Buhr blog: Perhentian Scuba Diving, by Aimee

Two weeks ago (July 10 - 14) we went to Perhentian. Perhentian is two islands off the east coast of Malaysia. The Perhentian Islands are known for great snorkeling and scuba diving and many Europeans come to stay there. We have been to Perhentian Islands three out of the four summers we have been here. The place we always stay is a place called Mama's Chalet. It is a bunch of chalets set up right on the beach. It is pretty rustic (think tiny cabins on stilts) but extremely relaxing. Perhentian is probably my favorite place to vacation in all of Malaysia. This year only my dad, Kate, Elizabeth, and I went because Hannah had a job that same week and my mom wanted to stay with her. Two Dalat families also came to Perhentian the same time we came so we hung out with them a lot of the time.

We took an airplane to a major city near Perhentian and then took a bus to the ferry. This is the first time we have taken an airplane to Perhentian. The previous times we have taken a big van or a bus. The drive from Penang is usually 6 to 7 hours.

On our last day at Perhentian we went scuba diving. This was my first time going scuba diving. Needless to say, I was pretty nervous. We woke up pretty early, had breakfast, and boarded one of the boats to take us to the other island. We arrived on the island and proceeded to the dive shop. We were going to have three instructors helping us out. We were instructed on the hand signals to use while diving and some other safety instructions. Then we suited up in wet suits and our air tanks. The air tanks were very heavy even though I had a smaller one than normal. We also got instructed on the air gauge and releasing air and other stuff. Then we boarded another boat to take us to a place where we would practice some basic diving. Underwater we practiced all the skills including the hand signals, how to release water from our masks underwater, and how to release and add air to our suits to either lift us up or bring us down. After we perfected the skills we started swimming toward the coral. It was really a totally different experience than snorkeling. For example, instead of swimming above the schools of fish we were swimming through them. Scuba diving was like becoming a fish yourself and not needing to always go up for air. We swam through the coral but we were careful not to touch the black sea urchins. Their spikes were really sharp and they would cause excruciating pain. We saw many types of fish but my favorite were always the clown fish. You would always see them near a purple anemone (see picture below). There were big ones but there were also extremely small ones, some even the size of a fingernail. They were super cute and always reminded me of the movie Finding Nemo. When we were scuba diving we also saw a small eel, a very big fish, and plenty of angelfish. The coral was also really cool and multicolored. The great part was that since I wasn't being pulled around by an instructor, I could swim almost wherever I wanted. I swam above the divers and I swam so close to the coral that I could touch it. It was so peaceful down in the ocean, I didn't want to leave. But finally the inevitable happened and our oxygen was close to being done. We swam up to the ocean surface and got picked up by a boat. We headed back to the dive shop and looked through a book that had some of the pictures of some of the fish that we had seen. After that we boarded a boat that took us back to Mama's.

Diving is a very amazing experience, I recommend it to anyone that is able to do it.