Pulau Perhentian Kecil

Green turtle
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The 3 days on this little island rate as one of the highlights of my trip so far.The fun started on the speedboat ride over. It was more like a theme park ride as those of us at the front were thrown up in the air each time we hit a wave and came crashing down after.Thankfully it's only a short trip and we were soon at our chosen resort of Mira Chalets.

I wasn't sure if I'd like it at first. It's a small beach surrounded by jungle. There really is little to do but sunbathe , eat and swim. Not bad really!It was really nice to be forced to stay away from the internet and not be able to do any sight - seeing.

Big ant!
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I joined a boat trip to do some snorkelling . That was better than I thought it would be as I got to see a black-tip shark and a couple of turtles. One of them came up from the sea-bed towards the surface so we got a really good view.A loaf of bread attractted masses of fish and I was mobbed by dozens who bit me when there was no more bread!

It was a nice atmosphere at the resort. I think it helped that a few of us had met at a guesthouse on the mainland first. I even enjoyed a few games of beach volleyball which is amazing to me knowing how I loath sport.

Baby turtle
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The highlight tho' was on the last night.I'd been badgering the staff about seeing turtles come ashore to lay eggs. (They have a few hatchlings at the resort that they're due to release soon and they're very cute.)It's the right time of year and I really wanted to see it. On the last night the owner had a phonecall to say a turtle had come ashore on the other end of the island.To avoid disturbing her we only set off once she had started laying eggs. I didn't know but they dig 'dummy' holes before settling down to business.

One of the lovely Tokay Geckoes
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The speedboat raced over in the dark and after a breifing of what we could and couldn't do we  were led to this huge animal . It was on a beach in front of a resort and we were surprised it had chosen such a busy spot. The reality is that it had probably been coming to that same beach long before the chalets were built and old habits die hard.

We stood around in the dark quietly watching as she layed the 50+ eggs.For a heavy animal that spends it's life in the water the whole process must be exhausting!Once she had laid the lot we were allowed to take photos . It was a fantastic experience and I felt very lucky indeed.