Southeast Asia has a reputation for good diving, and being that I once desired to be a marine biologist/dolphin trainer, I decided to take a lesson. This 1-day lesson became 3 days, then became changing plane tickets and, later, entire itineraries to travel to dive destinations...oh boy, another expensive hobby. It's addictive: once you know what amazing things hide below the water's surface, you thirst to see more!
I learned to dive on Gili Trawangan, where the reefs were mostly destroyed from local dynamite fishing techniques, but the turtles and nightly antics held the attention for 3 days. Plus, I saw a cuttlefish, which might be the coolest animal in the entire ocean. In amazing Pulau Weh, nightly ' family dinners' and singing with locals complimented amazing underwater fields of sea fans, octopi, barracuda, sharks, and so many schools of fish! Ah, combined with the fact the I was hot for dive master and had a sea-front bungalow, this counted as the perfect dive destination!
But in the middle of these destinations, a place that caught me by surprise: Nusa Lembongan. While not for beach lovers due to the thriving seaweed farming industry, Nusa Lembongan has a low-key vibe and the most amazing sunsets! Underwater, the main attraction is mantas, as the island has both a natural cleaning and feeding station, almost guaranteeing a manta sighting (almost=I saw one, but boy was he/she awe-inspiring).
Being enamored with the ocean's bird since childhood, I attended a manta talk given by a local nonprofit. I learned that mantas have distinguishing birth marks making them trackable via photo, and that photos of the same manta in Bali and the Kimodos were used as evidence, along with calculations valuing a living manta as worth $1 million to Indonesia's dive shops alone (excluding hotels, food, etc), to convince Indonesia to protect mantas along its coastline. Of course, enforcement is another matter, but in races for survival (in large part due to fishing for a cause too often associated with vulnerable species, Chinese medicine!), every step for protection seems a step in the right direction.
As for me, I (altruistically) do my part to support mantas by voting for them with my tourist dollars. Saving the oceans one dive at a time!
No comments:
Post a Comment