Training for Everest Base Camp Trek requires a lot of determination and willpower to pack that exercise gear and go to the location. Because I have scoliosis and my back is not strong enough, I have to stop jogging. My effort to train for 21km makes me disappointed with myself but it is a good training for my EBC. From 16km, I reduced to 12km, to 10km and now if I choose to run, it is 5km. When my back gets strong again (and I am not using IF), I have to chase back to 16km again. I know I can do it. I know that my mental strength will pull me through. So, instead of jogging now, I swim every weekday. On weekends, it is either Power Plate or trekking. I have less than a month before I fly to Nepal. I question myself if I have that physical endurance or strength. How do I test myself? I guess I will only know when I go to Nepal.
Back to my Pulau Perhentian trip.
Off we start our snorkelling trip. We left about 1130am. I say bye-bye to my sisters and off the boat goes.
The first spot is the Turtle Point. We are supposed to be able to see turtles and they will go to the surface every 15 minutes to get air. But I only managed to see one turtle. See the black spot in the 6th photo. That is a turtle. Oh yeah, I borrowed my brother-in-law's waterproof casing for my phone.
Can you spot the points where we snorkelled? They are all on Pulau Perhentian Besar.
The second point is the Shark Point. Not the real shark, JAWS thing as how the guide described when I asked him if I will see a huge shark. He said that this shark is vegetarian and that comment when mentioned to my sister made her laugh and she couldn't believe I was that gullible to believe it. She said all sharks are attracted by the smell of blood. Anyway, the shark we are seeing somehow resembles a shark but not the scary one. I did not get to see any though. The guide said that there are too many snorkellers today. In this trip, the guide held my hand and brought me snorkelling. He swims fast. Well, everyone swims faster than me. I was not wearing any flippers, because I have not wore it before and apparently, I will get leg cramp if I am not familiar with it. So, why take the risk?
The guide was trying to catch a Nemo-fish.
The third point is fish point. At this point, one can see many colourful fishes. The guide threw bread into the sea to feed the fish. The fishes were so close to me I tried touching them. But they seem so far away when I did that. At this point, I wanted to pee so badly. You know, the thing that people said just pee in the sea. Hello! It is so not true! You cannot pee in the sea when you are snorkelling, because the water pressure is greater than the fluids in your body. And I call myself a science student. So disgraceful.
We had our lunch stop at the Village. This is the place where the guide comes from. Actually, I think this is where the locals stay. There is a school, clinic, police station and kindergarten. And apparently, it looks like there is only one restaurant where all the snorkellers are brought to. The guide took our orders. Because it was the second day of Eid and the restaurant is short-staffed and somehow, there are lots of snorkellers, our food came after 2 hours.
My lunch is kerabu fried rice and syrup lychee which came to RM10. RM6.50 for the meal. That was the cheapest on the menu.
After lunch, we started to our fourth and fifth point which are in the same area. The fourth point is the Coral Garden. The guide dropped us somewhat 200m from the beach, and the beach is known as Turtle Beach which is the fifth point. If we are interested, we can snorkel our way from Coral Garden to Turtle Beach. Some snorkellers opt to not snorkel and chose to head straight to the beach on the boat. I snorkelled, of course. Suddenly, while snorkelling, I panicked. I have no idea why. I felt the water was pushing my chest. I felt vulnerable. I felt the depth of the sea. I felt I will drown but I reminded myself I am in a lifejacket. My imagination is my worst enemy. I think it was because I was alone and everyone has snorkelled somewhere. The boat has left for the beach. Luckily, the guide has entrusted one of the snorkellers to keep an eye on me and help me if needed. When we were halfway point reaching the beach, I thanked her and continued my snorkelling.
At Turtle Beach, I realised I cut my toe on the corals. We were allowed about 1hour on the beach. I tried sunbathing like the foreigners but I felt the heat burning my face. So, I changed position from an open rock to a sheltered rock under a tree.
About 445pm, we left the beach, and we were headed back. It was 5pm when I touched Long Beach. I was happy to see my sisters. I felt like I survived. Gawd, I am such a drama queen.
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