Perhentian #7 - Pure shores

(L-R: Wombat, Evelyn, Winnie, Furby)
What makes the stretch of beach at Perhentian so special? Everything, perhaps. Sand as fine as flour. Waters so clear even the tiniest fish or coral can't escape one's sight. Majestic view of unobstructed horizon decorated with tiny blobs of distant islands. Lone eagle soaring across the bluest sky imaginable. Interesting shapes and sizes of topless sunbathers (oh yeah). I could sit here for hours, letting the salty breeze tousle my hair, watching out for tiny fishies that come in with the waves lapping around my feet. And crossing my fingers a gorgeous Mat Salleh with a killer smile and great butt would chat me up. Aaaaah, bliss. This place is literally a dream factory.

We went on our first snorkelling outing as soon as we settled our rooming arrangements. We got adjoining rooms! I was to share with Evelyn and Winnie. Initially I requested Evelyn to bunk with Winnie so I could have a bed to myself. Excuse: I snore. I snore loud. Winnie snorted. And I found out that Evelyn was much more likely to win the snoring competition that night. Judge Winnie's decision? Let the 2 contestants share a bed and outdo each other.

First exposure to snorkelling was done inhouse. No, we didn't snorkel in our bath-tubs with Lucky Ducky. Apparently the resort has a house reef at the edge of the beach. We spent the first half-hour donning our snorkelling gear and spluttered and flailed about in the thigh-deep water. Hey, it was tough ok. Most of us girls haven't even seen a snorkel-mask thingy before that. And our dratted life-jackets kept riding up our nether regions! Our guide looked totally bewildered and amused at the same time, no thanks to the EW team (members: Evelyn, Winnie). Winnie couldn't swim for peanuts and tried to drown Evelyn when being taught how to paddle. The guide didn't know if they were laughing or grimacing. The thrashing about and commotion was almost identical to a shark attack scene from Jaws 3.

The rest of our gang were fortunately floating far enough ahead to not be associated with the two shark-attack victims by onlookers. (Note that we were floating and not swimming or paddling.) We gave up trying to look graceful and professional when we noticed our guide way ahead of us, making high-pitched seal squeals with his nose and looking bored. We then transformed ourselves into graceful dead logs carried by the outward current. With wedgies up our butts. And ramming into each other at times.

We did see a lot of bee-yoo-tiful fishies though, wedgies or not. Not much of corals though. They all seemed dead and colourless. The session ended abruptly just when we were getting a hang of snorkelling. Drat. We must've spent too much time dissing each other in our snorkelling gear. But seriously, with the 2.5x magnifying snorkelling mask, how could we not look like Power Puff Girls with Jackie Chan's nose?

And so we furiously kicked and paddled our way back to the shore. The EW team rejoined our gang halfway. Were they still at the same Jaws 3 spot? Of course not. We shouldn't be so mean. No, they moved forward about 2 inches. When the water got too shallow to swim, all of us slowly got up to our feet, water cascading down our bodies and hair gleaming in the sun. I was instantly transported back into the James Bond movie, sans the huge melons. (if you're scratching your head reading this sentence, just ignore it. You're probably not classy enough to analyse the good ole' Bond series... and the Bond girls' stats)

Suddenly Furby barfed. Her friend and fellow diver, Lizard Man (he has a lizard tattoo on his back) from the boat ride to Perhentian was a mere step behind her. So he became the unfortunate first witness to the taofoofa spillage boo-boo. He timidly asked if Furby was ok while treading cautiously around the instant fish-feeding area. Wombat, second on the scene, conveniently forgot to inform the rest of us about the boo-boo. Luckily we didn't notice any unusual concentration of fish activities along our way to the shore. Those fishies must be really famished and cleaned up the food in a matter of seconds.