Before arriving in Shanghai in mid-October, Elisabeth and I spent 7 weeks backpacking, starting in Singapore, criss-crossing Malaysia, then up the East coast of Thailand to Bangkok. This is one of my favourite stories from that trip. Hope you enjoy it!
On the first evening of our arrival on Kecil, one of the two Perhentian Islands off the northeast corner of the Malaysian mainland, we began chatting to a few fellow travelers as we ate dinner. An agreement to take a snorkeling trip together the next day was made, and details quickly arranged.
The next morning we met our happy guide, a small but energetic Indonesian fellow who spoke very broken English. We climbed into his simple, covered boat and headed for sea.
The first spot, close to shore, featured shallow waters with wonderful corals and plenty of colourful little fish that swam all around us. Since the others in the boat preferred to wear life jackets while they snorkeled, this spot made for an easy starting point. If our guide had revealed exactly what he was planning for later that day, the group may not have been quite so relaxed.
The day previous, on our way to the Perhentians from the Malaysian mainland, I had chatted with the ferry captain as we pulled towards Besar, the larger of the two Perhentian Islands. He had pointed to an area marked off by a lengthy rope buoy at one point, casually noting that sharks regularly swam in the area. I certainly wasn’t expecting that. I ignorantly asked him if the rope buoy was a shark net. His reply, “no, no, lots of people snorkeling there every morning!”
My curiosity was aroused. I had never seen a shark in open water before.
The second stop of our snorkeling trip - a cement buoy a significant distance away from shore - was a rather more challenging one for our group of skeptical deep-water swimmers. This time, after assuring everybody it was perfectly safe to swim (‘safe’) and that lots of corals could be found there (‘many coral’), our faithful guide donned his own mask and fins and jumped in the water. Now he meant business. He benevolently ordered everyone to follow and we gamely obeyed as he lead the group on a lengthy tour, further and further away from the boat. As we climbed back into the boat, he declared enthusiastically, “Now we find sharks...we see sharks today!” With that it was off to the infamous spot pointed out to me the day previous - Shark Point.
Arriving, he jumped straight in as before, reassuring us once again that these apparently shark-infested waters were safe, then pointing and summoning us to follow. We were on the shark trail now. Who would have guessed that those nervously floating around in life jackets a couple hours before would consent to this?
Soon he became excited and started waving. Three people in the group caught a fleeting glimpse of the target - a 150 cm Black-Tip Shark close by. It was hot pursuit time, like a chase scene straight out of Hollywood. Of course, the shark was not around for long.
Over the next while, two more sharks were spotted and pursued. Frustratingly, yours truly never managed to see any of them. Perhaps it was a case of simply trying to hard to see what was evidently right before my eyes. Or maybe I just didn’t really want to and willed myself not to see anything, I don’t know!
Following a pleasant lunch stop at a nearby fishing village (accessible only by boat) where sheep roamed around our tables hoping to scavenge a bit of food as we talked excitedly about what had transpired so far, it was time for the final stop of the day.
Pulling into a clear, sandy bay, one with beautiful clear blue water, but not a coral or rock of any sort in sight - and hence not much in the way of fish - we wondered just what our guide was thinking. A pleasant, if not all that exciting, swim to cool off before we headed home? We didn’t have time to question him, as he was quickly shouting, “there, big turtle! You lucky today!” And there it was, swimming close to the sandy bottom, but plainly visible in the clear waters. It was the largest live turtle I have ever seen.
We jumped in and like that were swimming along with him (or her). Our sharp-eyed guide quickly spotted two more, each of whom we accompanied for as long as we could keep up.
At last, we climbing back into boat and headed for home, still buzzing from all that had happened. Quite a day, indeed. I would recommend a trip to the Perhentians to anyone.
