from Flora Bay to Lata Belatan... (25-28th Feb 2005)

5The tropical island life in Perhentian Island......I went there for a 3 days 2 nights snorkeling trip. I came back from a 4 days 3 nights snorkeling + diving trip. Although the water was murky, the waves were like 5 ft high, I had fun. This is even better than shopping. Shopping lasts a few days, or at least until u're done with the new gadgets u bought. The best company, the most beautiful place, delicious food all in one. It was a memorable trip altogether. All the worries, the problems, the work loads were gone for a few days. No phone calls, no schedule. U take your own sweet time to do anything.

We took the bus, Mahligai, from Hentian Putra, KL on Thursday night, and reached Kuala Besut at 6 am.

At around 8:30 am, our ride to Flora Bay resort arrived. We reached Flora Bay at around 9:45 am.

Immediately I loved the place. I mean what's not to love? The water was blue, the sand was white. There were no phone rings, no emails, no traffic jams.. only the sound of the waves.

We rested about half an hour, and while some went diving, my friends and I went snorkeling. The plan was to go to Shark's point, where we were able to see sharks swimming. But a few of us were not used to vigorous swimming/snorkeling so we didn't reach our destination. I managed to see some clown anemones or famously known as "Nemo".

The next morning we took a boat to some snorkeling places. Typically, the boat guy would take snorkelers to 4 different spots. But the wave was unbelievably huge that day. Saw many different fish while snorkeling. Even spotted a squid swam past me. I took pictures of some of them. But the water wasn't crystal clear, and I was moving due to current. So, the pictures won't make me photographer of the year. Saw the boxfish, the barracuda, parrotfish, a huge giant clam (must be the biggest i've seen yet), and a lot of wrasses. there were also some other fish.

That's me snorkeling btw.. hehehe

On Saturday, our snorkeling trip, though couldn't see very clearly in the murky waters, I managed to catch a glimpse of a squid. Followed the squid to get a photo of it, but I got scared and the squid was too fast, I swam back to my fellow snorkelers. Nevertheless, a pair of barracudas swam past me, and I managed to take a good photo of one.

Then I saw a boxfish swam below me. Caught it on camera. But it's really small, doubt anyone could see it. so, i paste a photo I took out of a website so that everyone could tell what boxfish looks like :)

Saw a giant clam, the biggest I've seen so far.

my pathetic attempt to take photos of giant clams.. :P

I took the underwater photos using the fuji underwater disposable camera. Bought it for RM36 at FotoKem

Anyway, enough photos. As I've probably mentioned before, I planned to go back to KL on Sunday. But the divers were begging for me to stay till Monday and follow them diving. So, I thought, maybe a dive or two won't hurt. So, I geared up, and got ready for Pulau Redang. However, the waves were even higher on Sunday. My snorkeling buddies, who took the 12 pm boat back to Besut almost came back to the island. There were two boats left for Besut on Sunday 12 pm. One managed to go all the way to Besut, while the other turned back because of the big waves. My friends were on the first boat and reached Besut... vomiting all afternoon. Alhamdulillah.. at least they're safe.

The divers changed plans. We dived at three places: Tukas Point, Teluk KK, and Government Beach. (they say that there's a nice roti canai stall at Government Beach). At Tukas Point, a friend, Dr. M, was doing her fifth AOWD module - Fish ID. Her instructor, Halimi asked me to join Dr. M doing fish ID. Fortunately for her, the viz was 2 meters. There's no way, we could find some interesting species at that viz. However, we managed to see a tiger cowry. I don't have my camera with me, but this is how a tiger cowry looks like. :)

We also saw a juvenile anemone. It's really small, I think it wasn't even 1 cm long. We saw some other fish, but it was too dark to identify them.

At Teluk KK, the viz was definitely better. But I had to hold Halimi's hand for fear of getting lost in the dark water. Saw a titan triggerfish, which is best known for its territorial behavior.

They say it likes to bite unknowing snorkelers and divers. At first I thought I saw a cute ikan bawal. I showed it to H. H pulled me away and alerted me that the fish is dangerous. Then I realized that the fish was swimming in circles, showing it's ready to attack anyone near its territory. We also found gamat, a type of sea cucumber, only better looking. It's white and has some small brown patterns on each side. Also saw loads and loads of parrotfish. They're colorful fish with parrot's beak. I think that's how they identify the fish. Or was it because of the color? Beats me :-P

Our third dive was at Government Beach. Halimi said that at a normal good day, the viz would be at 25 meters. But on the day of the dive, the viz was at 2 meters. Beyond that I'd only see shadows. I am afraid of the dark. Not knowing what's out there freaks me out. So the third dive, really scared me. I kept myself close to the divemaster, KAZ. Despite the fear, I found the dive was really funny. All the other divers also couldn't see clearly, so, we kept ourselves as close to each other as possible. However, due to this, we kept on bumping into each other, whenever KAZ stopped. And sometimes we couldn't "brake" we kicked his head. I couldn't help myself from laughing. Halimi seemed to know that it would happen. He kept himself distant. Hahahaha.. When we surfaced, Dr. M and I couldn't stop giggling. Boy.. it was fun!

Then it's Monday. We planned to take the 12 or 4 pm boat back to Besut, leaving us enough time for another dive, or for me a swim near the shore. But the chalet operator was afraid that the boats won't be able to operate in the afternoon due to big waves, so, we had to take the 8 am boat. Doesn't matter, in Besut, we had more fun. :)

We went to a place called Lata Belatan. It's a really nice waterfalls area near Gunung Tebu (in English, it's er... SugarCane Mountain) I made a mistake of wearing a white t-shirt, and a black bra. I ended up looking like I was a candidate of the wet t-shirt contest. The water was really cold, so cold that I had a headache sitting in the water for too long. We literally became badak berendam. Halimi took some pictures of me and my friends. This is a photo of me and Dr. M.

We went back to Besut and rested at the agent's place. She's nice enough to let us sleep while waiting for the bus at 9 pm. I couldn't sleep. I let Halimi slept while I watched a Thai drama series titled Jealousy. Erggh.. what a stupid drama. Kak Shikin took us and her baby boy, Aiman, to a place called Pantai Bukit Keluang (Eng: Bat Hill Beach). There's a hill with stairs going to a cave, we assumed that there are many bats inside. That's probably how it gets its name.

That's me and Aiman, I'm the one holding the bottle :P

Anyway, the waves got bigger by the minute. After about 1/2 hour, the waves were as tall as I am. I learned later after I reached KL, that the waves were residual waves that marks the end of the monsoon, and it's not the tsunami. The waves are called Ombak Ekor Naga, or the Dragon's Tail Waves?

Anyway, we took our 9pm bus, which was more than half an hour late, and safely reached KL at 6am.

All in all the trip was fabulous. I'd highly recommend it. Even though the waves were huge, and I got sea sick after almost each boat ride, and the water was murky, I couldn't see anything that's coming, I had so much fun. I think I might do that again. :) Maybe in July? Tioman? Bagus place? I'll pray hard, and save a lot of money for my next trip. Hopefully I have much better view of the underwater life. It'll be fun to get photos of the different new fish I come across :)
Insya Allah...

more information here:

• Flora Bay, Perhentian Island
• Perhentian Islands
• How to go to Perhentian Islands
• Lata Belatan (BM)
• Lata Belatan (English)
  
• Pantai Bukit Kluang
  
• Kuala Besut, Terengganu
  

(originally posted in tulip)