Its been a while since I was at the lovely Perhentian Islands… and for anyone who knows Perhentian Islands… its the place to discover magnificent marine life…

The sea water around the island is just crystal clear water and perfect for a snorkelling or diving trip…. and the beaches are just powdery soft or maybe slightly coarser depending on which part of the island you are, as you feel the soft breeze of the South China Sea playing with your hair and caressing your face…

The islands situated 21 km off coast of Terangganu is one of the most visited places in Malaysia and has been rated number 13 in the list of top beaches in the world to visit… and the best thing of all there is something to suit just about every budget…

On this particular trip, I brought my daughter along with 2 of my close friends… actor /host Jaslin Puasa and Mr Global 2017 Nazirul Mubin…

We drove all the way to Kuala Besut and met up with Kak Shi of Steffan Sea Sport… we followed her on a basic budget package of RM160 and it included boat transfer and room on sharing basis at Ayumni House…

Ayumni House is located between Cocohut Chalet and Tuna Bay Resort on Perhentian Island Besar….

..and it is a cosy tiny little village kind of place with several different kinds of rooms.. all clean and cosy… since we were on a budget backpacking kind of package, our room was also pretty basic… with just a fan… admittedly it is a little warm during the afternoon but when you are sleeping at night, the place gets pretty cold…

Ayumni is unique as it is one of the places that allows you to bring your own food and use its kitchen to cook… or BBQ etc… it is perfect for a family gathering…

The place runs on generator which goes off from about 8am to 12pm and 4pm to 6pm to recharge….

The beach is just mere 10metres away or so.. and is beautifully kept since it is considered under Tuna Bay Resort..

With some add ons you can also join a fishing or squid jigging trip which we did…

It was in a wooden fishing trawler… the boat brought us to the middle of the sea about 45 mins away… once it lowered its anchor, the whole boat was illuminated and is brighter then a disco getting raided (oh my eyes!!! hahahah) to attract the delicate squid…..

A little note of warning though.. do be sure not to drink alot of water prior to getting on the boat and prepare your motion sickness medication…

We got back to our chalet at about 2am and after washing up, fell asleep…

Woke up and headed to the beach to catch the sunrise but since the sunrise was on the other side of the island, I could only watch the sky change colours…

Got back to Ayumni to disturb my friends from their sleep and my daughter.. we had our breakfast and headed to Pulau Perhentian Kecil to Sea Voice Divers, a small cosy dive shop there… where my two celebrity friends had their diving scheduled…

Diving at Sea Voice Divers is pretty affordable at just RM95 for the first dive and the next dive onwards RM85 ( I think)

So this non diver (yours truly here)… who cannot clear her face mask yet confidently just tagged along and went snorkeling all by herself while all the other divers went into the deep at Shark Bay…

…it was beautiful here with a lot of corals and beautiful fishes… though was not lucky enough to see any black tipped reef sharks or turtles…

Here are some pics my friends got from their diving trip…

…and again on the second spot at the Police Wreck though I quickly gave up snorkeling since there was nothing to see except everything blue (in the sea)… so instead.. I decided to float around the boat area… since it was also too dangerous to swim too far in open waters…

Here are some pictures they took though…

Once we got back to Pulau Perhentian Besar, we took our shower and had some dinner at CocoHut restaurant.. (price RM10 -15 for fried rice) …

…and ended our evening chilling with some snacks from the family group who traveled with us…

And that was the end of our 2nd and last night..

On the last day we woke up early to get ready, showered and got packed before the generator got turned off…

At about 10am, we headed towards Coral View Island Resort and Perhentian Island Resort to check out the beautiful place…and took some pictures there..

Hopefully will be back for more adventures here in Perhentian soon… at one of these places…

Our boat arrived at 12pm and we headed back to Kuala Besut marking the end of our little trip….

For affordable getaways to Perhentian as low as RM160 per pax onwards… check out www.instagram.com/perhentiansteffensea , www.perhentiansteffensea.com or contact shikinsteffen@gmail.com .. the service is great and the staff will try to accomodate and work out which package will suit you /and your family or friends best……