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Malaysia 2000
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Nice to meet you  and I hope you find yourself a nice dinner this evening. Unfortunately our divemaster is banging his tank like mad and since this is our last dive this vacation and they have been spotted here before we can only hope that there is a whale shark in sight. And yes there is, starting this story with one of the last things of this holiday shows how magnificent this encounter with this 15 ft female whale shark has been. We’ve recorded it on video and after watching it at least 50 times now it still sends shivers down my spine as I recall this moment. It has to be one of the best and most memorable moments in my life so far. I can not think of anything else that had such an impact on me and the rest of the divers. I will probably always remember all the names of the people who were present. I have enclosed them in my heart, especially Gan who gave us the drawing he made in his special logbook.
The 30 minute tape we made out of all the footage has been sent to Canada, the UK, South-Korea and of course Perhentian Besar and I am sure it will make 10 wonderful people very happy. |
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Every year we try to make our planning as short as possible but there seems to be a small problem every year. This is what we call our luxury problem. After trying to get to Sipadan for the last 2 years without success we aim for The Perhentian Islands this year and Perhentian Besar in particular. The beautiful islands are surrounded  by crystal clear waters and diving is supposed to be the best in this part of Malaysia. Our trip to Malaysia starts with a very short taxi-drive to Groningen train station. Then a train ride to Amsterdam for approximately 3 hours. The flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur will take 12 hours. From KL to Kota Bahru an inland flight for 50 minutes. The transfer to Kota Besut by bus will take 1 hour. Then we have to wait for an hour for the boat to arrive. The speedboat will take us within one hour to Perhentian Besar. All and all quite a stressful trip. |
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The arrival on the island is quite messy. There is a large group of Japanese tourists who want to check out while we want to check in. After a very long journey we lost track of time and we would like to have a long cold drink, followed by a nice warm shower and a little nap on our very clean sheets.  We get a key from the girl of the reception and follow the road to our nice little cabin. The girl assures us that the boys will take our luggage to our room. We take the shower but decide not to go and take the nap cause we are hungry and the restaurant looks very nice. We have to wait for over an hour for our lunch, a plain old sandwich and decide to hit the sack after lunch. When we wake up there is still no sign of our suitcase and our dive-bag so we check the reception. The dive-bag sits in a corner and we take it ourselves. While we have dinner the friendly man who traveled to Perhentian with us from Kota Bahru asks us if we live in Groningen and we nod with a mouthful of Nasi Goreng. He says that our suitcase is in front of his room so I thank him and tell him I will pick it up after dinner. Finally we have all the things we need. |
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The next day we check out the dive school of the hotel but we think it has no atmosphere whatsoever so we go for a walk and follow the wooden staircase to the other part of the island. The Pro Diver’s World sign attracts  our attention and we decide to give it a try. Immediately after we see the place and talk to Ann about diving we decide we’ve found the right spot. So we fill in our Padi-papers and sign for the “we are not responsible for anything” form and tell Ann that we will be back tomorrow morning for the morning dive. Of course we still enjoy a tremendous jetlag and sit up till 5 o’clock until we finally fall asleep and therefore miss the morning dive. But in the afternoon we are off with our equipment and will be going to take our first Malaysian dive. |
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| In between the dives is some more about the beautiful days and nights. You can skip to the next dive using the skip-links | |
| The Dive sites are located around a couple of islands. The dive shop of Pro Diver’s World is located on the map close to the number 1.
Pulau Perhentian Besar: Pulau Seringgi / Susu Dara: |
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| The Dives during these 2 weeks | |
| The numbers in front of the dives correspond with the numbers in my logbook. | |
| 98 |
Tiger Rock
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The first dive on Perhentian is on Tiger Rock. The visibility is not very good due to a thermocline.  The rockformations are very pretty and we spot a school of juvenile barracudas. The little boxfish defend the territory little as they are. Lots of sponges and soft coral make it a nice dive. The clownfish in the picture are almost with you every dive. Sometimes they become very bold and swim up to you. It is possible to make a little cup with your hands and let them rest inside your hand. I didn’t succeed in doing this but I saw Annie do it a couple of times. Racquel is trying it ever since but…..Depth: 17.5 meters Divetime: 66 minutes (one of my longest dives ever) |
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| 99 |
Tanjung Basi
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Lots of soft and hard coral on this dive. Visibility is a lot better in this location. |
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| 100! |
Tiga Ruang
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| First dive with the videocamera after a very short boat ride We dive this time with Annie and Patryck and they are divemasters from Canada who spent a couple of weeks touring Thailand an Malaysia. We will be diving quite a lot with them these days. We meet and film our first blue spotted eagle ray and see some of the other species of reef fish. Depth: dnfi Divetime: dnfi |
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After a couple of days we decide to move to an other apartment. The night before we encountered a tropical storm and we felt like all the tjitjaks of Perhentian joined us in our small but cozy room. We were almost asleep when it seems to me my pillow started to move without movement of myself or Racquel. So my first mistake was to tell Racquel to turn the lights on. She, being half asleep of course asks why I want to have her to put the lights on. So I make my second mistake and tell her there is something with us in our bed. She is a true animalfriend but animals in our bed is not our idea of fun. She turns the lights on, they blind me but I can just make out (without my contacts) that there is indeed something brownish in the bed under my pillow. So I return to making mistakes and pull away the pillow. This is the first time I hear myself scream in 40 years. Racquel’s starts screaming with me as the small tjitjak takes a run towards me and starts to walk al over my naked body. We both jump out of the bed and the tjitjak hides under a blank et. It is not staying there we decide so after I shake a little with the blanket the tjitjak jumps out of the bed and runs for cover in the shower. We decide to go back to bed but have a very short sleep…….The next day we move out of this apartment and try a semi suite. The next nights we sleep with a towel before the door so the little gap under the door is covered and chance that more tjitjaks will come and join us is minimal. Yes we sometimes are a little chicken. The pictures show how nice this semi suite is. I can recommend it above the normal rooms even if some of them are special in a way… |
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| 101 |
Tokong Laut (Temple of the Sea)
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According to may divers this is the best spot around the islands. A large pinnacle ascends from some 25 meters and has a few plateaus. All the special things can be seen at this site. This dive we see a blacktip reef shark, nurse sharks, baby cat sharks, a blues potted eagle and a school of batfish. The pufferfish here a large and friendly, Racquel’s favorites can almost be patted.  The current here can be strong in some parts but also changes direction as you swim your way around the pillar. Annie starts to sing again and Racquel is having the time of her live again and starts to goof around (swimming upside down and makes me laugh so my mask floods). Gan is our very dedicated Divemaster with an eye for detail and also for the safety of his divers. The hard and soft corals are very nice and very colorful. The purple broccoli shaped is my favorite. Of course we meet the giant green moray eel of which a picture is shown at the top of this page. There are a couple of cleaning stations with batfish and groupers being cleaned. This is absolutely a very good dive.Depth: 22.1 meters Divetime: 46 minutes |
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| 102 |
Seabell Rock
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A very nice afternoon dive with Ann’s cocoa and snacks to look forward to. The videocamera is with us again and and we have a very special encounter with a large fish which turns out to be a cobia. From the distance they look a little like sharks and some members of the party scared the shit |
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The evenings and the nights on this part of the world can be very special when you have to cross a wooden bridge that leads from one part of the island where we sleep to the other part where we eat and drink and enjoy the company of our friends from all over the world. The staircase is beneath and through a couple of trees covered with BATS. Not little bats but fearful Kalong, one of the largest species of bats in the world. Just after it gets dark they become louder and louder and start to fight each other. You can hear them but you cannot see them (come to think of it it is probably better you  don’t see them). The smaller fruit bats use the light of the few lanterns that are placed along the staircase to hunt insects. They come so close, but never touch you, that some of use are certain that they will fly into her hair. I don’t need to mention any names here. Fortunately we carry a little torch so we can illuminate our way along the ghostly staircase. I don’t want to tell you about all the sounds you hear when passing it. And what lies beneath is better to be kept untold as well. At the end of the first week we discover that we can also eat at Mama’s and a couple of other restaurants at the other side of the bridge. All our new friends stay at the other side and if we want to join them we will have to cross this staircase twice. Since there is only one man on Besar who sells beer, there is a small chance in getting drunk and thereby getting your grips together and act as if those bats don’t scare you shitless.
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Mama’s is the best place when it comes to getting some food and some laughs. The restaurant has a nice oceanview and can only be entered barefoot.  They don’t sell nor will they allow you to bring any alcohol. The food is great, the dishes local and all cooked by Mama herself. They have a little turtlefarm and buy eggs from the local fisherman and hatch them in front of the restaurant. It is also possible to rent apartments and rooms at mama’s but we heard some stories about tjitjaks and even rats in the rooms. Of course the rooms are very cheap and if you don’t mind the company! |
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| 103 |
D’Lagoon
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One and only Nightdive this vacation. The divemasters don’t like to go out because they are very  cold after a nightdive. But with a small group Gan agrees to takes us and he is very happy when I ask him to take the video so I can fully enjoy the dive. We see a sort of Spanish dancer, a little crab and a huge Ray. Unfortunately we don’t have a nice Ikelite lamp yet and the light of the flashlight is not strong enough to capture it on film. Although Annie an Patryck are Divemasters it is their first nightdive. These days there seems to be a thermocline almost everywhere and it takes away a little of the grandeur of diving these islands. Sometime it’s like the thermocline is exactly at the spot where it shouldn’t be at all. The rest of the dive passes very quickly. Surfacing an almost mirror like ocean and looking up to those billions of stars make you wonder what planet has the best scubadiving.Depth: 14.0 meters Divetime: 48 minutes |
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| 104 |
Tiger Rock (2)
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After a little discussion at Pro Diver’s where to go we decide to head for Tiger Rock again.  If it where my choice we would have gone to Tokong Laut again but Gan promises that there will be plenty chances to go there again. The visibility is better this time and we are lucky to see a humphead parrotfish and some squids hovering above a rock. The humphead is a new sight for us, we haven’t seen it before and are impressed by it’s size and it’s shyness. A couple of cleaners keep following it. There also is a giant jellyfish with 6 feet long tentacles of poison. Racquel is not fond of it and gives it the finger. Although much slower than the good old Sea Wasps she encountered in Bonaire she still can feel the sting and the pain of the wasps from last years diving. The little yellow boxfishes are still there and still protecting their territory.Depth: 15.6 meters Divetime: 58 minutes |
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| 105 |
Tokong Laut (2)
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The second time to Tokong Laut is sort of a mistake. We want to go and find Batu Kucing that is in the middle between to islands but has lost it buoy (or did someone take it away, cut the rope?)  After half an hour of searching with two boats and snorkeling for the buoy we decide to go to TL and have our dive there. Racquel has trouble with the left ear and we stay shallow. I hand over the camera to Gan because there is a better chance of sharks and stuff in deeper water. After two minutes without the camera we meet the first turtle in Perhentian…. After 45 minutes we meet the rest of the party, video the school of batfish that always seems to be at the same spot. I borrow 2 pound from R cause I cannot stay under with 4 pounds. A very nice dive!Depth: 16.1 meters Divetime: 60 minutes |
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| 106 |
Pulau Rawa
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| At Pulau Rawa you swim around a very large boulder and end your dive in shallow water to finally land on the beach. The four musketeers (Annie, Patryck, Racquel and Bart) discover a fishing line with a fish attached to the hook at the end. We try to save this fish but the hook is way to deep in its throat so we only cut the line and say a little silent prayer for the fish. This dive is not very spectacular. The last part in shallow waters we have to look out for jellyfish and watch that we don’t hit into the coral because it is very low tide. The rocks are nice and covered with coral. Depth: 20 meters Divetime: 54 minutes |
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| 107 |
Shipwreck
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| For some divers the best dive in Perhentian for others the worst. Gan tells that some divers do not know they have been on a wreck dive! The barracudas a very big inside the wreck but visibility is very poor and the current very strong. While de- and ascending we hang horizontally on the anchor line. Awie is our divemaster this time and shows us the lionfish and the scorpionfish. There are quite a lot of them in this place. Probably because it is deeper and there are not that much people diving here. The best thing about this dive is Ann’s hot chocolate and the banana-pancake-rolls. Depth: 22.2 meters Divetime: 45 minutes |
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| 108 |
Tokong Laut (3)
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| Very strange that the only thing in my logbook is “best dive until now”. Probably because it is our third time on Tokong Laut and all our friends are still there. The turtle is at the right spot, the coral is beautiful as ever and the shark, white tip, is followed by a school of squirrelfish who rub there skins along the sandpaper like skin of the shark to get rid of parasites. It makes me think only a short time about Remoras, the IT-firm I started a couple of years ago and named after the Remora. We keep swimming around this pinnacle and ascend a little along the way. The thermocline is around 23 meters here so deep enough to not get in the way. Depth: dnfi Divetime: dnfi |
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| Something about Pro Diver’s World | |
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PRO DIVER’S WORLD at Coral View Island Resort, Perhentian Besar, Malaysia operated by MICHAEL LIM( PADI OWSI # 64139 ) is among the 1st Class Diving Center as far as Equipment, Quality & Safety Diving is concerned. They organize various diving courses as followed: DISCOVER SCUBA DIVING (1 DAY) At the time we were visiting them they had A very special night was the night Ann had her birthday (9/9/2000)and invited all the divers to have dinner with them. She had food for at least three days for the 25 people who joined and had a wonderful time hiding from a thunderstorm and heavy rains. If you know a little about Malaysian and or Indonesian food you can image that with an Indonesian mother-in-law I felt at home. Everything tasted excellent and I must have gained at least 3 pounds that evening. We sang happy birthday to Ann and drank our softdrinks. We painted a T-shirt for her to remember us and after that we had to cross the staircase again. In the picture you can see Michael teaching class |
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| 109 |
D’Lagoon (2)
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| Very nice dive with lots of turtles. Annie and Patryck borrowed the video and are enjoying every minute of this dive. They have brought a small camera of there own but it does not fit into the housing. So I offer them to use the video and they only have to put in a tape. The only have one tape left with 30 minutes or something so I also let them use a tape. I have only one demand and that is that I get a copy of the tape in case they get anything special in front of the lens. They have a nice time with scorpionfish and even a turtle with two Remoras alongside. Depth: dnfi Divetime: dnfi |
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| 110 |
Redang #1
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| September 10th we take the Redang trip offered through Turtle Bay Divers. Annie and Patryck join us, or we join them so to say. The trip is made from Perhentian Kecil so we first take a watertaxi to the other islands, enjoy toast and black coffee for breakfast (hey, we are Dutch and it was free!). We then take the boat and enjoy a leisure two and a half our trip to Redang. I forgot to put the names of the locations in my logbook so it’ s Redang #1 and Redang #2. The first dive is along the shore and is not a very nice dive. Lots of dead coral and very little fish. Annie and Racquel spot a shark but I am unfortunate. We do see a large grouper but this guy is very shy. Depth: dnfi Divetime: dnfi |
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| 111 |
Redang #2
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The second dive is a very nice dive, probably in the top three of this vacation. Just before the dive after enjoying some very spicy lunch I snorkel around the boat and meet the biggest Barracuda I have ever seen. The dive starts with a big turtle eating some of the soft coral that looks like cauliflower. After a couple of minutes our divemaster finds a white tip lying in a small cave with two entrances. So he swims around to get the shark to leave the cave in our direction and of course I’m ready with the video. This one comes very close and swims up to Annie who is not glad with this encounter. {mov}haai{/mov} At the end of the dive we see an enormous jellyfish being eaten by a school of Jacks. This brings a smile to Racquel’s face. When we come closer to film it it scares the jacks away and the half eaten jellyfish starts to swim again as if nothing has happened to it. When we back off the jacks return and they will probably finish their job. Annie and Patryck stay down a little more and see a turtle and another shark. I think they saw a guitarshark but I’m not sure about this. When we return to the island and walk across the staircase Gan meets us with excitement. He says “you guys wont believe what we saw this afternoon at Tokong Laut”. We believe them cause why wouldn’t we believe they saw a whale shark! |
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| 112 |
Lagoon Laut
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| Worst of the dives, very little to see, poor visibility and nothing special. We had some dreams about the whale shark but will not meet it here and we of course compare this dive to the #2 Redang dive. | |
| 113 |
Batu Kucing
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| The second time we aim for this place. Awie is lucky this time and hooks the anchor to the rocks that are suppose to form this dive spot. This dive is deep, the visibility is not very good and the light is poor. There are a lot of lionfish here and the scorpionfish are very easy to spot. The school of batfish that follow us when we ascend again is very curious and some of them come very close to the camera. We take a long stop in blue water and feel like astronauts drifting weightless in an emptiness around us. We discover that the rope that was tied to the buoy has been cut. Depth: 27.7 meters Divetime: 37 minutes |
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| 114 |
Seabell Rock (2)
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| We decide that after Tokong Laut this is our second favorite. This site has a very nice part that is not to deep and therefore has lots of colors. A little wrasse is very much in love with Patryck, even the bubbles from his octopus do not scare the fish away. Then it spots the camera and tries to swim into the lens. The second dive at Seabell Rock and the second time I loose one of the weight bags from my BCD. This time I feel that it is gone and Racquel has no trouble finding it. What a buddy! Unfortunately all good things come to an end and we know that tomorrow will be our last dive here. Depth: 12.8 meters Divetime: 64 minutes |
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| 115 |
Tokong Laut (4)
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| The next day after we have packed most of our gear we walk to Pro Diver’s to get the BCD’s and the suits. Gan is out again with the group for we are the first to leave. They have gone back to TL. Imagine; Janne and Claus went there twice and both times they saw a whale shark. Michael who’s been on Perhentian for 7 years never saw one yet. After getting our stuff and paying the bill (yes, you have to pay the bill) Michael gets out Gan’s drawing book. I have seen it before and it is beautiful. He (Gan) uses it as a special logbook to draw those special dives. To my surprise Michael begins to tear out the page and tells us Gan wants us to have this drawing. I’m speechless and even while I’m typing this I can feel the emotion coming back again. We say good-bye to Michael and Ann and tell them to really thank Gan for the drawing it will get a special place in our home. On the last way over on the staircase I cannot help myself and cry a little for joy but also because of the sadness I feel leaving this wonderful people and islands behind. Luckily I can rest my head on Racquel’s broad shoulders. Until we meet again… |
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The boat trips are comfortably short and the boat is not packed. All the equipment is on the bottom of the boat and handed to you at the location. You can make a backroll or jump in the water and enter your BCD in the water. After the afternoon dive Ann is ready with Hot Chocolate and a Malaysian snack! and you cannot imagine how nice it is to drink hot chocolate and eat pisang goreng under a tropical sun after diving. It is something they will have to do in other places around the world. Ann, you are the best! Selamat makan!
into their shorties when the Cobias suddenly set course directly into the group. We will see them again in the last dive. Close to the sandy bottom swims a catfish and a moray eel is looking for a place to take cover. Suddenly Zorro appears. It’s Ronnie who’s found one of my weightpockets. I didn’t miss it yet because I’m diving with only 4 kilos. The use of the videocamera takes a little more air then usual because I still have to get used to it and want to be in perfect buoyancy all the time. Perhaps I have to loose some weight and increase my physical fitness? The mustache is gone again because the mask leaks and I hate a leaking mask.
The last dive this vacation in Malaysia. We had 18 dives these 2 weeks which isn’t so bad I think. Of course Gan has approved our choice of Tokong Laut for the last dive and together with Annie, Patryck, Janne, Claus, Misty and Chris we pack our gear and walk in the shallow seas to meet the captain of our boat. During the 35 minutes that it takes to reach TL I say a little prayer to Neptune to provide us with a nice last dive. The ocean is very calm and there practically is no wind at all. There are only 2 boats anchored at the site and we quickly enter the water. Visibility is excellent and there is almost no current. The group chooses to go in different directions and Racquel and I swim to a 23.8 meters depth to spot sharks. We are very lucky to see 2 blacktips and the usual colorful reeffish. Towards the end of the dive we meet the green moray eel again and film it from up close. Annie and Patryck met with us and while we are filming the eel from the distance a tankbanger sounds like mad. We see Gan gesturing and waving and swimming away like he’s possessed by something. We stop filming and our hearts begin pounding. It has to be something special and they have been seen here before this week, could it really be….on our last dive…YES! There she is appearing from the gloom of the blue ocean our first Whale Shark and what a beauty it is! Approx. 15 ft so it is not very big but none the less impressive. Almost in a trance I push the record button. Gan is waving and shouting(!?) and shaking hands with everybody and slowly moves towards the WS. He pets here gently and the big one doesn’t mind at all. I get close and closer and also have the sensation of touching it gently on her side. She then gives one firm stroke with her tail flipper and almost knocks me over but I keep filming and pursuing it. Annie is cheering and the rest of the group has also arrived. The WS is hardly moving her tailfin but still it is very hard to follow her. So I decide to give up the chase and enjoy it swimming away in the distance. She then turns around and heads towards me again as if it where a last good-bye. It is so close that we are eye to eye and that moment will be in my memories for ever. As if the great Neptune himself tells me with that blink of the eye that I am always welcome in his territory because he knows that I respect everything living in his oceans. 