Day 22: Finding Paradise

I woke up early once more, since I need to catch that 7:30 ferry from Kuala Besut to the Perhentians. My window overlooks the Watercolours office in Kuala Besut, and I was pleased to see that they were already open at 7 in the morning. I packed up my bags once more and headed down to the office.

As soon as I finished registering, we headed down to the jetty, along with five other travelers headed to the islands. There are several agencies around the small town that provide transport between the mainland and the two islands, and each one has their own boat. Before boarding though, you need to pay the RM5 Marine Park fee. We boarded a small speed boat, and as soon as the proper clearances were made, we puttered out of the jetty.

We were cruising lazily along, when the driver gives a burst of speed. With the sudden jolt of speed, we were flying through the water. That initial jolt was a bit scary, but after a few minutes, we got used to the rhythm of the boat and were able to loosen our grip on the seats and the sides. The ride was quite bumpy though, and it made me think that this is what Rafa must have felt when Roger was giving him pain in his famous ass. Oh wait, that’s different.

BL fangirling aside, we reached the small island (Perhentian Kecil) after thirty minutes in the water. We drop off the two passengers staying at Coral Bay, and puttered back out to sea to head to Perhentian Besar. A few meters from the shore, a smaller boat came right up to our boat. Turns out it’s my connecting ride to the Watercolours Paradise Resort.

Since I was supposed to arrive yesterday afternoon, I was taken straight to my room. I was happy to note that it had window screens, so I can open the windows at night without the threat of mosquitoes, and that the toilet uses tiles that don’t gross me out (yes, I’m rather picky about floor tiles). All seemed to be good, until I noticed with some alarm that there’s no power outlet in my room. No wonder that lady had her laptop power cord with her when she walked into the reception/restaurant area.

I take my laptop with me and settled in one of the seaside tables for internet and breakfast. I work for a while, responding to e-mails and updating blogs. I finally pry hands off the keyboard and took my laptop back to my room and headed for the beach. It was rather disappointing that Watercolours resort don’t have much shoreline to speak off. It extended its property all the way out, so there’s only enough space to walk through when there are boats docked. That’s one thing I don’t particularly like about the Perhentians: boats are docked right there on the beach, which can be quite an eyesore, and makes it hard to find a spot to swim that wouldn’t have you bumping into a boat or getting tangled up in the lines.

There was a pretty decent spot down the beach, and I settled down under the shade of a coconut tree. After several hours of semi-baking (I was under the shade after all), I walk back to the resort and this time, settled on one of the tables in the restaurant with a power outlet. I am not proud to say that I spent lunchtime and the most part of the afternoon working on my computer. But I am quite happy, because I’ve always dreamt of working while at the beach. Well, the thought of working and feeling the sea breeze on your face, the sand on your feet and hearing the waves crashing on the shore.

I forced myself to finish everything before 5pm, and headed back to the beach. It was still too hot, so I settled back in the shade and waited for the sun to set. It was a long wait, since the sun doesn’t really set until past 7:30pm. Not that I’d have a decent shot though. It’s hard to get a nice sunset shot when there’s a whole mountain blocking the sun. Dinner followed, and now I’m back online. Flashes of lightning has been showing up in the horizon, with threatening rumbles of thunder. The wind has picked up, and I think it might rain tonight. I hope it clears out by tomorrow.