PULAU PERHENTIAN

About Pulau Perhentian Pulau Perhentian is located in the South China Sea 21 km from the coast of Kuala Besut, Terengganu. For hundred of years ago vessel sailing from the south coast of Peninsular Malaysia to Bangkok will stop-by for a rest and shelter at the Island. They all an ancient merchant carrying food, jewelry, vast and etc. As the activities of merchants, sailors and traders from the South of Chinese Sea have taken place, the island is getting popular for their 'one stop station', these Islands were named as 'Once Stop Island' so called 'Pulau Perhentian' in Malay language. It comprises of two islands; Pulau Perhentian Besar and Pulau Perhentian Kecil. Both islands are surrounded by beautiful palm-fringed powdery white sandy beaches and crystal-clear turquoise-blue sea. The two Perhentian Islands are rated as some of the most beautiful islands in the world; a virtual paradise for snorkelling and diving in crystal-clear water or just for lazing on one of the white sandy beaches waiting for the coconuts to drop … The two main islands are heavily forested and ringed with sandy beaches, typical of tropical islands. Accomodation for visitors are predominantly aimed at budget travellers and is mostly on the larger Pulau Perhentian Besar, which not only has wonderful beaches but also forest trails over the hills. Both islands are separated by a very narrow sound but with strong current. The significant different between the two islands is, Perhentian Besar is more for a vocational island while the small one is an island with the mixture of vacation mood and reality life due to the fishing village, Kampung Pasir Hantu which is resided with more than 2000 villagers and completed with basic facilities apart from resorts and guesthouses. All manner of aquatic life is visible both near and far from the beach such as turtles, sharks, coral and thousands of tropical fish. The interior is covered by jungle with a wide variety of species. You can watch monitor lizards, monkeys, geckos, flying squirrels, butterflies and many other types - sometimes right in front of your chalet. There are no roads and not many paths, so the islands are mainly peaceful and untouched - so far.  Places of Interest  The beaches are more suited to swimmers and snorkellers rather than divers because they lead to shallow water over sand with lots of rays, cuttlefish and parrotfish. For divers, the group of small rocky islets to the nortwest of Pulau Perhentian Kecil is a location not to be missed. The tiny islets have irregular patches of stunted soft tree corals in many colours and deeper down, one can explore the wonders of king-size barrel sponges with Alabaster Sea Cucumbers. Common to the area are harp and black corals, while large hard corals are absent. There are large off-white soft tree corals growing on an experimental artificial reef laid down for the Deparment of Fisheries to the west of Pulau Perhentian Kecil. The rate of growth is unusual for this region. Tokong Laut lies out in the sea in the northwest of the Perhentian Islands. It is a rocky pinnacle covered with soft and hard corals. You can find dozens of small bamboo sharks lying under the corals, sleeping. Sometimes there are several lying one on top of the other, moving there tails with the water current. Look under the rocks around 20m. If you don't find bamboosharks it will be a moray eel! This time there were also a lot of mackerels and jackfish. Terumbu Tiga lies on the east of Perhentian Besar Island. Its a jumble of large rocks with many swim throughs. Visibility isn't so good and there is often a slight film of particles on the rocks. Nudibranchs seem to love it, specially one that is called "blue dragon", a beautiful bluish, violet slug. Terumbu Tiga was one of our first dives in that area. We were very lucky, because at the beginning of the dive we saw a large school of mackerels and another school of small herrings that just about covered the reef. My divebuddy Jutta and myself stayed over 20min. around 15m and watched their dance. The mackerels attacked the herrings in large and small groups and tried to divide the large school, round up smaller numbers of fish and urge them towards the surface. Deadly and beautiful! Later on another dive at the same site I met a leopard shark. It was swimming in front of us for several minutes, before it disappeared towards the sandy area. Great! You can get a boat taxi charted to visit these perhentian's islands for snorkeling or scuba diving      Corals under the sea Clown fish among the reefs Getting There   Kuala Terengganu is the East Coast Corridor for Peninsular Malaysia.Kuala Terengganu is the centre for Malay culture and Heritage. Kuala Terengganu is the gateway to the gorgeous Marine Park islands like Perhentian , Redang , Lang Tengah, Bidong, Kapas, Gemia and Tenggol Island. Beside the island Terengganu also offer the world oldest rainforest jungle, Tasik Kenyir (Lake Kenyir) and Tasik Kenyir National Park. By Boat There are two kind of boat to Perhentian Island, slow boat and fast boat.... Slow boat take about 1 1/2 hour journey and fast boat take around 1/2 hour journey.. Actually there are two entrance to Perhentian Island. One from Tok Bali and one more from Kuala Besut... However Kuala Besut is the best getaway because more nearest and have many facility and also have many boat compare to Tok Bali... fast boat from Tok Bali take around 50 minutes and slow boat from Tok Bali take around 2 hours journey... Fast boat from Kuala Besut to Perhentian Island usually start from 9.00a.m to 5.00p.m. Actually on Kuala Besut haven't regular time for departure. The boat will depart to the island when enough passenger. For slow boat departure time at 9.30a.m and 2.30p.m. Journey to the islands takes about 30 to 45 minutes by speed boat and one and half hours by slow boat. There are a number of boat operators in Kuala Besut offering boat services to Perhentian Island.   By Flight Fly with Malaysia Airline or Air Asia from Kuala Lumpur to either Kuala Terengganu or Kota Bharu (45minutes). After arrive at the airport, take either a bus or taxi to Kuala Besut jetty. The journey will be take about 1½ hours from Kuala Terengganu airport / 1hours from Kota Bharu airport.
By Land You may board a night coach which depart from Kuala Lumpur (8 hours), Singapore (9.5 hours), Johor Bharu (9 hours), Penang (8 hours), etc. and arrive Kuala Terengganu Tanjung Bus Terminal around 6.00am the next morning By Train Express trains from Singapore or Kuala Lumpur terminate at Tumpat. Recommended stations are Wakaf Bahru or Tanah Merah where taxis are easily available. For further information, please contact yours nearest KTM Berhad counter for ticket booking.  Sceneries of The Perhentian Island