we are off to the perhentian islands!!!!!!! yay!!!!!! have been looking so forward to going here. i have heard from so many people that its paradise... and guess what.. it is! it took us 8 hours in a minibus and a half hour speedboat ride to get here. noticed we were travelling with a couple who we had seen in taman negara so we had them to talk to.

we are staying on long beach on the little island as this is where most backpackers head and has a great beach. my first glimpse of the island and im already hooked. the water is sooo clear and shallow, white sand and overhanging palm trees. we wanted to stay at matahari guesthouse but it was fully booked for our first night so we stayed at bintang view and moved there the day after. (that decision was final after discovering our basic hut had a giant spider - and i mean GIANT!! so big that sarah started having a panic attack and i had to go get someone from reception to get rid of it!) at matahari we treated ourselves to a room with air con, and our own bathroom with hot water. still didnt keep the bugs at bay.. had a massive cockroach in our room that sarah got rid of using a broom and me standing on the bed screaming quick quick its disappeared under the bed!! very funny!

from where we are staying we can walk round to another beach called coral bay, but i think the beach we are staying on is nicer. headed straight to our beach for some sunbathing and swimming. just cant believe how beautiful the water is - very warm, and how soft the sand feels. saw some little fish swimming round my legs.

the next day we had booked to go on a snorkelling trip. our first stop was turtle beach, and again i was gobsmacked at the beauty of it.. i have definately found my paradise! i never want to leave! we snorkelled off the beach and saw some really big fish and lots of rainbow fish, nice coral. the fish swam all around us and right up to our faces.
next stop was turtle point... where yes we saw a giant turtle!!!! we jumped off the boat and swam alongside it, was amazing!
onto shark point... where yes you guessed it... we swam with loads of different reef sharks!! our guide got into the water with us and rolled a bottle filled with something like dried rice to attract the sharks. they swam right under us, some of them were bigger than me. was very surreal. ive never seen a reef shark on all my previous snorkelling trips, so was very happy!
we stopped off at a beach called marine park which was also very beautiful for lunch. then onto lighthouse point to carry on the snorkelling. saw another reef shark and another giant turtle. the coral here was very beautiful, with blues, greens and purples, watching the fish swim through a crevice in the coral and shoals of fish swam around us. also spotted lots of clownfish!
our last stop was romantic beach where i spotted 9 reef sharks swimming in front of me! had an amazing trip - the best snorkelling i have ever done. i just wanted to do it all over again!!

the rest of the time on the island was spent sunbathing, and also hiring out some snorkel gear to go snorkelling by ourselves. went just round the corner from coral beach, spotting yet more reef sharks and lots of scary stonefish! we were just getting out of the water when a fish bit sarah on the leg!! it even drew blood!! ouch!

our time on the perhentian islands has come to an end... sob sob!!!! :( i hope i get to return some day.......