Always make time for fun

I have been in Malaysia for a week now having a short holiday and preparing for the 6th World Conference on Marine Biodiversity, which is being help in Penang, Malaysia. Having never been to Malaysia or anywhere in South East Asia I decided to go a little earlier than the conference so I could explore a little and definitely so I could go diving!

We went over to the Perhentian Islands on the east coast of the Malaysian peninsula. It involved at 3am start to drive the 6+ hours over the peninsula. We were hoping we might see the wild elephants that live in the rainforest but no luck. We did see a BEAUTIFUL sunrise though! The islands are about 45 minutes boat ride from Besar on the east coast of the mainland over beautiful blue waters. There are 2 main islands - Pulau Perhentian Kecil and Pulau Perhentian Besar. And then smaller uninhabited islands and rocky outcrops. The diving was fantastic!

Sunrise on the drive over the Malaysian peninsula.

We stayed at and dove at Matahari Divers on Pulau Perhentian Kecil. It is a great, low key dive centre with really friendly staff. The water was super clear and the corals were so colourful. Just after I learnt to dive in 2013 I went to Australia and dived in a few places. I remember being amazed but I don’t know if I was just in awe at the location and having just learnt everything was amazing or if it actually was amazing. But this time I have done a lot of diving in a lot of locations and it was definitely amazing!