Author: Trinity (travel blogger http://naked-traveler.com/)

Once the Menami boat arrived at Gorom Island, we quickly prepared our diving gear, ate, and unloaded the rubber boat. A speed boat named Pesut sent from WWF in Kei also supported the expedition. With two boats, we were divided into two diving expedition teams, each consisting of 6 people. I chose to join the team on the Pesut boat because I realized that with my large body, it would be very difficult to get on the rubber boat from the sea.

The first dive of the afternoon I joined Team 2 led by Mas Toto. The boat stopped at the spot according to the GPS that had been previously determined.

I was assigned to be the Roll Master's buddy. After we all descended to a depth of 10 meters, someone would mark it with a jerry can. Then the "fish boy" would come forward and record the fish data. Their job is to record up to 250 meters and then continue with a 15-minute long swim. Behind them, the Roll Master stretches the meter rope. When 250 meters have passed and marked with sausage, then the "fish boy" will long swim but only big fish are recorded. Finally, the "coral boy" records coral conditions up to 150 meters away. That's why the Roll Master after stretching the 250 meter rope, he must return to roll the meter to the 150 meter point. And it is the "coral children" who will roll back to point 0.

It was late afternoon and the weather was cloudy, so it was quite dark underwater. Worse, the current was quite strong. Because the depth is only 10 meters, the dive takes a long time because the air is so "economical". After the Roll Master's task was completed, I immediately asked to finish because I was bored and tired of swimming against the current. The Pesut boat picked us up on the surface. Then the "fish boy" went up, and finally the "coral boy" who spent 1.5 hours underwater! < br />

In the evening, there was a briefing about the day's activities. The point is that communication between "children" must be clarified. Then each participant input the data collected to Dirga as the data coordinator. We all slept early because tomorrow we will be diving 3 times.

In the morning there was an incident. I successfully threw up, spitting out the contents of my breakfast, because... the toilet smelled like Tiela's poop! If some of the participants vomited because of sea sick, I could still survive as long as it wasn't the smell! Understandably, there were only two toilets on board Menami and all the participants had their "morning rituals" at the same time. And I was the unlucky one!

On the second day, 3 dives were planned around Panjang Island. I was still with the same team and using the same boat. All three were in spots with very strong currents, with a speed of 2 meters per second calculated on the surface. My legs were extremely sore from swimming against the current. My navy buddy was swimming so fast that I had to race rather than fall behind. I could no longer see the "fish kids" and "reef kids" in front and behind me. Exhausted and with my buddy nowhere to be seen, on my last dive I stuck my pointer in the bottom, face down in the sand and rested, hoping my buddy would find me again. Fortunately, he came back for me. I immediately took to him for fear of being left behind again. Apparently diving can make people possessive!

I really didn't enjoy the two days of diving. I used to dive for fun, but now I didn't feel fun at all. Actually, the four diving spots can't be said to be bad because the coral reefs are still healthy and the fish are quite abundant. We also found turtles, sharks and barracudas. But the grueling conditions made me not remember the beauty of diving. On the other hand, I really salute the WWF-Indonesia and Terangi teams who are so passionate with their work and have no problem going through any conditions. I love diving too, but if diving becomes a job, I'm not going to do it.

I slept early that night, even the earliest among all the participants who were still inputting data. It got me thinking, how will I fare in the following days?