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Name: Angus Hinks
Gap Year Project: Turtle and Dive Volunteer Malaysia
Malaysia is fantastic!! So much to tell! I have just been on my 1st diving trip now and managed to dive with a Hawksbill turtle and got about 1 foot away while she was munching on some cuttlefish eggs! Landed rather tired at KL in the morning of the 5th and was greeted by Mary the Real Gap agent so all went smoothly there. I was given a tour round the city and went right up to the Petronas towers and had my first Malaysian food - awesome!
I met Sam and Samantha, (the other volunteers here on the island), at the 4* hotel later that night. They are great and like-minded people interested in diving/turtle monitoring/reef checks general conservation and sitting on a beach playing bat and ball/frisbee of course! My room was huge and had a great view over the city and I could see the two towers lit up at night really impressive. I then took my flight to Kota Bharu and took a 25 minute boat ride out to the island Perhentian Besar (apparently it is supposed to take around 40 minutes! - twin 150's accounted for the time difference!).
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The beach is amazing and I'm not joking when I say it is like ‘The Beach' film - absolute paradise and rainforest vegetation. White sand, clear blue water and huge areas of coral housing so many colourful fish including, barracudas, parrot fish, black tipped sharks and of course Neeeemo! (Clown fish). You can't actually see the huts from the land as the forest hides all of them (it was specifically designed this way to keep people away from the beach who are just inquisitive).
The weather is amazing - 30 degrees+ and very humid. Luckily we have air conditioning in the room and the sea only 20 metres away (which is so warm in the afternoon - its like taking a bath!)
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We are the only people on the island pretty much apart from a few limited guests who come and stay with which we play volley ball/organize canoeing trips/take out snorkeling. Most of them have never been snorkeling before and don't speak English very well so that's rather interesting to say the least - last time I had to tow this Malaysian girl all the way around the reef. “Kick” I said but she declared she “didn't really understand” - how convenient!
We have to talk to them about the turtle conservation side of the beach and how they cannot touch the turtles or take pictures with them at night using a flash when they come up the beach in the light of the moon and stars to lay their eggs in the sand.
We also advise them that they cannot leave their hut lights on at night at this confuses the turtles who only lay 3 times per season. |
Turtle monitoring takes place from 10 to 2 or 4 each night and Sam, Samantha and myself have set up a rota with the other volunteers for this. You wait watching the stars and look along the entire beach, which is completely quiet waiting for a turtle to arrive - really magical. They spend 3 hours to walk up the beach, lay their eggs and make a dummy nest (to confuse predators) and walk back to sea. We take loads of measurements and are currently producing information to allow us to spot trends relating to why turtles arrive on some nights and not others (we think mainly to do with tides).
Well I have to go now as its dinner time (we are 7 hours ahead of Britain). I write to you from a small dive centre on the island - they only recently got internet access and so this is such a bonus. There is so much more to say but it'll have to wait. I am having an amazing time (apart from getting burnt - why does this always happen to me!) and the people are so friendly.
We all plan to go to Long Island on the Perhentian Kecil island on Friday for a night out, it'll be nice to see the other party side of the area! |
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Bye for now.
Angus
P.S Banana pancakes are brilliant as breakfast!
 Further information on the Malaysia turtle and Dive Programme
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