Marine conservation

20 November 2009 Second day we were asked to wake up at 5:30am! By after breakfast and 6:15am we were off. The seas were glass flat and calm as. The early morning sun made really brilliant reflections on the water but after 2 hours of searching, we still didn’t see any leatherback turtles. Yogi spotted […]

19 – 26 November 2009 After zooming around the many islands in Wakatobi, it was a relief to finally stay put in one community and concentrate in one thing and one thing only – leatherback marine turtles. Kei is the only location in Indonesia we can hope to photograph leatherbacks underwater. It is also the […]

2 – 12 November 2009 S5 19.868 E123 32.143 Wangi Wangi S5 29.700 E123 45.276 Kaledupa S5 43.145 E123 54.238 Tomia S6 00.667 E124 03.054 Binongko S6 07.930 E124 35.984 Moromaho S5 20.972 E124 21.073 Runduma S5 17.737 E124 17.605 Anano The hour we arrived in Wanci, we immediately had a meeting with WWF Indonesia […]

2 – 12 November 2009 We noticed from early on how different the sea gypsies from Wakatobi lived compared to their Bajau relatives from Sabah, Malaysia and the Philippines. The Bajo from Wakatobi reclaimed land and had sturdy houses on top of their new land. We heard from Sugi how complex the situation is because […]

2 – 12 November 2009 To many divers around the world, Wakatobi South Sulawesi is an underwater destination. Wakatobi, which is short for its many islands, stands for Wangi-Wangi, Kaledupa, Tomia & Binongko. We went to all these islands and beyond with WWF Indonesia and its partner agency TNC. We didn’t do much diving here. […]

24 October 2009 We spent a most interesting day with Simone Gerritsen and her kids from her school Kehidupan Anda or “Your Life.” The goal of Project “Kehidupan Anda” is to improve the education of the children in the village Tongkeina and the surrounding villages. We visited the school, which is a stone’s throw away […]

20 – 24 October 2009 N1 35.560 E124 46.199 – Bunaken Island N1 34.532 E124 48.592 – Thalassa Dive Center Off we went with the tireless Simone Gerritsen of Thalassa Dive Center in Manado to explore  Bunaken and the surrounding islands as well as the under-appreciated mainland Manado. We knew to expect the steep wall […]

18 October 2009 N1 27.604 E124 45.671 – Murex Dve Resort About 15 years ago, Yogi dove and dove and dove for two straight months with Murex Dive Resort and Liveaboard in North Sulawesi. During this period, he contracted dengue fever and got a special visit from Murex’s very owner, the gentle, soft-spoken Dr. Batuna. […]

If you happen to be in Singapore on October 27 with nothing to do at 7 pm, join us at the Botanical Gardens, as we shall be presenting our expedition so far through a 40-minute slideshow. Here’s WWF Singapore’s leaflet-invitation to announce the event!

10 October 2009 This is the day Yogi turns 50! Happy half-a-century, Yogibear! It is also the day we learned about the circle hook and de-hooking tuna longline vessels’ by-catch. Hafizh Adyas of WWF Indonesia oversees the By-catch Programme, and Rudy Masuswo Purwoko, a Bitung fisheries teacher and former WWF onboard observer, trains the Nutrindo […]