This shall be my last snorkeling post for the Perhentian trip (thank god) but among all the snorkeling spots we had, this area right outside coral view island resort was by far the most impressive in terms of the marine life's variety!
Location: conveniently located near the Perhentian Island Resort where we stayed for two nights. The above shows the jetty; the side where i was standing to take this pic would be the focus of our exploration today.
There wasn't any plunge given the shallow water and the fishes (mostly sergeant major) were seemingly undeterred by my unauthorised entry.
The entire underwater-scape appeared to be rather lifeless. As nature explorers would tell you; be patient and slowly venture out. Note: the reason to do it slowly is because the lack of activity could also mean the existence of usually a larger predator.
Not in our case though! As i noticed the previous day, sea cucumbers were in abundance here! There were so many of them that my mom, if she were there, would feel guilty if she leaves without bringing one back.
Be prepared for huge boulders in your expedition; some with additional corals sprouting out. Personally, i thought the boulders bring diversity to the corals and more often than not, are good hideouts for the small sea creatures.
Like this cute goby!
From far, this sea anemone could have been mistaken as the stretched out "hand" of a mutated water giant! Okay, i am kidding; i noted the resemblance when i am running through the photos at the comfort of my home in Singapore.
As expected, the protective clown fishes swam out of the sea anemone upon my approach.
Imagine troops of little people walking along this stretch in between two rocks and two platoons of enemy archers on top waiting to fire at the commander's signal. Too many historical dramas for me, apparently.
More sea cucumbers! Known as the ginseng of the seas and well liked by the Chinese as a delicacy, i have never liked the taste and gooey texture of this marine invertebrate.
Sea shells stuck in between two rocks. My fat, puny fingers could not reach in despite my curiousity to check if the shells were occupied.
Thinking this was part of a rock, i was about to swim past when my elbow brushed against it. Wait, it wasn't hard at all!
A bloody sea slug! I would never have imagined i could see one so near to the water surface; ain't they supposed to be in the deeper sea?!
Anyway, this was my first look at a sea slug in real life and damn was it adorable! Could not resist touching the skin again and it was quite similar in texture to a sea cucumber.
With its shallow water, this area should be safe for kids to snorkel in. Having said that, there were many rocks on the seabed and it's best to get your kids to wear shoes in case they scrape their feet and don a life jacket.
Another sea anemone in view!
Believe me; it was pissed.
And it got more reinforcements to protect the home! Chill out fish, i am not going to destroy your home and grab the eggs inside even though i enjoy Ikura Nigiri!
Many crabs on the boulders; they were normally quite apprehensive when humans approach and i guess they bite only as a last resort, when itchy fingers are asking to be bitten.
Woah, this was my third sea anemone just for that area!
Snorkeled around the rock and there were another four more clusters! This region must be popular with the clownfishes and it must be my lucky day; had been to so many snorkeling expeditions yet the number of clownfish sightings this trip far exceeded the total of all previous few beach vacations!
Standing up to take a breather; right ahead was the staircase connecting Coral View Island Resort to the Perhentian Island Resort.
Sea cucumber or sea slug? Now i am confused.
Alex in the easybreath snorkeling mask! Bugger was luckier than me in the sense that he managed to catch sight of two reef sharks! Poor me had only a fleeting glimpse of one!
Sea shell with an occupant and accompanied by a sea cucumber.
Rocky outcrop that could inspire a film marker to imagine a setting of an abandoned fortress in the middle of the vast Pacific ocean!
An empty giant clam.
A surprised goby; i believe i have a knack in spotting them even though they generally remained quite motionless and camouflaged really well in their surroundings.
The water was relatively clear but there were residual stuff floating on the water surface; no idea what they were even though i did manage to convince innocent Alex they were sperms from the fishes and corals. Wahahahaha
Stuck to the bigger rocks were shellfishes; i remember watching an episode of running man and they turned out to be oysters! I presume there are differences across regions and the shellfish species here might not be the one with aphrodisiac properties.
Sea urchins! Although they might seem to appear very frequently in the postings for the Perhentian trip, the numbers pale in comparison to the time at Pileh Bay @ Krabi.
Sea cucumber in another colour shade that i have never seen before.
Window view in between two boulders! It's quite fun hiding in the corner while unknowing marine creatures continued their life on a normal day.
Gotcha again, Goby fish!
Spotted this flower like thing on a rock together with the toilet brush thing nearby. It's a shame i could not name them since i like snorkeling so much! To be fair, i have never noticed them in past trips.
Cluster of clams! If you believe in reincarnation, i think it's worst to be reincarnated as a clam; you have chance of mobility (no leg, no hand), would be stuck in a rock for eons until someone digs you out for the purpose of eating you.
Another empty giant clam!
This was a weird creature; the body was covered in what appeared to be white fur even though it felt like wet cotton wool. For the sake of nature, i left it alone.
Stood up again to re-adjust the easybreath snorkelling mask; snorkeling without a life jacket can be more enjoyable as i didn't have that bad of a motion sickness.
21 photographs for your viewing pleasure as i have run out of words to describe the underwater world. If you search for "snorkeling / snorkelling" on the search button in this blog, i can bet with you that there would be similar phrases in the different postings!
Relaxing by the beach, facing the jetty. By then, i had snorkeled in total no less than five hours that day and fatigue was slowly setting in with a throbbing headache.
But, i had one last location to check out; the jetty. Like many jetties at top snorkeling destinations, the jetty was often said to have a bigger congregation of fishes despite its immediate surroundings to be the assembly for pollution.
Fishes that blended in with the white sandy seabed. For your information, i do use photoshop to bring out the natural colours of the settings and in this case, to have a deeper contrast in order to differentiate the anomalies.
Think these were the steps to the old jetty.
Many fishes; i would have loved to check out the dark areas except for the memory that someone once told me those areas are well-loved by moray eels.
The support beams had these pimple-like stuff that oozed green material upon a squeeze!
When planted on a clam, it took on a whole different impression; don't you think this looked more like an alien head?
Notice anything amiss? Many people, especially boisterous children, might just step on the "stick" without knowing it has the potential to kill.
A stingray! Hence, do educate your kids to take things slower when they are under the water.
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Location
Perhentian Islands (Besar),
Teregganu State, Malaysia
Map
As above (demarcated in yellow).
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