Tears in my diving mask

admin — Tue, 23 Jul 2019 03:27:11 +0000

Have you ever noticed how close happiness and sadness can be together? Bangka Island is a small and remote island with beautiful coral reefs and the most amazing under water life. But sometimes you get tears in your eyes when you see patches of completely destroyed coral reefs. Unfortunately people used dynamite for fishing reef fish in the past. The dynamite fishing is a easy way to fish. Throw dynamite in the water, and when it explodes all dead fish will surface. You just have to scoop the fish out of the water. But what the fishermen don’t see, is that the dynamite also kills all the corals and without corals there won’t be fish. It takes decades for corals to regrow, and for the fish to return. It is a very destructive and unsustainable way of fishing: one catch and the rest of your life, no more fish will live in this area. The practice is not being used in this area any more, but dynamite fishing is still done in other places. Suara Pulau Foundation asked us to assist them for two months to restore the damaged part of the reef.

Completely damaged reef after dynamite fishing with a lone sepia (Photo Lanny Kho)

Here a good video about dynamite fishing from National Geographic:

Bangka island is really small and remote, there are no cars, no ATM’s and no 7-eleven’s. We are staying at Mimpi Indah Resort, build between the forest and the ocean. The place to work behind the computer is a little bit different from ours on Koh Tao. On Koh Tao there is high speed internet every where. Here is slow and depending on the weather. We will be less online for instance on social media and email.

We beautiful sea view from our desk.

The power cable of the computer is going through the wall.

Veran is trying to get an internet connection.

Is this the best position to receive an internet connection?

This is the new workspace at Bangka Island. The one we used last year is in use for the purpose it was designed for. Samati, the man with the golden hands, is rebuilding one of the Mimpi Indah boats. The first materials for the restoration of the reef are delivered. We have started to create the dugong structure.

The boat is being renovated.

Creating a spider frame to keep the rubble together.

Check if the spider frame is strong enough.

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Coral Day 2018

admin — Mon, 19 Nov 2018 14:48:00 +0000

On November 24 there is the fifth Coral Day, organized by Suara Pulau, among others. It is a big event where they celebrate the importance of coral reefs around Bangka Island. On that day a huge beautiful artificial reef is placed under water. There are presentations, musical and cultural performances and delicious local dishes. More than 200 guests from around the world are expected.

A Detail of the new artificial reef Coral Day 2018

A detail of the artificial reef. Do you want to see how the whole new reef looks like? Come and join us on Coral Day.

Look here for an impression of Coral Day 2017

Coral Day 2018 on Bangka Island Indonesia

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Tears in my diving mask

Coral Day 2018