The Perhentian Islands are off the north east coast of Malaysia, so getting here meant catching a freezing cold overnight bus back up north from KL... but getting here was well worth it! There are two islands that make up the Perhentians, one called Kecil island (the small one) and the other called Perhentian Besar (the bigger one), we decided to stay on Kecil as we heard it was nicer and quieter with no roads or traffic of any sort! Upon pulling up to the pier by speedboat you could see how crystal clear the sea was and how beautiful the island looked... and just walking down the pier to the beach we could see sharks swimming around right under the pier... it looked amazing and i couldn't wait to get my snorkle gear on! As it's such a small beach it didn't take us too long to walk along the beach looking at what accommodation was on offer and in the end we settled for a little bungalow on the beach for around £6 a night. As we were so tired from last nights sleep on the cold bus, after checking in we headed to the beach for a 5 minute snooze in the shade... 5 hours later we woke up and finished the afternoon off by snorkelling off the beach. The following day we got snorkelling gear again and went off under the pier where the sharks were the day before... we jumped off the pier and swam underneith where there was millions of fish... so many that it mad the water seem black and when you swam through them the went round you and joined again behind so you were in a giant fish bubble, it was so good... then as we swam out an towards the shark area we saw loads of big barracuda. When we got to the area where we saw the shark the day before, we just stood still in one place for a few minutes with our heads under the water and then they came... we must of seen around 10 different ones and they came really close too, they were only around 1 meter long as they were babies so Laura actually enjoyed it this time! After a few hour in the water Lau got out but I stayed in to go a bit further out, and it was here where I saw Giant Pufferfish, Stingrays and Giant Triggerfish. The island of Kecil has two main areas, Coral beach which is where we stayed is much quieter and peacefull, and Long beach which is where there are beach bars and a bit more lively, so at night it was nice to sit on the beach and have a beach bbq at one of the resturants on our beach and then if we wanated a drink we could just walk through the jungle path to the other beach for a party... more often than not though, we just opted for a fresh BBQ Snapper on the beach and then bed!

After another day of chilling on the beach and snorkelling, the following day we were supposed to be up at 8am to go diving on a wreck called sugar wreck, but when we woke we were so tired we postponed it until lunch time instead. So at mid day we made our way over to the other side of the island which is only a 10 minute walk away, as that was where the dive shop was. The diving here is really cheap, infact its a cheap as Koh Tao which was suprising as Koh Tao is supposed to be the cheapest in the world and the water is so much clearer here. We chose to do a wreck dive as we hadn't done one before and they are supposed to be amazing, so after kitting up we went out for around 10mins on a small speedboat to the dive site. It wast the clearest of dives that we had done but it was one of the most challenging as all over the wreck and along the ocean bed were spikey sea urchins, so we had to perfect our boyancy as to not fall or drift in to them. Also whist going throught the cargo hole and going into the ship, there is a small air pocket so we were allowed to come up into the air pocket and talk to each other whilst underwater which was really cool. After an hours diving it was back to the beach for more relaxing and once again fresh BBQ fish for dinner before heading over to the otherside of the island for a bottle of rum around a campfire on the beach.

The next day was our last day as we were to catch the 3pm ferry back to the mainland intime to then catch our overnight train down to Singapore, so once again we made the most of the water and snorkled and relaxed on the other end of our beach... and it was here where I just about pooped my pants whilst snorkeling. After another few hours in the water on our own, Laua decided she had had enough and went to take some photos of me snorkeling on my own in this coral bay, whilst I was on my own in the water I saw this huge shadow swimming towards me... I had a double take and saw this one lonesome adult shark coming right towards me and past me! I thought it would just carry on swimming past me but when i saw it swim back round behind me again I about shat myself! So I scrambled to the nearest rocks to pull myself out and cut all my hand on the coral... so now I was bleeding in the sea GREAT!! But at this point I was safe and found a small area behing a tree to empty my pants haha... i'm not usually scared of sharks but I think it's because I was on my own in the water and the size of it that made me a little worried of this one. So that was me done snorkelling for the day, and after another few hours on the beach it was time to make our way to the pier for our boat back. We both absolutly loved the Perhintians and is one of the nicest islands we have visited so if anyone reading this is thinking of a tropical destination for a holiday this year, my recomendation would be to come here for sure! x