According to the local folks, Pulau Perhentian started to be inhabited by the late 1800. It is believe that the first person to arrive here is Batin Mina and his family.The island originally had no specific name. It was a stop for ships that sailed from China to Southeast Asia like Singapore, Java and some parts of the Malay Peninsula. This island also was a stop for ships from Singgora (Southern Thailand), to deliver salt to Kuala Terengganu
Because the island is often used as a stopover for ships in the cruise, it then was named as Perhentian which mean that it was the island where ships stop or pause before continuing the voyage. Until now the island is still used as a shelter for ships from the strong winds and big waves.
During my vacation on the island I must say that island tourism in Terengganu State is very impressive. I had just visited the Perhentian Islands and the numbers of tourists visiting these islands are quite large. Though this may not be the trend for the whole year as August is in the tourist season, it is significant enough for both the State and Federal authorities to look into the infrastructures on such islands such as water, electricity, sewerage, solid wastes disposal and drainage. The Perhentian Islands (Pulau Perhentian in Malay) lay approximately 10 nautical miles or 19 km offshore the coast of northeastern Malaysia in the state of Terengganu, approximately 40 miles or 64 km south of the Thai border.Actually Pulau Perhentian is divided inti two major islands. The two main islands are Perhentian Besar ("Big Perhentian") and Perhentian Kecil ("Small Perhentian"). The Perhentians belong to Pulau Redang National Marine Park, which means that fishing, collecting coral and littering are strictly prohibited. Like other region in Terengganu, people here generally speak Kelantanese Malay.
Usually tourist stayed at Flora Bay Resort on Perhentian Besar. Throughout the diving days at Perhentian, they would experienced magnificent experience and moment on the island. Visibiliy was quite bad at some dives as the underwater current stirred up the sand on the seabed.
