The Perhentian Islands

Perhentian Islands: Learning to Breathe Beneath the Sea

The Perhentian Islands rose like jewels from the South China Sea, their waters so clear, they shifted endlessly between emerald, turquoise, and sapphire. Against this backdrop of crystalline beauty, I took my first real steps into the underwater world, earning my Open Water Diving certification.

Days began unhurried, with the comforting ritual of strong coffee sweetened with condensed milk; a taste of Southeast Asia that seemed to anchor every morning. From there, time dissolved into colour: the cheerful jetty in shades of red, blue, and yellow; the vibrant reefs just below the surface; and the silent expanse of the deep, where every descent felt like entering another dimension.

Beneath the waves, life revealed itself in encounters both humbling and wondrous: turtles gliding with unhurried grace, bamboo sharks slipping quietly into shadow, schools of fish scattering like fractured sunlight. Each dive was not just adventure, but a reminder of how vast, delicate, and alive the ocean truly is.

And above the water, I discovered yet another way of seeing. With the early days of my drone flying, I watched the islands from the sky, ribbons of sand edging into green jungles, lagoons opening into endless blues, the whole seascape unfolding like a living map. From those heights, the Perhentians revealed themselves not only as a diver’s paradise, but as a photographer’s dream - raw, radiant, and unforgettable.

This photo essay gathers fragments of that experience: the thrill of discovery, the poetry of the sea, and the luminous beauty of a place where land, sky, and water meet in perfect harmony.