This would be my first dive trip of 2016. Well, coming home from US, makes me longing to be underwater again. As usual, my parents are tagging along for my dive trip. And, because of that, I had to choose a suitable and decent accommodation in Perhentian. 

I choose The Barat for good reviews and it's location on the quieter area of Perhentian Besar. We booked the Garden Family Room, costing RM280 per night. This room has 24 hr electricity, with fan, A/C, hot shower, small fridge, safe deposit box and hair dryer. The room has a Queen bed with a bunk bed (4 adults). Boat ride costs RM 60 per pax for return journey.

Well, there was a lot of huge mosquitoes on the island, so we come prepared. We bought some mosquito repellant incense. The beach right in front of the resort was not suitable for swimming. Go to right side, where the Coral Bay was located. It was much nicer to snorkel and swim here. There were plenty restaurants next to The Barat. We ate at the in house restaurant as well as went to Mama's Restaurant next door. 

Turtle Bay Divers (TBD) were located nest to Panorama and both dive centre are the best in Perhentian. Bridget from TBD arranged my transport to and from the Big island for free. The dive shop is big, pretty crowded during surface intervals. The staff are friendly and very helpful. The dive group were small, consists of 4 divers max (pretty much common in Panorama too) with an alternating dive schedule. The price was the same as any dive shop on the island, but they charged extra for T3 and Tokong Laut.

I dived with Pascale, Daniel and Manu over the 2 days and met new friends. The equipment was well maintained and the boat was okay. As usual, if you're diving in Perhentian, please work out for your upper body strength to climb the boat after the dive. No ladder available, people. Well, let see where I dived this time:

D'Lagoon - last time I was here, this was my favourite dive spot due to it's amazing visibility. It does not disappoint this time too. Visibility was around 8 meters, I dived for 50 minutes with max depth of 11.9 meters. Spotted 2 huge Jenkin's Whip ray (It was so early on the dive, by the time I turn on my camera, they disappear to under the rocks). Saw small rays, blacktop reef shark, barracudas, batfish and of course a lot of corals.

Tokong Laut - dream spot of everyone. The English translation is Temple of The Sea. It was famous for it's diverse marine life and amazing coral garden. Turns out to be the worst dive in my diving experience due to very very strong current and bad visibility. The visibility was around 4 metres and we lasted less than 30 minutes underwater at 18 meters depth. I managed to spot ray, treavlly and yellow tail. The vis gets worse at the end of the dive. So, I might repeat this next year since I'm not happy with this one.

T3 or Terumbu Tiga (maybe T2 as well)  - famous due to huge boulders laying on top of each other that creates a cave like dive to diver. Saw Flabellina nudi, Joruna nudi, glass shrimp, some reef fish. Nudi's are a lot here especially in the critters. Depth was 12.5 meters with 47 minutes dive time.

Shark Point - Ironically I saw no sharks at all. LOL. Saw Hawkbill turtles, parrot fish. The visibility was poor also for this dive. The surface surge was bad, that I actually feel seasick while waiting on diver to climb the boat.

Overall, I will dive with TBD again. They are fun and very informative divers. We actually took the time to go over each other skills and how to improve them. If you have any concerns, they will help you to work on your skill - buoyancy, finning etc. For me, my problem recently was that I float during my 3 meter safety stop. I realised, I forgot to deflate once my air reached 80 bar. The resort was pleasant and I would stay here again for sure. See you next time, Perhentian!