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Perhentian |
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 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
…
Pulau Perhentian is located in the South China Sea 25 km from the
coast of Kuala Besut. It consists of two islands, Pulau Perhentian
Besar and Pulau Perhentian Kecil. Both islands are surrounded by
beautiful palm-fringed sandy beaches andcrystal-clear turquoise-blue
sea.
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.
Tourism is relatively new to these islands, in fact, the past five
years have seen rapid increases in tourism numbers and there are
now many new rooms and services to accommodate guests. Perhentian
is fast developing, possibly too fast.
But there is still not enough accommodation on public holidays,
long weekends and in the main season July/August. Therefore you
should book your room as soon as possible.
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 Perhentian Besar is the bigger one of the two
islands (Besar means big in Malay, kecil means small). The accommodation
is distributed over three very nice beaches. The Teluk Pauh in the
north in front of the Perhentian Island Resort, the main beach with
most of the resorts at the west coast and Teluk Dalam on the island's
south-east coast.
The best beach on the islands is
Teluk Pauh, a beautiful half-moon bay with white powdery sand and
water as clear as in a
swimming pool. There are good coral around the points on either
side. Here you can snorkel with some turtles, black tip reef sharks
and hundreds of reef fish.
At the western end of the bay a
wooden footbridge leads over a few rocks to Coral View Island Resort's
small beach, which consists almost only out of broken up coral pieces.
The main beach of the island starts at the resort's western side
and stretches over 1 km to Abdul's Chalet only interrupted by some
rocky headlands. The beach is fine sandy with scattered coral pieces
and fringed by many coconut palms.
Teluk
Dalam in the south of the island is a beautiful wide curved bay
with a white fine sandy beach. The water is quite shallow here,
the corals mostly destroyed. You can laze away in hammocks under
shady casuarinas. Here it is in contrast to the other beaches still
quite peaceful. |
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 On Perhentian Kecil you find the only village,
Kampung Pasir Hantu, which is a cluster of wooden houses, police station,
school, clinic and mosque.
Accommodation on Kecil is distributed over more beaches than on Besar.
The best and most popular beach of the island is Pasir Panjang (Long
Beach) providing dazzling white sandy beach and crystal-clear shallow
water. The back of the beach is now almost completely covered with
chalets, restaurants and cafes. Better don't expect a peaceful, deserted
beach. Also the many arriving and leaving boats
are quite noisy. Who has been here before will probably be disappointed
about the way Long Beach has been developed. But nevertheless it is
still a fantastic beach, also if it's not a sleeper any more. The
atmosphere is according to the visitors (backpacker, average age end
of twenties) very relaxed and laid-back. You hang out in one of the
many cafes, play beach volleyball, go diving or just laze away on
the beach.
Please note that waves at Long Beach can be quite high and hazardous
at some time so boats cannot land. Then you have to walk to Long Beach
in 15 minutes from Teluk Aur on the other side of the island.
Teluk Aur (also known as Coral Bay) is not as attractive as Long Beach,
but it is not so crowded - yet. There are good corals for snorkelling
in the bay and around the short beach behind the Rajawali Resort.
Further more here you get a great view of the breathtaking Perhentian
sunsets.
The rest of Perhentian Kecil's beaches are more secluded and peaceful.
They are home of only one resort each or are entirely uninhabited.
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