exploring the S2

It's been a long time since my last dive with Alu-alu staff exploring new dive sites around Perhentian. Last week, in some sort of inaugural opening of diving season, Anuar took us out to recce a new dive site north of the Perhentian Kechil island.

What I discovered was very interesting, I never thought that the new site is teemed with fishes and large stingrays. The reef's structure and depth makes it an interesting place even for beginners. It's divided into two sides with different maximum depths and on the shallower part (around 18m) was where we saw the most marine life. I spotted a large stingray which I think was a Bull ray (picture left), innumerable fusiliers and trevallies and a Great barracuda, morays and invertebrates that we often found populating the ocean floor hiding underneath the crevices.

Farouk and Shukri separated from the group to explore the northern side while I maintained at the area with Sabrina checking out the stingrays and admiring the visibility; it was about 18m viz because I could clearly see the surface from where I was. Later after the dive, I realised that I should have followed Farouk and Shukri. They discovered more marine life including a Guitar shark passing by in close proximity, an approachable school of Bumphead parrotfish, marbled grouper checking them out and sighting of a school of barracudas. But the highlight of that detour, was the Guitar shark.

It's definitely the place that I want to go back and explore again, hopefully in the near future... and definitely the place that I'd recommend if you plan to dive Perhentian some day. I'm not sure what the dive site name will be, depending on whether Anuar wanted to use the original name from the locals or perhaps just to leave it anonymously known as the "S2".