Spending World Oceans Day in Perhentian with MNS Marine SIG

As the night approached the hour, the excitement in me was eagerly bursting to meet up my fellow members. Finally, we spotted the car and its owner. Without wasting a second, we loaded up our bags (with mine super heavy such that I felt the car sort of let out a muff of a grunt.. "whoa, heavy load"). Making a few detours, we were finally out and on our way across the to east coast in the dark of the night. With such entertaining fellow members, there was never a dull moment in the car. What more, a bond of friendship was formed and one that will last, hopefully, a life time.  Sharing with all, the memories and experiences of World Oceans Day at Perhentian.

Marine SIG celebrates World Oceans Day, in Perhentian

By JelliButz

  

Pulut Sambal Ikan - Breakfast at K.Besut, after 10 hours car ride
Photo by W L Wong

Laksa - Breakfast at K.Besut, after 10 hours car ride
Photo by W L Wong

Pulut Panggang  - Breakfast at K.Besut, after 10 hours car ride
Photo by W L Wong

Finally, after a 10-hour car ride and 30 minutes on a speedboat, we finally landed on Pulau Perhentian Besar. What a welcoming sight it was! Organised by MNS Marine SIG (Selangor Branch), this annual dive-snorkel-beach clean-up (June 2—5) is one activity I finally got to participate in. Organisers Hon Yuen and Wee Liem got down to the business of settling us in. A small team we were, just the six of us, a cozy bunch.

Perhentian Islands

Photo ©wylpics

After lunch, each of us got into our respective modules, be it the snorkelers or the divers. I got drawn in with a group of leisure divers and off I went for my first dive on the very same day. The abundance of marine life in pristine waters literally took my breath away! It was a different world altogether, with fishes and corals right before my eyes, within an arm’s length away.

Corals garden of the sea
Photo ©wylpics

Cushion starfish
Photo ©wylpics

Being the sole leisure diver in the group did not give me immunity from the assignment given by our organisers – to identify what marine life we had seen and to present to the group. It was a night of discovery. We learned from each other as well as about each other, for example, a talented artist and a passionate beach-comber (who enthusiastically led the group on a beach-combing night-walk along the tide-receded beach).

Assignment time
Photo by H.Y. Leong

Crab found during night beach-combing
Photo by Steven Lim

Scorpion fish found during night beach-combing
Photo by Steven Lim

To celebrate World Oceans Day (June 8), both Marine SIG and Alu Alu Divers (and guests of Bayu Dive Lodge) participated in clean-ups over two days. We were briefed on the do’s and don’ts of the reef-dive clean up initiated by the dive centre. It was another first for me. We came up with numerous plastic bottles, aluminum/tin cans, fan belts, polystyrene, a kettle, a pot, etc from the sea. It was heart-wrenching to find such rubbish in these pristine waters in a protected marine park.

Rubbish under the sea
Photo by/of Samuelal Beer (Alu-alu Divers)

Alu-Alu divers in reef clean up
Photo by Samuel Beer

The beach clean-up by Marine SIG was another eye-opener. The beach was systematically measured into 100 10-metre wide transects, and we collected and logged the rubbish in 30 randomly selected transects. This technique was based on a system by Maritime Institute of Malaysia (MIMA) to determine an index for the beach cleanliness. It was another heart-wrenching sight to see the kind of rubbish we recorded, amongst the many – baby diapers, cigarettes butts, cans, plastics, etc. Though we were disgusted with the apathy of many beach-goers, it is heartening to know that there will be a group of eco volunteers who are willing to put aside their time for a clean-up.

Measuring 10m wide transect
Photo by Steven Lim

Marking of transect #89
Photo ©wylpics

Beach Rubbish
Photo ©wylpics

Beach clean up, filling up the coastal cleanliness index form
Photo ©wylpics

Rubbish collected in beach clean up
Photo by H.Y. Leong

Time zipped by too fast, and it was time for us to be at the jetty again for the boat back to the mainland. The weekend had been an eye-opener to us all, and not to forget a great camaraderie that will go a long way in years to come. 

Cozy bunch
Photo by Mary

Now, let’s hear what the three course participants had to say about their experience:

Mary Chan, SSI Snorkel Diver: I wanted to join the trip, but the only non-dive package available was the Snorkel Diver course. I took the course even though I have snorkeled hundreds of times before! No regrets though; it was good to go through a systematic snorkeling course as they not only teach you the basics (which, of course, I already know) but also the safety and ecological side of being in the sea. On the practical side, I got to skin dive a lot (for a better view of corals and fish). That was some challenge! How deep can you go?! And how long can you hold your breath for?! I had expected a lot of other MNS members to come for this trip, but there were only 4 participants and 2 volunteer organisers. We had the chance to get to know each other much better this way! I’m definitely very glad that I joined this trip.

Colin (snorkel instructor) and Snorkel water babies
Photo by H.Y. Leong

Steven Lim, SSI Snorkel Diver: This was a good opportunity for me to give my support (to the environment) and at the same time learn a new skill. After all, how hard can a snorkelling course be? I learnt later that it wasn’t as simple as swimming with a life jacket and doing a theory test. It required swimming in open water and diving into the sea without wearing a life jacket! For two days we went through our theory lesson and snorkel practical in a confined water area near the dive centre. We practiced the kick, the method to dive into the water and the proper way of clearing the snorkel after submerging. It was a mixture of fear, fun and excitement. However, my fear of deep water did not vanish with these newly learnt skills. Fortunately my instructor Colin understood my concern and we started our “experiment” – swimming in shallow water to build up my confidence, and it paid off! The next thing I knew, I was swimming in open water without a life jacket. It was a great relief and a happy moment.

Sam revising BCD set up with Valle
Photo by H.Y. Leong

Valle Sinniah, SSI Ecological Diver: I signed up for this course mainly because I wanted to improve my buoyancy. Instead I got more than I hoped for. I learnt about fish, coral and other marine life and at the same time an opportunity to contribute something back to the reef. It is a well-known fact that most dive sites in Malaysia shows significant reef and ecosystem degradation. In that sense, the course has thought me the importance of being not only a better diver but also a responsible and caring one. I had to complete the Perfect Buoyancy and Underwater Naturalist specialty courses. The Perfect Buoyancy specialty course helped me to sharpen my skills in hovering and streamlining with emphasis on the finning technique and the Underwater Naturalist specialty course thought me to identify more of the many different species of marine life found. As part of the course I must also participate in one clean up dive which was so much fun. And I learnt another important lesson – ‘respect and stay close to your buddy’.

To Tenggol with Spanish Dancer

End season was approaching soon, I was desperate for a dive trip. It did not matter where. So when I chanced upon a Facebook invitation (what will the virtual world be without FB these days?), I just jumped into it. I knew no one, who was going? All I wanted to do was dive.

From FB, we got connected and I ended up on a trip with 10 other divers, some veteran, some like me, a newbie. The trip was over a holiday weekend, Deepavali, but being end-season dive, it was off season. I got hooked up with 2 young veteran divers and we car-pooled all the way to Kuala. Dungun.

K. Dungun is about 4 to 5 hours by car via the new East Coast Higway, approximately 300km from my home. We set off at the wee hours at 2:00am, taking a careful,slow and leisure drive. It was wet and dark and it took us a good 6 hours (having make a few pee stops) to finally reach K. Dungun at 8:00am. Off the jetty we went as we reached the quaint little town

View from the jetty, the bridge across Sg Dungun

After the long drive, our hunger growls were heard. Just across the jetty was a stall, manned by 2 ladies selling local Trengganu breakfast. Of course the staple nasi lemak was there tempting our buds. Then there was nasi briyani too. Fried meehoon and fried chicken were amongst others. I could not resist and had both nasi lemak and nasi briyani, served with simple onion sambal,pickle/jeruk, hard boiled egg, anchovies and peanuts. I could not resist adding on one local delicacy made of glutinous rice with fish flakes filling, wrapped in a nipah leave and grilled for that oomph. I forgot what it was call but it was something new for me.

My breakfast + 1 glass of Kopi = RM5.00

We boarded the boat at 9:00am. It was a small ferry boat. The boat ride was not choppy and I slept all the way there. When I woke up, we were approaching the island, greeted by the staff upon reaching the shores of the island.

The resort where we bunk up

The island was as "fairytale" as it could be, palm trees, soft sea breese, fine sand, rippling waves, clear blue-green water, a fishing boat, sunshine and all. The sun was shining hard on us. The weather was good. The sea was inviting.

Clear water, can see right down the sea bed, even 5m deep

No time was wasted. Since our rooms were allocated while in the boat, we quickly got our room keys and checked in. Immediately my room-mates and I changed into our "wet gear" and we are all ready to go.

Our first (check-out) dive was before lunch. I joined a group of newbies where we did the shore dive as our check-out dive, while others went on a boat dive. I had the luxury being guided the dive instructor/organiser himself.

BCDs in the divecentre.

The dive centre was well equipped with various dive gears; BCDs, regulators, air tanks, wet suits, etc. Most of the veteran divers brought their own gear, while some of us rented.

Veteran diver suiting up, ready to go.

Our dive schedules.

Our package was 5 boat dives and 1 shore dive over 3D2N stay. For the price we paid, it was a reasonable package. There is no lack of dive sites in Tenggol. Some of the sites we went were Teluk Nakhota, Tanjung Gemok, Tokong Timur and Tanjung Api.

Dive sites around Tenggol

Among the many creatures we saw, I was fascinated by nudibranch. Tenggol is a nudis haven, not the mention whale sharks too. Unfortunately at the time we were there, the family had move on southwards. (a school was sighted in Tioman). It was a different world under the sea, a world of its own.

Nudibranch (photo credit R. Biddle)

Nudibranch egg (photo credit R. Biddle)

Spanish dance, a flatworm(not a nudi) (photo credit R. Biddle)

When not diving, the idyllic island just lull one into the surroundings.

On a sunny afternoon by the quite beach

A fishing boat anchored not far from some shore reefs.

Seahorse pendant made out of discarded shell.

After lunch, we took a break from diving. The next dive was usually late afternoon, around 4pm. In our free and easy time, for most of us, it was siesta time. Being Asians, our siesta was under the shade of the coconut tree rather than under the sun

Siesta, a popular spot due to hammock

My afternoons were with with Theodore, the resident squirrel. He never stayed still. It was a challenge to photograph him and I had no food in hand, which was the only time he stayed still. He was totally at ease with humans, being brave enough to jump onto me to check out if my camera was edible.

Theodore nibbling away

When night comes, the sky was filled with colours of the rainbow, watching it changed from a hue of bright red to dark purple hue. It was a fun time taking various shots and exposure levels with my camera. If only I have a superwide angle lens...

After a long hot day, a dip in the water was a relief

The dining area was airy, nice romantic light, just short of the ambience. When not diving, this was one of my fave hang out, since this place is where the food was.

Dining area, lights on approaching dusk

Our meals were simple local dishes, nothing to shout about but it fills our hungry stomach. All meals were served based on room number and number of occupants in a room. Our room is supposed to have four but one room occupant joined another table and we had more than ample food. (3 people eating for 4). All our meals (except for breakfast) are rice based, serve with chicken or fish, vegetable, soup and fruits. Dinner was better than lunch, having more dishes. I ate to my fill, being me, I chomped down anything edible.

Fish balls, stir-fry cabbage, sambal ikan kembong, sambal sotong, watermelon serve with rice.

On the day we depart, the sun was strong. There was no dive on departure day. Whilst waiting for the boat, we hung around, had a long breakfast.

Fine sand, we were all ready to leave

View of dive centre

As usual, I slept all the way back to mainland and only woke up as we were approaching the jetty. It was a beautiful sight, but alas, it means our trip was over.. for now.

Fishing boat anchored at the Sg Dungun

Along the banks of Sg Dungun, approaching Kuala Dungun.

Alas, the dream trip was over for now. I am looking forward to going again next year, this time I will take some underwater photos