By: Beginer Subhan (IPB)

Today (2/11), we are still traveling from Maumere to the waters of Wetar Island. On the sidelines of the trip, the expedition team made preparations and maturation of expedition materials. The meeting was conducted by both teams, the Sea Team and the Land Team. The Sea Team consisted of myself, Indra (IPB), Ubun (WCS), Estra (WWF-Indonesia), and Tiela (WWF-Indonesia).

The Sea Team, coordinated by Estra, chose a gathering place on the stern of the top deck. We had a meeting with the Seven Seas Captain, Wahyu, and dive guide, Jefri. During this meeting, Estra explained the procedures and dive plan for tomorrow (3/11) when we arrived in the waters of Wetar Island.

During the meeting, I thought about taking my camera and lens that I had prepared, as there might be something interesting to document. But for some reason, I ignored my instinct. When the meeting was almost over, sure enough, something amazing happened!

After finishing the discussion with the Seven Seas Team, Captain Wahyu suddenly shouted from the wheelhouse, "Whale!!!", accompanied by a loud water spray from the starboard side of the ship. "Blue whale," continued the man from Labuan Bajo while pointing to the stern of the ship. My eyes immediately followed the direction pointed by Captain Wahyu. About 100 meters away, the whale's back was seen on the surface of the sea and then suddenly disappeared. After only a few seconds, the amazing animal was seen swimming back far enough towards the west.

My feelings were mixed, between happy and sad. I was happy because, as a marine biologist, this was my first experience seeing whales in their natural habitat. On the other hand, I was also sad and upset that I couldn't capture the rare moment. Although I didn't take my tele camera, I tried to capture a picture of the blue whale with my cell phone camera but it didn't work.

Since this incident, wherever I go - even though I'm still on the boat - I'm always on the lookout with my tele camera. I'm sure that over the next 13 days or so, I'll find other surprises from the nature of Southwest Maluku that are interesting to document.

The Blue Whale (Balaenoptera musculus) is the largest living creature that has ever lived on earth. At maturity, the Blue Whale's body size can be equivalent to a passenger jet airplane. Despite its size, the Blue Whale only eats one of the smallest animals in the sea, the krill, a type of shrimp.

In ancient times, Blue Whales were hunted for their baleen or fibers in the mouth that are useful for filtering food. Baleen is widely used by humans to be used as brushes and clothing accessories. Although currently hunting activities have been much reduced, Blue Whales are still categorized as endangered marine species because their populations are still threatened by human activities in the sea that cause noise and water pollution. In fact, many Blue Whales have been found dead due to being hit by ships or torn apart by ship propellers.