Derawan day 3

I woke up totally better. What a relief. (Oh, by the way, I am using this blog more like a journal, so yes, there are some parts that are not that interesting, but they are my thoughts and reflexions, so to me, they do matter!)

The three of us are still looking for at least two other people so that we can split the cost of the boat rental for the day to go snorkel in Sangalaki (regional capital for giant manta rays) and Kakaban (one of the rare places in the world that is actually an island mostly made of a lake inhabited by sting less jelly fish - they apparently lost their stings because during millenniums they haven't had any predators in this lake, the beauty of evolution at its best) islands. Look them up.
So we are so hoping to at least see one giant manta. (Pretty much the only reason I came to Derawan to begin with).

As I am having breakfast, I see this local guy, a boatman and also diving instructor in the water, he went and grabbed this giant green turtle to drag it over a good 50 meters on the water, between the bungalows, totally freaking out the poor turtle, almost (I think) hitting her head against one of the wooden pillars of the bungalows, to show her off to some local tourists. I got so freaked out and upset. As I saw him starting to do this, I was actually chatting with one of the local WWF turtle rangers who happens to be from the same family as this "son of a b#$%&" in the water. So I yell at him, whistle, scream and tell him he cannot do that and has to stop right away. I also expect the ranger to do something about it. But nothing. The ranger just smiles like a retarded idiot, the boatman keeps at it, and the tourist jumps of joy and take photos. I felt so useless and didn't know what to do. I yell and curse at the ranger and also at the boat man when he comes out of the water. But I think both idiots pretended not to understand me. That totally made me realize the absolute hypocrisy of the pretending environmental sustainability efforts the locals pretend to have in place and implement. Definitely only promoting the efforts from PR purpose. I was so damn pissed the whole morning and only wish I could express myself better so I could make them and the local tourists feel ashamed of themselves. Then I wish I had taken a photo of the guy dragging the turtle to send it to the right authorities to get him convicted to some degree. Wow! I was really pissed. I didn't know I cared so much for the environment. I think my few days on Mabul hanging out with their staff had something to do with it.

Anyway, a few hours after breakfast, i bump into this Swedish guy, John, (Silvette, a thought for you loca, I told him about your love story at diner). While I spoke with him about his itinerary and his trip (amazing trip by the way, and totally made me want to add Pakistan to my trip), Fede actually manages to negotiate with one of the boat men (the idiot who mal treated the turtle earlier, I am so pissed at him I don't want to talk to him again) who is setting up for an day trip to do some snorkeling around the island. So off we go, totally last minute, with this group of 12 local tourists.

The snorkeling was so so...I guess my dives in Sipadan and Mabul/Kapalai ruined me for the rest of my life in terms of snorkeling and div in. :0(

When the boat stops during lunch time, I see that the way we are anchored and the boat is drifting with the strong current, if we keep that way, the boat will very seriously scrape and possibly break a very large coral formation. So I point at it ton the boat man and his second guy. They look at it and kind of ignore my remark. I wait a bit and as we get closer and closer, I point at it a second time, louder so that every one can hear me. Same reaction. Seconds a later, we hear a loud scrrrrrrrratch, and crrrrrrracks....yup, totally scraped of and broke the formation with the boat. The tourists freak out (too late, idiots!) and thus the boatmen, to calm the tourists, move the boat further away from the coral.
Gosh! It pissed me off even more. It is unbelievable shown stupid the locals can be, and how careless they are about the golden marine life they are surrounded with. They totally take it for granted and it is not in their culture to care about and for it. But the worst part is that this island sees a huge flown of foreign tourists throughout the year, and that if the locals and local boat men and dive instructors still behave like this it means that the foreign tourists let them.

I think that this planet needs some serious environmental education.
The coast of Kalimantan, and the ones of Derawan archipelago used to be the ground for dynamite and cyanide fishing (how can human being be so criminal!?)
On top of the tragic pollution and carelessness of its marine life, Borneo is also now dramatically deforested due to massive  and unofficially authorized (yet probably corrupted) logging, which is then taken over by palm plantations for the exploitation of palm oil. I mean, you drive through the jungles, whether in Sarawak, Sabbah, Kalimantan, and all you see in the mountains that used to be virgin and majestic rainforests, is acres and acres of palm trees and timber/iron tree stumps. Dramatically sad and frustrating. When I think that Borneo used to be and is wrongly still being promoted as the most luxuriant  jungle and rainforest of Asia, I think that both Indonesian and Malaysian ministries of tourism and environment should be ashamed of themselves, and that to give them a lesson and wake them up, foreign tourism should also wake up and just stop going there at all. Such inflow of money would, one would hope, suffice to make them think for a minute. Though I am not so sure, as Kalimantan is actually extremely rich in natural oil and thus the local tourism would sustain. Hmmm...!

Perhaps, the smartest in the story is Brunei, as they have actually closed access to most of their rainforest to visitors in order to preserve it as much as possible. But I haven't actually seen it with my own eyes, as the small part that is actually open for visitors was to pricy for me to go there.

Anyhow, we get back to shore after a whole day of snorkeling, seeing a few sting rays, box fishes, leopard fishes, trigger fishes, clown fishes, and more...

One heavenly cold shower after so much sun.

Then we are told there is a beach volleyball game on the other side of the island, near the turtle beach, so Fede and I go without hesitation.
(We had been invited by a local waiter to play the day before, but in felt to sick) once there we each join a team and play for some time.
The level was so so, but tons of fun as it was all local tourists playing to have a blast and chill.

Once the game is over, the waiter from the day before (i decided to call him the queen of the island, i think you get the idea), tells me he want to play a 2x2, real beach volley ball. I had never done so before, but what the hell. Well, it so happens that the rules are totally different from regular volley ball. So we lose. Lol should have seen his face...upset queen. Lol

Anyhow, yet another shower. Then off we go to eat.
While we eat, we are told by the queen who happens to be walking down the only street of the island (and where our "cafeteria" April Resto is located) that the ranger is about to release some baby turtles to the sea. We tell him to call the ranger to ask him for another 45 minutes till we are done eating. He does so. Thank god!

When we get there, oh my god...what a splendid and moving spectacle. Leatitia, if you had been there you would have cried because of how cute it was to see these little creatures get out of the bucket, totally clueless of their environment, and just heading by instinct towards the water, only getting distracted and derouted by the headlights and flashlights or the different people there watching with excitement t and emotion. Wow...we walked back home in silent, thinking about how many of them will actually make it to adulthood and not be eaten by bigger predators during the same night or the days to come...