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MPOI Presses Onwards Bitung to Bali |
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Story
by Pat Seward Co-author, Co-expedition Leader
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What's Wakatobi?
One hundred and sixty nautical miles and 23 hours later we anchored
off Pulau Tolandono, one of the smaller islands in the Tukang
Besi archipelago. The park here consists of the four main islands
- Wanci Wanci, Kaledupa, Tomia and Binongko -together with a
number of smaller adjacent islands and patches of coral. The
name Wakatobi is derived from the first syllable of the name
of each of the four principal islands; it is also the name by
which the local people often refer to the archipelago as a whole.
For the duration of our stay in Wakatobi, our shore base was
at the Wakatobi Dive Resort where we enjoyed the gracious hospitality
of resort owners and developers Ren�e and Lorenz Mader. Diving
and exploration aside, we visited the Operation Wallacea marine
centre on Pulau Hoga, and Sampela, a fishing village on Kaledupa.
Operation Wallacea is a not-for-profit organisation which promotes
conservation by training volunteer naturalists and divers to
help biologists map remote areas of rainforest and coral reef
in the Wallacea region. (See Boxes 2 & 3 on Wallace and Operation
Wallacea)
In Sampela, just across the water from Pulau Hoga, the Bajau
inhabitants - once nomadic but now settled into stilt houses
built over the reef flats - eke out their existence by fishing
and trading fish with the non-Bajau islanders within the Park.
Fish is exchanged principally for rice and fresh water. Attempts
are currently being made to wean the Bajau away from their traditiona l
fishing grounds and methods, and to introduce them to different
forms of fishing in deep water away from the reefs. It is hoped
that these efforts will bring them a better financial return
and, at the same time, reduce the catch of reef fish which are
declining because of destructive methods and over fishing.
In the meantime, the diving and scientific teams were at work
checking out the underwater scene. The numerous dive sites within
Wakatobi have only recently been 'discovered' by the diving
community, and published accounts of the diving - many of them
available on the Internet - are almost all ecstatic. Our own
experiences confirmed the general good health of the reefs with
extremely good coral cover and fish life in many places, even
at 20 metres. However, some areas show signs of being damaged
by destructive fishing methods and are nothing more than coral
rubble and sand.
The arrival of the Expedition in Wakatobi caused great excitement.
Three small Singaporean boats filled with foreigners, two Navy
vessels - one a large modern ocean-going tug, the other a graceful
sailing boat - and their full complement of officers and men,
and our companion research ship, Heraclitus, a strange-looking
ferro-cement junk also with a multi-national crew - did not
go un-noticed in any corner of the Park. (See Heraclitus sidebar)
Nor did it go unmarked. In Waha village on Pulau Tomia, in front
of an audience comprising the MPOI team, Navy personnel, Park
rangers, village elders, and every villager not involved in
the ceremonies, speeches of welcome and thanks were made and
gifts were exchanged. Troupes of children danced and sang for
us, a guided walkabout took us on a tour of the village, and
the local people demonstrated what were 'handicrafts' to us
but normal day-to-day activities for them. We sailed away in
the sunset to the farewell cheers of seemingly hundreds of children,
humbled that our presence could spark such kindness and overjoyed
that our mission could rouse such enthusiasm.
Off to Taka
Taka Bone Rate, our next destination, could not have been more
different. In contrast to the unmissable tree-covered masses
of the Wakatobi Islands we now sailed into an area almost devoid
of landmarks - a seascape where a few smudges, scarcely rising
above the horizon, and isolated palm trees, were the only indications
of the presence of an island. We had arrived at Indonesia's
largest coral atoll, and the third largest atoll in the world.
Our pre-expedition research had thrown up the seemingly improbable
information that the highest point on the scattered islands
was 'only a few metres': now we were convinced. As for how many
islands there are, the answer varies, depending presumably on
how one defines an island. The sea chart shows 23 named islands,
some so minute that you almost need a magnifying glass to find
them among the massive expanses of coral.
Navigating through these scattered coral cays and reefs is a
nightmare but luckily we found a good, safe anchorage off one
of the larger islands. To our it joy boasted an excellent jetty
leading to a small Park ranger post. From here we set about
investigating the atoll which by many reports is totally bombed
out, devastated, hardly worth visiting, but was surprisingly
healthier than expected. The reef flats and crests show high
coral cover and fish life, with thousands of giant clam juveniles
scattered everywhere. If damage was evident some years ago then
the reefs are showing good signs of strong recovery now.
The sun beat down on us. With no shade to speak of it was the
hottest spot we had been to so far. When not diving we hopped
in and out of the water to keep cool, and prayed for the sun
to set. One memorable evening, on a spit of sand scarcely above
sea level, the Heraclitus crew staged a small entertainment
- an imaginative dramatisation of the ship's travels around
the globe. The Navy responded with songs and dances and MPOI
organised an impromptu singing competition. The scratch teams
comprised ourselves, the unbeatable combined voice power of
the two naval boat crews (who clearly had much experience in
this sort of game), Heraclitus, and what we dubbed 'Kampong
Taka Bone Rate', namely the various islanders who had made contact
with us, sold us fish, and even invited us to a wedding celebration.
We sat around a huge bonfire eating barbecued fish and reveling
in the brilliance of the stars undimmed by any form of light
pollution.
The immensity of the Indonesian archipelago dawned on us as
the days went by. For many weeks, on our long passages between
one park and another, we saw virtually no ships and, in the
long watches of the night, no lights on the dark masses of the
islands we passed. Whether in the Banda or the Flores Sea we
were, to all intents and purposes, out on our own. We could
raise Soputan on the radio but she could not match our slow
pace and would forge ahead or hang back, or else dash off to
perform one or other of her official duties. So we sailed from
Taka Bone Rate to Komodo - three tiny specks spread out over
a vast, empty ocean - calling to each other over the radio from
time to time. 'Lady O' (Olivia soon got abbreviated to O) 'to
Leeway: Watch out for floating logs to your starboard!' or 'Lady
O' (she was our lead boat so she tended to give all the orders!)
'to Leeway and Agape: What speed are you doing?' And inevitably,
because Lady O was much the fastest of the three: 'Increase
your speed!'
Music to our ears was the call: 'Agape to Lady O and Leeway:
Makanan siap' (Food's ready!). Then we would converge and, depending
on the weather, clamber on board Agape for one of the substantial
meals we had come to expect from her two utterly dependable
cooks. We came to rely upon them to produce food even while
Agape rolled and pitched and most of the crew was incapacitated
on their bunks. If there was no time to stop, the crew would
pass the food across in an outsize tiffin carrier - a nail-biting
manoeuvre in high seas.
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