Derawan day 6

Last day in one heaven amongst many others to come...

This island so close to the equator is quite strange. At 6 am it feels like it is already 10 am. The sun is so out and shinning!

This morning I decided to have breakfast on the back porch. Way to hot on the front patio. So slurping my mie goreng talur (noodle and eggs) I manage to spot about 7 giant green turtles eating sea grass a fee meters away. 7 turtles in less than 10 minutes. Beautiful way to start the day. :0)

I have spent the past two weeks between Pulau Mabul and Pulau Derawan, I do miss the mountains a lot, even though life on an atoll is quite sweet and addictive,  but at the same way gives me a strong feeling of isolation from the world. I said isolation and not remoteness. Such small island is so detached that is has a uniquely slow pace. I am not sure if it is something I like on a long term basis. Yes, I am sure I could spend much much more time here, enjoy this pace of life and learn more about the actually quite modern way of life of the locals, but I am only beginning my trip and want to see so much more before slowing my place down.

Though I really wanted to go to Papua, it seems quite pricy and far and requires some more planning. I have been told lots of fantastic things about Sumatra, so i think it should make a great alternative. Papua can wait.

Tomorrow at dawn we are leaving Derawan to head to Berau to catch a bus to Balikpapan/Samarinda, the longest ride yet (about 20 hours). Fede and Julia want to then go down the river more inwards Kalimantan for a few weeks on the tracks ton the Dayak culture. I think I will split and go to Sulawesi instead. I am dying to see the Tana Toraja region. And I have to be back in Java for the lantern festival in Borobudur by May 24th at the latest. Festival is on the 25th.

OK, 10:30am...had to get active and do something.
Put swim trunk on and grabbed snorkel gear, and jumped in the water.
What I love about this place is that there is a really really really strong current in the water so you get snorkel and work out at the same time. :0)
I still need to wake up a bit so the strength of the current definitely helps if i dont want to want to end up stuck/smashed against one if the pier's pillars. I passed the pier and get to the other more open side, still with strong current. I spot the biggest turtle I have seen thus far and thread (more like actually swim) water with my arms in order to stay at the same spot, right above her, only 50 cm just on top of her. That way I can not only see her from very close, but also sort of measure her vs the measurements of my own body. Her shell's length was as long as the length from my knee to the tip of my skull, and her arms' span the same as mine. It was magical. She didn't notice me at all the whole time. It was so tempting but by respect I never touched her once. I was so closed to her though that each time she would go back to the surface to breath air in, she almost hit my head with hers, and rubbed my stomach with her shell. Magical! I spent almost an hour rubbing shoulders like this with this beautiful wonder of the sea.
We even played a little with the current, like in Finding Nemo when the giant turtles play with the current, letting themselves free flow. We did the same, flowing at same level, with no more than 20 cm between her and I.

On my swim back to the pier, I passed by the place where I spotted a whole family of gorgeous red lion fish yesterday just to observe the majestic creatures once more. The funniest thought went through my mind for a minute as I saw this baby yellow box fish gliding over a big group of giant sea urchins: if the current drags the box fish down to the spikes of the urchins, will it pop like a balloon? Lol I think i caught myself laughing with my snorkel under the water.

Well, since our departure was quite close, I figured I would take as much advantage of the island as possible, especially since I won't be able to do much snorkeling for a while, until at least i get to Danau Poso in Sulawesi. So I decided to dedicate my evening to doing the entire tour of the island snorkeling. Ufffffff! What a crazy decision. It took me much longer and much more efforts than I had expected. Oh well, once I got in the water, too late. :0P

Though I managed to see some magnificent corral formations, I was more saddened than anything at the sight of the condition of the majority of the corrals of the island. What a marine cemetery. I just couldn't believe it. For most of it it looked like a war zone right at the end of the war. Mountains of white debris of dead corrals. You can so dramatically concretely witness the outcome of dynamite and cyanide fishing, even many years after the law has finally officially banned its practice.

This snorkeling afternoon gave me some chills a couple of time though, aside from the terrible sight of the dead corrals.
Indeed, at one point, I spotted a very young leather back turtle. Very very small shell compared to the usual. So, this being so rare given that babies tend to usually hide quite well until they are big and solid enough to fend for their life, I spend a bit of time floating above her in admiration. All of a sudden I see a huge shadow to my right. I turn and see a gigantic adult turtle. It surprised, as I hadn't seen it coming. I turn to my left by reflex, and another one. I look behind me, and an even bigger me. I thought they had purposefully entrapped me. Silly thought, i know. I stay still for a bit to see what happens, but they seemed to have been there by pure coincidence, and just continue their route as if I didn't exist. Phewwww!  Unexpectedly scary, but beautiful at the same time. So I continue on...

I reach one of the biggest jetties of the island. Every diver knows that when snorkeling, if you want to see some underwater life you will food sure around jetties, both shade and wooden structure naturally attract marine life. And yes, I did see quite a lot going on over there. At some point, I see a giant school of little silver fish playing with the movements of the wave, and then with me as I approach. It was beautiful to see this fish ballet perfectly synchronized with the waves so playfully welcoming me in their game. So I play, and take a bunch of photos. It was like a mini version of then schools of barracudas I was able to see in Sipadan and at Barracuda Point. In less than a minute I realise that I am totally surrounded by these little creatures, and as I swim forward I start feeling little pinches on my toes. The fishes were going after me!!! Or so I thought, but i preferred to not wait to test this theory and just get out of there. Ufff am telling you, maybe in just got way to much sun that day and it was playing me some tricks.

I finally got back to my jetty right at the end of the sunset. What a long long long afternoon swim...