I woke up with a sense of nervousness and excitement as were about to embark on a journey to a less touristy and unknown destination to us both. The Perhentian islands. I woke up, made the most of the gym facilities at the Airbnb and then grabbed a 'Grab' to the airport (their equivalent to an Uber). When we were waiting for our flight, we could count the number of tourists on one hand; it was mostly locals. We flew with 'Air Asia' and the flight in total was 50 minutes... once we were up in the air it was time to land again! The flight itself was also not full. Once we landed we waited for our bags from the small dated conveyer belts, which only took around 5 minutes to collect, and then we were ready to go. Due to the change in flight time, later than we had originally booked, we decided the best way to ensure we got a boat across to the islands was to go with a company in the airport. With our boat tickets confirmed, we booked a Grab to take us to the Jetty. Further than imagined, over an hour, we made it. Walking to the pier, after paying an environmental fee, we saw a lot more tourists (mainly Italians) and about a dozen waiting for the boat that we were getting. We hopped onto the speed boat, they took our bags and placed them in the middle of the boat, while we all sat around the edge. The journey in total took around an hour as we dropped off other passengers off along the way. This was a great way to see different parts of the Perhentian islands. We were staying on the bigger island first, Kecil, at Bubu resort. When we approached the jetty we could see our resort in the distance. Straw umbrellas lined part of the beach area where we were staying. The bright blue sea was crystal clear and when we stepped onto the sand. Just WOW... I'm actually not sure that I've seen anything whiter and felt anything softer. We were welcomed with drinks and then shown to our room. We were upgraded to the honeymoon room; the views were just fantastic! The balcony was heaven as we could sit out listening to the waves clap against the sand. Once we had settled in, we went to the main restaurant for our complimentary cocktail (every day between 4 and 6pm) before heading for a well needed dinner, sat on the white, white sand.

On the first night I got awoken by Tom being sick. We think it was food poisoning from the dinner we had on the beach but these things happen. Tom did say the chicken tasted different and the restaurants/ shacks here don't exactly have hygiene regulations so there will always be more of a risk. We were up twice with that and then again with a thunderstorm which continued into late morning. When looking out from our balcony, it was almost like the beams of light were hitting the sea. At around midday the rain and storms had passed leaving sunshine and clouds and Tom felt completely better. We decided to go and snorkel on our local beach, Long Beach. I couldn't believe the water, you could see straight through it and the temperature... well it was like having a bath! We saw lots of different fish, and even spotted a clown fish. We decided to stick to having dinner in our resort that night, which was a popular choice on the island. I chose a whole sea bass which was freshly caught on the day and managed to fillet it for the first time in my life. It was divine... and Tom didn't get food poisoning!

On the second day we took a 'island hopping trip'. The places we visited were around Rendang island and Lang Tengah island, about an hour away. The first stop on our boat for 6 was called turtle point. We jumped in with our masks and snorkels and were immediately confronted with turtles. They were huge! It was such a lovely experience to see these creatures up close. We then headed to Green Coral Point where we swam with beautiful fish and saw vibrant coral. From here we arrived at a Secret Beach, Long Beach, which blew us away. It was a little strip of sand in the middle of the ocean. The whitest sand and the bluest sea I had ever seen. It was the most divine and tranquil place. Not wanting to leave, we headed to a marine park for lunch on Rendang island and then to a beach on Lang Tengah island. This had and large wooden jetty and here we snorkelled and saw a reef shark... but it quickly swam away, phew!

On our third day, we decided to explore a new beach, Coral Bay. Having sweated a lot to find it (it was on a par with the sweat in Cambodia) we found that actually our beach was much nicer! So we sweated all the way back and spent a day at our beach.... oh and saw a Komodo dragon!

Our last day on the island of Kecil was the hottest of the lot! I don't think I've ever experienced heat quite like it. It honestly felt like we were burning even sat in the sun. We decided to have another beach day at our beach due to the fact that we completely loved it! Snorkelling, swimming and lounging, it was the perfect day before heading off to the next island.

On the whole the island Kecil had lots to offer. A lovely beach, excursions, and great food (well at our resort). The fresh fish for dinner was great, a real culinary treat. From giant prawns to squid and sea bass, it really had everything. Now onto the next island... B x