Hi All,
day 2
morning snorkelling session in Flora bay encounter a small shark which
although as I previously mentioned is supposedly harmless it is still an
unsettling sight particularly as we are
only in thigh level water and it glided by within touching
distance.Coral is again extensively damage and we now suspect that the
damage is due or at least partial a result of fishing trawler
nets.The evidences is in plain sight as numerous nets remain tangled in
coral.The good news however is that the coral seems to be in the
process of regenerating as new coral is budding everywhere amongst the
dead coral..The islands were officially declared a protected marine
park in 1991 so hopefully that means there will be no fishing or
collecting of coral allowed with a two mile radius of the islands.
Whilst put our flippers on we actually saw a troupe of silver leaf
monkeys bouncing around in the trees but they quickly disappeared into
the thick canopy and were lost to us..
Saw quite a few different species of fish that we haven´t seen before
as well as maybe half a dozen blue spot rays.There were´nemos´clown
fish everywhere and on one occasion we saw what we assumed to be a
family of 20 hang out in the tentacles
of their own personal sea
anemone.It seems that just like the Malaysian´s above the water the
´nemos´ beneath the water like big families as well.Clown
fish are actually surprisingly aggressive little fish who will go to
great lengths to protect their territory fortunately however a nibble
from them is irrelevant.Saw one massive fish swim passed but were unable to identify it just
knew that it looked big enough and meaty enough to be on a banquet
table for 50 people.
In the afternoon we returned to Shark point determined to snorkel
further around the point. We spotted a pair of green bumphead
parrotfish which we estimate were well over a metre long and
somewhere between 40-50kg.We drifted along in the current watching them
smash their heads into the coral and break pieces off with their large
beak like mouths.
We saw a couple of sharks and then much to our horror we saw a pack of
sharks,maybe 6-10
sharks, cruising just below us.Depending on whom you speak with,and no
names shall be named in
this story,someone in our party of two snorkellers is making an
outlandish claim claiming that they were being used as a human shield
against the sharks as opposed to the injured party in this story who
is actually
claiming that they were pulling
the other snorkeller to safety!!! Who knows what the real story is both
parties are currently agreeing to disagree on the matter.We do however
agree that we did back ourselves up against and actually momentarily
climb up a rock that was nearby so that the sharks couldn´t get
behind us.The sharks passed by without even giving us a sideways glance
I think that they were more intent on getting easy prey ,maybe like an
asia who can´t swim and is flailing around in the water in their
fluorescent life vest cutting themselves on coral and thus bleeding
,rather than us so we swam on until we knew that we had just enough
energy to swim back.
820pm what should we do? Go for a night swim knowing what creatures
await
us? I think not.....we went for a walk on the beach insist before
returning to the room to watch the occasional rat use to power lines
as their own personal super highway.During daylight hours squirrels
use the same highway which is far more appealing to watch.
day 3 walked over to the money side of the island though the jungle
track and snorkelled around turtle bay and coral bay.Not overly
impressed with this side of the island even though, just like our side
of the island ,it is beautiful and has blindingly white sand It seems
to have a few too many Westerners who are only interested in self
basting for our liking.A turtle was sighted but it quickly swam away
when we went to get a closer look and whilst we did see a solitary
bumphead parrot fish eating its coral for breakfast it was basically a
lot of energy wasted for little reward so we returned to the more
isolated Teluk Dalam on the Southern coast of the island.The afternoon
was basically spend doing exactly as we had done the previous
afternoons-snorkelling walking on the beach howling at the moon etc etc.
The Perhentian islands may have been our last time in the water for this trip but only time will tell as we are heading to another island which has a legendary beach culture
Bye for now,
Vanessa and David
