House Reef Diving in Perhentian Islands

Reef

Western Bay of Teluk Air Tawar (Fresh Water Bay).

‘House Reef’ means just that! Suit up on the beach and just wade into the warm bay water. The seabed slopes gently from the shoreline. Approximately 50m(at lowtide) from the shore the floor drops away. This sheer drop spreads across the bay and goes down to a depth of 90’ before levelling off.

As a first dive after a day’s worth of travelling, this is the place to ease you back into life in innerspace. There are innumerable opportunities for encounters with friendly denizens of the bay: loitering turtles, a herd of humphead parrotfish busy shifting dead corals, three footer Napolean Wrasses patrolling the area, juvenile fish taking shelter amongst the corals, rays gliding across the sandy bar.

A wooden sampan lies in its watery grave some 75’ - 80’ below surface, host to a variety of marine life….a moray eel, boxfishes and lionfishes are some of its tenants.

This is also a great place to sharpen your skills at underwater photography. There are lots of tiny creatures like the garden eels poking their heads out of their funnels in the sand and the brightly coloured nudibranchs found wandering about the gardens. I am told that night dives in the bay is simply awesome. The night creatures crawl out of their crevices in search of food whilst the active day creatures catch up on sleep. Don’t forget that the spiny sea urchins come out to feed at night and this little creature can cause extreme pain if their spines pierce through skin and flesh. Avoid contact with any surface area until you have scoured the place. There have been sightings of Coral Cat sharks and Pantherfish in the area at night…