Perhentian Islands

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We had an early rise at 4am to catch a flight from Georgetown to Kota Bahru. Thank God for Grab, the SE Asian Uber: quick, reliable and cheap. 

We got to the airport a little too early but I prefer it this way.

After the flight, a one hour+ transfer in a comfortable minivan, a 1.5h wait and a 45 min speedboat ride, we got there! Hurrah! 

Beautiful sandy beaches, clear turquoise lagoon, lush green rain forests, the works. This is the kind of place that people label Paradise island. On top of that the water was warm...around 30 degrees in fact. 


Paradise Island
We just dumped our stuff in our room and threw ourselves in the lagoon. It was great.

After the first swim, we booked ourselves for our first SCUBA dive. Then dinner! For every meal there was a choice between chicken, beef and squid along with veggie option of course. Food was good but after Georgetown, it felt a little under. The desert was freshly cut pineapple and watermelon. Delicious!

On our first evening we attended a turtle conservation presentation. The Bubbles Resort doubles as a Turtle Conservation island. 

That night Mara, Roxana and I were woken up by the staff to see a turtle preparing her nest and laying eggs. We stayed about 1h but did not wait for her to lay her eggs. We went back to sleep feeling quite lucky to have witnessed this special moment. 

After eggs are laid, the staff transfer them to this hatchery

The next few days went by pretty quickly with the meals setting the rhythm for our day: wake up, breakfast, some beach, shower, lunch, nap, beach for us and kids club for the girls, tea time cakes and refreshments, beach, dinner, game of Uno, sleep, repeat!

Roxana and I SCUBA dived and we were not particularly impressed by the underwater spectacle. Visibility was poor, there were a few fishes and most of the corals were bleached.

I dived a second time the following morning but after that I stopped as my left ear started to really hurt. It got worse and worse until I went to a dispensary on another island where they diagnosed an ear infection: ear drops and antibiotics! No more diving or snorkeling for me.

What the girls particularly liked though was the kids club and especially Becky the dynamic and super fun lady who was running the show.



They had a great time together and Becky was always full of ideas building things, making handicrafts, kayaking, etc. The girls loved it and they made a beautiful card for her on our last evening.


Girls trying out kayaking

All in all, this was a paradise island.

For more pictures of Perhentian Island

Comments

  1. Cecilia21 June 2019 at 10:54

    I'm telling you... Exotic destinations with small children... your storytelling is quite something!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Roxana & Kevin4 July 2019 at 08:16

    Hi Ceci, only seeing this now - thanks a lot for the nice comments. Besos

    ReplyDelete

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