Perhentian Island

This shot was taken while I was in the Perhentian Islands of Malaysia. It is situated on the north-east coast of the Peninsula. Perhentian Island comprises of two islands, Perhentian Kecil (Small Perhentian) which is in the distant of this picture and Perhentian Besar (Big Perhentian) where this photo was taken from. The word ‘perhentian’ is derived from the stem word ‘henti’ which translates as ‘stop’ believed to have originated from the activities of local fishermen from mainland Kelantan and Terengganu who have, for centuries, stopped over at the island for a rest or to shelter during a major storm.

Tourism has played a big, if not the most major part in the islands’ development. Water leisure especially snorkelling and diving are probably the island’s best attraction. The Malaysian Government have however, established several marine park reserves to protect some of the coral reefs and introduced laws banning destructive practices, such as shell and coral collection, spear fishing and jet skiing around the islands.. Various companies have also played a part in this environmental conservation programme, a few which I saw during my stay there. Talking to a few of the fellow divers from the companies, their activities involved cleaning up the sea bed from rubbish and picking up starfish-like eating corals. I managed to get a glimpse of a few of these coral-eating species in their nets and their long thorny claws did look quite menacing, but never would I have imagined it ‘ate’ corals!

Laws have also been imposed to ban the sale of turtles and their eggs, highly prized by local fishermen and their shell, used for jewellery and ornaments. Although, according to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) that marine turtles are among the world’s most endangered species I was fortunate enough to see a few swimming around the island, eating seaweed from the seabed and jellyfish on the surface. The ones I saw were very big, its shell the size of a table which can easily sit four people, the least. Like most animals they too have their own personalities. Some were quite shy and swam away at the glimpse of human. Some were however, more ‘friendly’, one which came up to me whilst I was snorkelling above it and gave me a ride on its back. “Yes, I hitched a ride, on the back of a leatherback turtle!” I had to remind myself time and time again as the feeling was euphorically out of this world! Although it was kind enough for me to appreciate the speed it was swimming at (faster than I could ever swim at full speed with my flippers on) I didn't hold on too long for fear it being too tired from an extra burden on its back. It definitely made me feel like Nemo akin to the movie, although the whole experience lasted just less than a minute (I was too excited to hold my breath longer than that)!