23 June 2009: Winter arrives in Raja Ampat. We batten down the hatches and check our math...
By Marit Miners
Hi there folks. Greetings from a blustery Raja Ampat! Misool Eco Resort is now closed for the windy season. It's eerily quiet here without any guests or dive guides. Thorben is in Germany on holiday, Lauren is in Thailand, Sangut in Bali... and Andrew and I are here on Batbitim, holding down the fort. The winds are blowing in full force from the south, steadily at 20 knots and gusting at 25-30. The sand on the north beach has started what we've come to recognise as its seasonal migration from east to west. The north lagoon is once again absolutely teeming with tiny fish, flashing like tinsel just under the surface of the water. A bevy of seabirds have arrived. There are the long-legged grey numbers, sort of egretish. They perch themselves on the walkway or wade in the shallow water, waiting for the perfect snack to swim by. They don't wait long. These are joined by some quick little diving white birds I don't remember seeing last year. They kamikaze dive into the midst of a school of fish, emerging a few seconds later with a prize squirming in its beak.
All this fishy activity is sure to attract the attention of fisherman as well. At this time last year, and in fact for the past 3 years, the windy season has been marked by the dreaded arrival of fleets of long-liners. We've seen their marker buoys blinking on the horizon, and sent our ranger patrol out to hassle them, night after night. It's been unpleasant and, at times, dangerous work. And this year... the long-liners are noticeably absent. So far this windy season, we have yet to spot a single long-liner! It's certainly not time to rest on our laurels, and our patrol is still making its rounds. But it looks like all our hard work is starting to pay off! It's evidenced by the huge numbers of fish turning up, as well as the lack of fisherman. So thank you, again, to all of you who contributed your support and funding.
And...er...while we're on the subject, I've found a little mistake regarding our No-Take Zone. I recently read our land contract in which the perimeters of our No-Take Zone are delineated. I plotted them into Google Earth, and friends... our NTZ doesn't look like 200 sq km. Not even close. After some very sloppy geometry and more than a few nasty math class flashbacks, I consulted my dear friend and former high school classmate, Kevin. I asked him to please double check my math. Just as I expected, he outsmarted me once again, this time by enlisting the help of computer program smarter than either of us to calculate the area. Drum roll please..... our No-Take Zone is 425 sq km. That's 164 sq miles, to our American friends, or 105,019 sq acres. Woo-hoooooooo! You may be wondering where the original 200 sq km figure came from... so am I!
This year Andrew and I noticed a new behaviour here in the North Lagoon... these massive schools of wee little fish are being hunted by an inter-species team of predators! A school of rainbow runners has joined forces with a shoal of yellow snappers, to which a handful of trevally and six black tip reef sharks have added their services. Together, they force the schools of small fish into the shallows behind Water Cottage 3. As the waves surge in, the schooling hunters and trevally attack, marooning the fleeing little fish on the abutting rocks. Then the sharks move in, momentarily beaching themselves on the rocks in the process. Once they wriggle their way back into the frothing sea, the crabs swoop down to clean up. And to top it all off, a moray eel lies in wait to gorge on the scraps. Incredible. Daily performances between 15:00 and 17:00. Free admission.
It's been an intense transition back to a building site. To celebrate the end of our first season, we had a sweet little soiree a few nights back. We cleared out all the tables from the restaurant, and invited all our staff to a party fueled by copious amounts of sugar and caffeine. The speakers were blasting all manner of Indonesian pop anthems, the disks skipping more often than not. But our staff were undeterred - nothing gets in the way of their merry-making! We discovered a few unexpected soft-shoe dandies and boogie-down queens among the group, and Andrew and I tried our best to learn the raucous line-dances that everyone else seemed to know. Apparently we learned the Indonesian Cha-Cha!
	The next day, our waiters, cooks, dishwashers, housekeepers, and speedboat drivers were all given their new tasks. Lasaali, pictured above in blue and known as Superstar Waiter, has temporarily resumed his position as Superstar Carpenter. He's heading up "Tim Renovasi," and they're busy sprucing up the cottages, sanding back the varnish, adding new coats of paint to all the walls, filling in holes with plaster, and sanding down the stone floors. Pak Ai, formerly of housekeeping fame, is now busy clearing all the dead leaves and grass from the hillside, while his sidekick Ida carts wheelbarrows full of shoots and cuttings to be replanting hither and thither. Meanwhile, Tadin's wood group is extending the framework of roof line over the bathrooms, followed closely by Jarwanto. Jarwanto and his assistant (and son) Tauhid add the grass roofing sheet by handmade sheet, all tied together with strips of rattan (some of our guests were unhappy that when they went into the bathroom for a pee during stormy nights, they got a little bit wet.) Andrew and I have been on a gardening rampage. We've made several new herb gardens next to the restaurant, mulched with seaweed and discarded alang-alang roofing. Since learning that lemon grass is a natural mosquito repellant, we've been planting it by the fistfuls. So far the pudding bears no proof, but either way it's a nice plant to have around. Did you know that you just need to stick a stalk in the ground and a big tuft of lemon grass appears a few weeks later? With a more than just a tinge of eco-guilt, I planted some imported flower seeds as well. They're not invasive, and I sort of doubt they'll survive the next two months of steady bombardment with salty winds. I assuaged the lump in my throat by reasoning that the soil I was planting with was also imported, full of Sorong detritus and, as my big brother so astutely observed, Sorong earthworms. At least the seaweed was native. Oh yeah, and did I mention we've started building the first DeLuxe Villas on the South Beach? Busy days.
Aside from all the building and renovation and gardening stuff, I've been making some headway on our website. The French translation is nearly finished (thanks, Froggies!). Also, I've added a bunch of new photo albums. One is by Matthew Oldfield of ScubaZoo, with photos taken during his March 2009 visit to Misool Eco Resort. There's some stunning stuff there as well by Marcel Eckhardt. And for all us macro-nerds, I've added two glorious albums by Hugh Ross (AKA Aquaman). There's one dedicated just to nudibranchs, and another just for flatworms. Click here to go to the new and improved albums page.
In other news, our friend and Singapore-based artist Alison Wilson has created some gorgeous limited edition etchings, inspired by the rock paintings near Misool Eco Resort. She's designed them exclusively for us, and 50% of the proceeds go directly to the Misool Conservation Centre (the other half goes directly to the artist). I've seen these prints in person, and I can tell you the photos just don't do them justice. The intricacy of the design and the vibrancy of the colour is breath-taking. I suggest you snap one up before they're gone-gone-gone! You can have a look at Alison's work here. Oh, and in case you haven't heard, we've got some great news and some really bad news about our dear friend Cherry (aka Mark Pearce). First the bad... As many of you know, Cherry had an accident about this time last year in Seram, and his injuries sent him back to the UK, where he is still recovering. We were all very very saddened by his decision to leave Misool Eco Resort. His contributions to our venture have been invaluable. Aside from his charming demeanour, steadfast optimism, and incredible ability to befriend everyone he meets, Cherry orchestrated much of the salvaged wood we cut in Seram. The wood, in fact, which we are still cutting. Misool Eco Resort wouldn't be half of what it is today without Cherry's help. But knowing the Cherry like I do, I'm sure he's found something else to devote his heart to. Which brings me to the GREAT news - Cherry's getting hitched! Like the true Cornish romantic he is, Cherry proposed to Karen on a blustery cliff with pasties and pink champagne (not the kind that strippers wear, those are 'paysties.' The Cornish kind, paaaaasties, are much more delicious. And much better suited to our dear Cherry). You can send your congratulations to Karen and Cherry at mark(at)misoolecoresort(dot)com.
It's now 23:00 on a Wednesday night here in Papua, and for once I'm grateful to be tucked away in our office. The tides are exceptionally low tonight, and it's the perfect opportunity for reinforcing the concrete pilings on the pier! I can't say I envy our concrete group... It's cold, just past the winter solstice here in the southern hemisphere. The wind is howling, and the air is briny. The water is so low tonight that the heady smell of the exposed reef is wafting up into the office. This must be the smell of octopus breath and sea urchin sweat. Andrew is downstairs with the guys, overseeing the operation. I think it's long past all of our bedtimes. I'm going to pull the plug on the generator now...goodnight.