The Perhentians consists of a number of islands of which only two are inhabited, Small Island and Big Island. On both islands there are only resorts, some diving clubs and jungle. There are no roads but you can get everywhere by water taxi and some beaches are connected by a jungle path.
I would like to snorkel at Turtle Beach and after 15 minutes of scrambling over tree roots through the jungle I see many boats in front of the beach. Those are the snorkeling tours with mainly Chinese tourists. Most can't swim and look into the water from the boat, or they float on the surface in a life jacket to point out turtles with a lot of yelling. Very entertaining to watch but I come for the turtles. In a quiet part of the bay I spot a few. Wonderful to see how they feed on the small plants in the white sand a few meters below me and seem to fly slowly through the water while I swim behind them. Some are the size of a coffee table, very impressive.
All dive sites are visited by boat, away from the snorkeling tourists. I can't get enough of the beautiful underwater world and the last day I'm on the island and would actually make the last 2 of my 4 dives, I sign up for a third dive.
At a depth of 20 meters, 2 fishing boats lie at the bottom of the Gulf of Thailand. The site is known for the many fish and there is no lie about that. The large schools of tens of thousands of fish even sometimes obscure the wrecks and shift like clouds in the sunlight or circle around me. The wrecks are completely covered with coral and offer shelter to the most diverse types of marine life. It is so breathtakingly beautiful that I could have stayed there for hours, but unfortunately I also have some divers in my group who slurp the tank empty faster and we stay together as a group.
During my stay on the island I met a beautiful family from Norway. The father and 2 sons take a diving course and we are often on the same boat with divers while mother and daughter enjoy snorkeling trips or the beach. They have already seen a lot of the world and radiate enormous positivity and happiness. We eat together, run into each other often every day and that also makes leaving the island a bit more difficult.
