to do an advanced scuba course. The costs were relatively similar but in the end we got a killer deal, doing the course and a fun dive for the price of the cheapest competition and a trip to Redang Island to do our deep dive and another fun dive for 60% cheaper than their costs. Taking into account this was based on the 2008 prices we did really well.

The evening we took a stroll down the beach and stopped at Amelia's where we both opted for a barbeque special, which entails a choice of blue marlin, barracuda, king fish, squid, 3 crabs or 3 lobsters or chicken which you choose from a table lain with ice. We chose a reasonably large portion of King fish. This was accompanied by baked potato, coleslaw, kebab, fruit salad and drink for RM 18pp.