Willem, Jane, Roger and I have been in Tioman for 20 days now. As we’ve been regularly doing since we got here, this morning we got on the bum boat and headed out for a couple of dives, which usually come with lunch and tea or coffee, and of course with a few dips in Indo-Pacific waters.  Our dive plans for today were the following: Willem, Jane and Roger would do a 20 meter population count of crown of thorns, while I would do some more fish point outs (FPO) with Katie, the boss, since it seems like I have stumbled upon the most prepared class of volunteers in Blue Ventures.

So, after a while of FPO, where I was getting them all right, by the way , the most beautiful scene occurred. A group of about 30 squid, males and females, were performing a series of unusual movements. We first saw them down at ground level where the females were hiding eggs under some hard coral, while the males were hovering right on top of them in what seemed to be a protective position. A few minutes later, they all swam up near the surface, and each and every couple engaged in the most sophisticated courtship dance. They would move back and forward, barely caressing each other, and then they would swim vertically while intertwining tentacles to share genetic information. After another few minutes they went down to the coral again and continued with the egg laying task.

Katie and I were bedazzled by El Squid Tango for a while before we realised we were running out of air.

I’ve dived before. I’ve snorkelled dozens of times in the beautiful reefs of the Caribbean, lush with corals and schools of fish.   I’m now on the fourth dive week of my expedition in Andavadoaka, Madagascar, and I’m starting to notice a delightful change in the water.  Yea, I’m becoming skilled as a diver.  Yea, I’m much more graceful than I was on the open water course.  But it’s something else.  Some sort of transformation has taken place that’s making these dives far more enjoyable than in the past.  Suddenly it hits me.  It’s obvious. For the first time ever, I know what I’m looking at! Fish, corals, sponges, molluscs, echinoderms, crustaceans.  I can put a name to almost everything.

There’s some sort of euphoria gained from knowing what’s swimming past you other than “a fish.”  As I swim through a school of Copper Sweepers, I admire the structure of a giant tabular coral formation while a monster spotted trunkfish swims out of its hole in the rock and into my peripheral, no more than a meter or two away. Bullet head and blue barred parrotfish pick at the corals around me.  A crocodile fish lays still beneath me, cryptic with the surrounding rocks.  I could not have identified those species before coming to Andavadoaka.  Surrounded by fish underwater, I point my finger and say the name in my head. Crescent wrasse, pale damsel, thread fin butterfly, peacock grouper.  It’s awesome!  Obviously the reefs of Madagascar differ substantially from the reefs in the Caribbean; however, you need nothing more than a fish book and the ability to distinguish between the families to identify a fish.  I encourage all ocean lovers to learn to identify what you see in the water.  Make an effort to learn the families. In the end you’ll thank yourself.

We are almost into the last week of our expedition and I am starting to feel sad that we have to leave this paradise. For me the trip to Andavadoaka has been the best experience I have had since having children. My husband and I decided to leave behind the spoils of Australia and head to Madagascar where we could show our children how spoilt most Australian kids really are. I am extremely proud of how they have adapted. As I write I can hear them playing soccer outside our hut with the Malagasy kids and their laughter and giggles are much greater here than at home. They have their own pirogue (thanks to Bic) so now they have the freedom to explore the Mozambique Channel.

Every night I go to sleep with the sound of waves lapping at our hut’s door and I wake with the feeling I am on a yacht as I can see the tropical blue water from my bed. The morning begins with a run out to the phone point (approx 5km) to receive news from family and friends. Breakfast is at 8am (bok bok and a cuppa). We are usually up at the Bat Cave by 8.45, kitted up and ready to hear today’s dive brief.

Today we had our first recreational dive (no slates or data recording) at a site called “Recruitment”. After the cry of Raiky, Roa, Telo (which translates to 1, 2, 3 in Malagasy) our boat captain yells “DIVE” and over we go backwards; sometimes managing a perfectly executed backward somersault! Once in the water, my cumbersome equipment is forgotten and I am surrounded by peace and tranquillity. There is no sensation of cold as the water temperature here is around 24 degrees. The visibility is approximately 10 meters and the colours of the reef are amazing. This dive had loads of Tabular coral that sheltered both big and small colourful fish. My aim was to see a Clown Trigger fish as this was the one fish that had eluded us so far and everyone was keen to spot one.

My husband and I sank to 14 meters then levelled out and finned our way to the edge of the reef. We saw lobster, most species of Butterfly fish, a magnificent Regal Angelfish and masses of Big eye snapper and sweepers. Ten minutes into the dive my husband taps me and points very calmly to my left. I look eagerly but have no idea what he is so excited about. Then I see it! The magnificent Clown Triggerfish in all its glory. I am mesmerised by its beauty and stay with it for five minutes conducting my own little conversation. I feel sad as I know my 11 year old son Vincent, would give anything to see this favourite fish of his. Should we tell him or keep it a secret? He was out there in his pirogue with his sister trying to locate his triggerfish, snorkelling on any bombie he could find.

June 21st

Tonight Maggie (a BV staff member) organised the Miss Andavadoaka pageant to hopefully spread the word about contraception and family planning. The night was a huge success and finished around 1am. The next day was our day off so we hired a pirogue and sailed over to Nosy Hao for some snorkelling and exploring. There was not that much reef to see as most of it was dead but the trip was still relaxing and I met some local children (whom I gave all our lollies, coloured pencils and peanut brittle to as they were irresistible). The other volunteers chose to stay back and relax.

As I am writing Shawn, one of the BV staff members is teaching Olivia, my Year 9 daughter how to solve linear equations. The guy is an absolute legend and has taught us all so much, not only about Malagasy history but American history and socio-economics. All the staff have been brilliant and go out of their way to make you enjoy yourself. We only have 4 more dives left before our expedition concludes so we are counting down. It is going to be sad saying goodbye to everyone!!

We will all miss Bic’s homemade yoghurt, Georgie’s cooking lessons (cake and coconut balls made with the kids), Amanda’s amazing crazy sense of humour and of course those two friendly villagers in the techno house Charlie and Thomas!! Life in Andavadoaka will soon be a memory but one that will be treasured forever. Our expedition had only the 6 of us (an Aussie family of 4 and two U.K. residents) but we still managed to have a blast. The weather has been magnificent; only one day of diving missed due to strong winds. Every day is approximately 28 degrees so I really don’t want to head back to winter in Oz.

Strange things start to happen when you eat rice, fish and beans every day. We have all had dreams about food and imagine eating roast dinners and amazing desserts like apple and ice cream. Vincent (11) and Olivia (13) have even started a list of foods they are going to eat when they get home and have prioritised each item in terms of importance. Little things will certainly be appreciated!!!! School cannot teach them what they have learned here in Madagascar and I am sure they and the rest of us will all take something of value back from this incredible experience. Veloma !!!!!

The expedition started quietly, with volunteers trying to adjust to the climate, get over jetlag and get used to diving twice a day. But they soon found their feet and once diving training was done, we launched into the science training. Volunteers learnt 20 fish families, 85 fish species, 10 groups of benthic invertebrates and 14 species of mobile invertebrates. This knowledge was then used to conduct fish belts, invertebrate belts and point intersect transects. Volunteers mapped 6 survey reefs and identified 2-3 survey sites of each reef. Reefs were chosen based on type of reef; tourist pressure and depth. At least two repetitions were done per sites, so in total 26 fish belts, 52 PITS and 48 invertebrate belts were completed. A great start to the survey program.

During the course of the first six week expedition, volunteers used underwater cameras and ID skills developed to document and identify 24 species of fish not previously recorded on Pulau Tioman. This is an 8% increase to fish species inventories on Pulau Tioman and increases the known biodiversity, and therefore ecological importance of the island.

Volunteers also had the opportunity to star on the small screen as we made a ‘Crown of Thorns Pick-up’ video demonstrating best practice when carrying out COT clean-ups. The video was shown at the opening ceremony of Tioman Reef Clean-up 2009, organised by the Marine Department of Pahang on the 16th-18th of May. Check out the video yourself on You Tube – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPboe-5D3OA

That weekend, volunteers picked up 95 Crown of Thorns and a total of 1600 Crown of Thorns were collected over the clean-up weekend by all the participants. Several more clean-up dives were conducted during the expedition and we managed to reduce the starfish-from-hell’s population by 302!

We also had two beach clean-ups, in partnership with two local schools on the island in Kampong Mukut and Tekek. School programs designed and conducted by students from the University of Kebangsaan Malaysia and aided by Blue Ventures Malaysia volunteers began with a presentation about rubbish and litter, after which we headed down to the beach for a clean-up then returned to school. The 3Rs of Reduce, Reuse and Recycle were taught and finally, bottle rockets, made from the plastic bottles collected on the clean-up, were then launched in the school yard. I’m not sure who enjoyed it more, the kids of the volunteers! The program was attended by 38 students in Tekek and 18 in Mukut and 29 sacks of rubbish were collected from the two clean-ups.

The first six weeks of Blue Ventures Malaysia, or Expedition primo as they liked to call themselves, has been one of the most challenging, entertaining, stressful, hectic and enjoyable six weeks of my life. There have been highs such as identifying many species not yet recorded on Pulau Tioman, dancing on the deck, first BVM T-shirts and learning the intricacies of the sand oven as well as lows such as boat engines breakdowns, leeches, reverse squeeze and eggs again for breakfast. But, overall, I feel we can call the beginning of BV Malaysia a success! And that’s not me blowing my own trumpet, it would not have been such a success if it wasn’t for the hard work, dedication (and often understanding!) of volunteers, students and Tioman Dive Centre staff. I’ll miss you all Thom, Jamie, Ed, Jack, Anika, Emma and Martin. Come back soon, but you can leave your sand sculptures behind…

Blue Ventures Malaysia; expedition 1 volunteers

We all wanted to come home.  Come back to our rooms, beach, studies ( they are fun, I’m not only writing this because Katie wants me to) and diving. It was not that the trip wasn’t good. We went mountain trekking for 2 days, made a couple of survey dives and stayed at a relaxed, off-season surfers resort. The mountain trekking was an adventure in itself. We calculated that we had been walking in the jungle for a total of 20 hours, 11 in one day.
Another good sign of the change the expedition has had on us could be seen in the dive shop yesterday. We were preparing a barbaque for Matt, one of our instructors, who left us and went to Kuala Lumpur today. One of the things that needed to be prepared was a fish. Normally, anyone of us would have simply gutted it and cooked it. After a couple of weeks of fish studies however, no cooking could take place before the fish spices had been identified. So the whole expedition gathered around and started arguing. It was quickly established that we were dealing with a grouper (note to any future volunteers reading this: You should know what a grouper is. Pick up your identification book after reading this post.) The species was harder though. If you had been here you would have seen one computer nerd (that’s me), one former city executive, an accountant, a number of students and some graduates along with the staff of Blueventures Malaysia standing around a dead, frozen fish with books in their hands trying to id their dinner. For the record, it was concluded that it had to be a honeycomb grouper

[Shameless advertisement]

I decided to maintain a blog of my own during this trip. As you might have guessed from my choice of words, English is not my mother tongue. The blog, in Swedish, can be viewed here http://multiventure.blogspot.com/ and even if you don’t understand swedish, you might enjoy some of the photos I have posted there.

[end of Shameless advertisement]

To end this post, I will do the same thing that I do on my own blog and that is to show a photo or two. This is a picture of a fairly normal sunset, taken during the first week of my stay here. Since then, I have taken very few pictures of the sunset. It looks like this almost every night

The reason why I don’t take so many sunset pictures nowadays is probably because I got used to the beauty of this place. The sunset is always there and so is the beach and the coral reef, staff and the other volunteers.

It feels like I am already starting to miss Tioman, and there is more the two weeks left of the expedition.

Rare is the global leader in social marketing for biodiversity conservation, training and supporting leaders from the world’s top environmental organizations in over 50 countries in social marketing, a method for changing attitudes and behaviours.

Gildas will be running Rare’s first campaign in Madagascar beginning in spring 2009, with the aim of building public support for the sustainable management of threatened coral reefs and marine resources in southwest Madagascar.

The first three-month phase of the campaign was held in Washington DC, with eight other new Pride campaign managers from Monogolia, Thailand, Laos, Fiji, Chuuck, Guam and the Bahamas. Intensive training at Georgetown University focused on developing leadership skills for communication with stakeholders about key conservation issues. Gildas received hands-on tuition in new methodologies, tools and computer software, all aimed at increasing the success of the Madagascar campaign.

During a public launch in Washington to inaugurate the start of the new campaigns, Gildas spoke about some of the issues facing marine conservation in Madagascar, introducing plans for the new campaign partnership between Rare and Blue Ventures..

Over the next two years, the Madagascar campaign will focus on working with local Vezo communities to reduce destructive and unsustainable fishing techniques. Throughout the campaign Gildas will receive ongoing training as part of masters degree at Georgetown University and his work will form a key component of Rare’s broader ongoing effort to develop strategies for reducing dependency on marine resources.

For further information on Rare please visit: www.rareconservation.org

The Rap:

Hey kids, what’s the deal?

Do you know what’s up with your favourite meal?

Do you know where it’s from; do you know what it eats?

Well then listen up to our awesome beats!

We’re gonna play some games and we’re gonna have some fun

Maybe even learn about the reefs and the sun

Together we can snorkel and swim in the sea

Check out all the fish and where they like to be

We’ll walk on your trail and take trash that we find

Use it to make something one of a kind

We’re here to learn and teach some too

Come join our club and we’ll kick it with you!

A week later we had the opportunity to go back to Moturiki and plant indigenous trees with Club Qio. We brought over three different kinds of trees donated by the Ministry of Fisheries and Forests and got to work. One of the highlights of the day had to be watching the guys gardening in skirts (okay, technically sulus, but still breezier than their average shorts). Of the three species we took, we planted the one that would end up being the smallest throughout the school yard and surrounding hill. We’re hoping to get back to the school to plant the remaining two bigger species along the students’ nature trail. Some of the volunteers experienced a bit of culture shock when the kids started hacking away at dead branches with machetes, but we all got the chance to talk some more with the students and learn about their lives. The kids who weren’t planting were in the school yard jump roping, playing volleyball and taking pictures with us. There was also a group of 7, 8 and 9 year old boys playing rugby nearby. It was especially exciting for me, as I had heard loads about rugby from all of the UK volunteers, but had yet to actually witness a real life game.  We all watched as the boys tackled each other and took each other down… they were tough! We ended the day with a trip to Eleanor’s house (she’s a staff member on Leleuvia, but lives on Moturiki during the week so her children can go to school), where she treated us to huge mugs of hot chocolate, cake, and fried Cassava sprinkled with sugar. Needless to say, we ended up having to roll ourselves back to the boat J \Katie

After much preparation and practice (ahem!) by volunteers and staff, Blue Ventures performed a play entitled ‘Mampiasa Kapoty’ to the village of Andavadoaka on Saturday 7th June. The theme of the play was to highlight the importance of wearing condoms for the prevention of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) as well as for family planning and spacing. This issue is particularly important, as the demographic structure of Andava is very typical for a developing country with 60% of the population consisting of children compared to 40% adults.

Anticipation was running high as we changed into our costumes, with the general theme being girls dressing as boys and vice versa. The cross-dressing proved very popular with the audience. The play involved a variety of characters from different walks of life deciding whether or not they would embrace the use of condoms. If they decided they would, Captain Kapoty permitted them to board the pirogue on route to Nosy Hao where they would have safe passage from the infections lurking the STI infested waters. However, if they decided that there was no need to use condoms they would be subject to the foul creatures in the sea. Hence, they would never arrive safely at the island and would not have a long and prosperous life.

The STIs were introduced at the beginning of the play, which included Chlamydia Crab, CIDA Shark, Gonorrhoea and Syphilis played by Al, Vic, Becks and Georgie respectively. Their scary costumes, make up and general terrifying demeanour certainly scared the children at the front of the audience, as well as a few old ladies at the back!

As the play developed, the doctor and nurse characters played by Mira and Emma made an entrance onto the stage. The medics delivered a strong message stating the importance of condom use and were therefore allowed to embark upon the pirogue. A range of other characters came onto the stage one by one and decided their fate. These included Dan dressed as a pregnant lady, Karim as a prostitute, Jen and Gaia as fishermen, Satu as a cool teenager and Kamila as a businessman. The pirogue then commenced its journey to the island of Nosy Hao leaving behind Kamila and Gaia to fend for themselves against the nasty STIs. On arrival at Nosy Hao, the passengers greatly thanked Captain Kapoty for protecting them and disembarked the pirogue to complete their life journey. This was followed by an overwhelming round of applause by everyone.

Following on from the play, the BV volunteers and staff provided several forms of entertainment for the audience. This included James, one of the BV Malagsy staff, performing a song he composed about using condoms. Jen then sang an Italian Opera piece which certainly astounded the village (and a lot of the BV staff too!). Finally we performed a Salsa style dance routine with a finale of several back flips by Emma, all of which was much appreciated.

We believe our message was positively received by the entire village, especially in the following days with many of the children from the village emulating our characters. The village are now preparing their own plays concerning family planning and condom use. This will hopefully culminate in a competition between several groups, and expedition 38 will keep you updated!