We took a fast boat from Bali to the island of Lembongan. Our first view of the island showed it to be fairly rural.
On Lembongan, seaweed farming is the main business (although tourism is growing fast). Each family manages 3-5 acres. The plots are visible because of the bamboo stakes and the seaweed is a dark color compared to the ocean and sand.
They farm several species of ocean algae here. It's grown by tying the sprouting algae shoots with rope and securing them to bamboo poles. The sea water is rich in minerals, so the seaweed is ready to harvest in 45 days.
These photos of the seaweed plots were taken at low tide. In the distance is a reef that creates a surf break called Lacerations when the tide is in – we are too inexperienced at surfing to try it here!
After harvesting, the seaweed is brought to shore and carried in baskets high up the beach. Throughout Indonesia we have seen female porters and male drivers exclusively, as shown here.
The seaweed is first wrapped in plastic for a few hours so it releases a lot of water. Then it's sun dried for about three days. The purple seaweed bleaches to white in that amount of time. An acre of seaweed can yield up to 150 lbs of dried seaweed. We heard that prices have dropped by half, to about six cents a pound. Sold for export to America, Denmark, Japan and Holland, it is used in medicines, cosmetics and food like ice cream.
The early evening light was beautiful, and the sunsets were incredible.
We came to Lembongan because we wanted to scuba dive here. We went on five dives and saw beautiful coral like this. The second photo is of wire coral that's growing in a vortex shape.
The coral in this area is very healthy because they have never used explosives to catch fish. Healthy coral like this is a cornerstone for vibrant sea life.
We used a dive boat to get to the different diving spots. We enjoyed talking with the dive guides and other divers.
On one dive we both rented underwater cameras. It was fun to take photos of fish and each other.
The blacklip butterflyfish with its yellow color is easy to photograph.
This granulated sea star is sitting on coral.
This is an orbicular batfish.
We think these are trevallys. Their neon stripes really stand out.
This is a pyramid butterflyfish.
These whitetip soldier fish had big eyes.
This school of lyretail anthias were circling around a red and white feather starfish.
This spotfin lionfish is one of the coolest fish we saw. But don't touch the dorsal spines because they have venom for self defense!
Lembongan is known for manta rays. Since our scuba dives didn't include seeing mantas, we hired a boat to take us snorkeling with them.
The mantas we saw were surface feeding on zooplankton, so snorkeling was a great way to see them. The gill slits are visible, which are used to expel CO2 and water.
Their wingspan is about 15 feet. When these two got close to each other, one gracefully swam up while the other descended. They swam quite close to us, perhaps within 15-20 feet.
We were lucky to hear a lecture on manta rays that night that was given by Aquatic Alliance, a local non profit that is studying and working to protect the mantas. We learned that they are solitary fish that live up to 60 years. The mother gives birth to a live pup after 10 month gestation period. Manta rays are endangered from over fishing, as their gill plates are sold as medicine in China. Earlier this year mantas were added to the CITES list of threatened species, which will hopefully result in countries banning manta ray fishing.
On Lembongan, seaweed farming is the main business (although tourism is growing fast). Each family manages 3-5 acres. The plots are visible because of the bamboo stakes and the seaweed is a dark color compared to the ocean and sand.
They farm several species of ocean algae here. It's grown by tying the sprouting algae shoots with rope and securing them to bamboo poles. The sea water is rich in minerals, so the seaweed is ready to harvest in 45 days.
These photos of the seaweed plots were taken at low tide. In the distance is a reef that creates a surf break called Lacerations when the tide is in – we are too inexperienced at surfing to try it here!
After harvesting, the seaweed is brought to shore and carried in baskets high up the beach. Throughout Indonesia we have seen female porters and male drivers exclusively, as shown here.
The seaweed is first wrapped in plastic for a few hours so it releases a lot of water. Then it's sun dried for about three days. The purple seaweed bleaches to white in that amount of time. An acre of seaweed can yield up to 150 lbs of dried seaweed. We heard that prices have dropped by half, to about six cents a pound. Sold for export to America, Denmark, Japan and Holland, it is used in medicines, cosmetics and food like ice cream.
The early evening light was beautiful, and the sunsets were incredible.
We came to Lembongan because we wanted to scuba dive here. We went on five dives and saw beautiful coral like this. The second photo is of wire coral that's growing in a vortex shape.
The coral in this area is very healthy because they have never used explosives to catch fish. Healthy coral like this is a cornerstone for vibrant sea life.
We used a dive boat to get to the different diving spots. We enjoyed talking with the dive guides and other divers.
On one dive we both rented underwater cameras. It was fun to take photos of fish and each other.
The blacklip butterflyfish with its yellow color is easy to photograph.
This granulated sea star is sitting on coral.
This is an orbicular batfish.
We think these are trevallys. Their neon stripes really stand out.
This is a pyramid butterflyfish.
These whitetip soldier fish had big eyes.
This school of lyretail anthias were circling around a red and white feather starfish.
This spotfin lionfish is one of the coolest fish we saw. But don't touch the dorsal spines because they have venom for self defense!
Lembongan is known for manta rays. Since our scuba dives didn't include seeing mantas, we hired a boat to take us snorkeling with them.
The mantas we saw were surface feeding on zooplankton, so snorkeling was a great way to see them. The gill slits are visible, which are used to expel CO2 and water.
Their wingspan is about 15 feet. When these two got close to each other, one gracefully swam up while the other descended. They swam quite close to us, perhaps within 15-20 feet.
We were lucky to hear a lecture on manta rays that night that was given by Aquatic Alliance, a local non profit that is studying and working to protect the mantas. We learned that they are solitary fish that live up to 60 years. The mother gives birth to a live pup after 10 month gestation period. Manta rays are endangered from over fishing, as their gill plates are sold as medicine in China. Earlier this year mantas were added to the CITES list of threatened species, which will hopefully result in countries banning manta ray fishing.
