Seahorse Diver — Hotel in Lesser Perhentian Island

A group of 5 of us stayed for 5d4n with Seahorse Diver. Two of us decided to extend their stay for another 3d2n even. I was skeptical at first when reading the reviews before our booking but I decided to proceed with it. We were glad and happy with our stay. Absolutely loved the staff and their service. So friendly and approachable. Very accommodating to our requests too (we slightly customised our fundive 4d3n package and requested for early lunch on our arrival day). Pretty strategic location where you can spot sunrise right directly and they have beach chairs where guests can use for free while non-guests have to rent for rm20.

Room was clean and good enough. The attached bathroom has some room for improvement for sure but it was so much better than the attached bathroom I have personally experienced at some other chalets at Long Beach which I won't name here. 5 of us have tried the budget room, standard room, AC room and also the dorm. We did eventually upgrade our rooms to AC room. AC was working perfectly. Value for money 100%.

We signed the fundive package with them where the included meals were great. My foreigner friends thought the portion (the meals were local food fyi) was quite big for them but they enjoyed it. Breakfast options were great too, you can pick eggs of your style with toast + jam etc.

If i've to give one suggestion, it'd be for the dive guides to keep a close watch on beginner/less experienced divers as some dive sites can get pretty strong currents. So one of our OW diver friends did get slightly panicked during one of the 10 dives she did with Seahorse Diver but the guide wasnt aware. Nonetheless, overall they thoroughly enjoyed the dives with Seahorse's DM...

I have my open water license already & went for a fresh up course. Also I convinced my friend to do the discovery course. He had no experience diving. So we had our course together i. The shallow water. My friend struggled with the exercise where you need to blow out the water from the mask. The instructor did not bother explaining him in detail so after a few failed attempts i did the explaining on the surface. After another 2-3 minutes the instructor simply simple went on diving into deeper water with my friend trying to follow from 5 meter behind! The end of the story was that I as the open water refresher, had to take care of my friend. Also the BCDs functions were not explained. Bottle hang way to low (i readjusted it in the water). In 12m depth my friend was still basically snorkeling on the surface since he, did not know how to descend. I urged the instructor kindly to help out, which he finally did. After 5 minutes he let go of my friend, so he ended up snorkeling on the surface again. He waited patiently alone on the surface for another 10 minutes for our ascent, only then i noticed that my friend was on the surface swimming to stay on the surface since he did not know how to inflate the bcd! I inflated the BCD then for him. My friend was seriously panicking & had to swallow quite some salt water which made him vomit which was very entertaining for the instructor, since he could barely breathe from that much laughter!

Seriously my friend wont try diving again because of this experience & i do not recommend this diving center at all especially for discovery divers.

Not naming the instructor but he is from Sabah with a few tattoos...

Excellent selection.

Location: Long beach, Perhentian kecil. Situated right in front of the sea, akin front row seats to the sea.

Cleanliness: Very clean. Bed sheets, Towels, pillows have no smell at all! Freshly changed daily. Can see them sweeping sand off the floor multiple times in a day.

Facilities: All Well maintained. Everything is in good condition.

Common areas: hammocks and bean bags at 2nd floor, reception and eating deck at ground floor.

Toilet: 4 shared toilets. Own cubicle shower type. v Very clean with multiple hangers inside to hang your toileties, towels etc. Soap provided in each toilet.

Service: Commendable. Friendly, hardworking, helpful, accommodating staffs.

Price: highest range is rm200 for double bed, with balcony. Only fan, no air con. Has cheaper dorms, non balcony rooms too.

Food: Unlimited drinking water and american breakfast(multiple sets to choose from, with coffee & tea) 6.30 to 10am, included in room price. Food stalls along the entire beach, price about rm7 for pancakes, sandwiches. rm10-14 for nasi pattaya, mee hoon tom yam etc. Seafood very fresh.

Activities: diving rm85 per dive. Free fire show at night on the same beach. Deck chairs in front to lounge on to watcb sunrise.

Getting around: the whole island is connected by walking paths. No bicycles or motocycles.

Conclusion: great budget place right in front of the sea. Very clean, well maintained. Shared toilet, fan only. unlimited drinking water,...