Wreck dive, squid Sambal and Long Beach

My day on the island started with assisting another fellow Instructor with his students. We were dropped off at a site called Vietnamese wreck. Despite the name, the wreck underwater is actually a US twin-screw landing landing craft which sank in 1976. Rich with marine life mainly schools of Barracuda and snappers, the depth of the dive site is around 24m. The current was quite strong until you pass the 20m mark.



Shari La's Teh tarik



Once out of the water, I had this nice cup of hot “Teh Tarik” (milk tea) at Shari La Resort, which is located on the higher side of the island overseeing the Coral Bay’s white sandy beach along with its jetty.

Later in the evening,  S.F. Chong, Perhentian’s only Platinum PADI Course Director invited me and a few other divers to try out a local dish called “sambal Sotong” ( squid slices cooked in spicy sauce) which was outrageously good. In fact, it was the best squid sambal that I have ever tasted.  The food was so good that the stomach once again proved mightier than the camera.  Sweat of joy oozed out from my cranium as I savoured the decently spiced “Sotong” ( squid in Malay).  Finally, we had the usual after food photo and trash talk session as the day came to an end.

View from Shari La

But as for me and the infamous Coral Bay Dive Master, we had Long Beach planned out, which is like a kilometer plus walk across Coral Bay to the other side of Pulau Kecil. One of the Open Water Student tagged along, so as others were retiring to their Chalets, we headed towards the forest bypass to Long Beach for some ocean breeze and wine.

Long Beach is just a small white sandy stretch but its beauty lies in the fact that the place is not heavily commercialized like many other islands that I have been to, which gives it a little magical touch of its own. Furthermore, it was full moon yesterday and the beach was enigmatically lit up by the moonlight.   We sat down at BuBu Beach Resort for some Australian Shiraz backed by the sounds of crashing waves, blowing winds and some trance music as Calvin kept us entertained.  Finally, it was time to go, so Lee and I left our beach boy behind (had to) and walked backed through the forest to our chalets in Coral Bay. 



Infamous for a reason