Pom Pom Island, Borneo, Malaysia – May 15th – 22nd, 2017

Thanks to the splendor of Semporna (sarcasm), we were keen to make it a memory rather than a current reality. We were also looking forward to starting a week of volunteering with the Tropical Research and Conservation Center (TRACC) on nearby Pom Pom Island. After many convoluted group text messages, the camp manager picked us and some other volunteers up in a decrepit van and transported us to the tourist jetty, where we promptly waited 4 and a half hours for him to start/pseudo finish shopping. It was like waiting outside in the tropical heat for a delayed flight, except instead of being told your flight was delayed, the employees just left, forcing you to work out on your own that you weren’t actually leaving anytime soon. Although the lack of communication was perplexing, we had plenty of time to get to know the other 5 new volunteers in our group (none of which had a clue as to what was going on).

An afternoon of waiting around.

Now nearing sundown, we loaded the boat to the gills (timely fish reference) with camp supplies and a queen mattress, only to discover that the backup to the broken primary engine was not working. So, instead of leaving, we sat by the loaded boat and watched the staff repeatedly attempt to start the engine. Eventually, it sort of started, so we set sail (actually set motor) and started putzing our way across the choppy ocean water. At first, I thought that the speed was just slow because we were leaving the jetty, but no, that was actually our traveling speed. It took 2.5 miserable hours to make it to the island. Seasick and soaked in salt water spray, we were relieved to be greeted by an enthusiastic group ready to show us our new home (in the dark, since the sun had set by this point). We were each assigned a tent in shanty town and the new queen mattress that we transported turned out to be our bed! The digs were rustic, but endearing, especially for an island paradise! After settling in, eating our fill, and getting to know the volunteers and staff, we called it a night. It’s surprising how tired you can be after sitting around all day.

TRACC camp.

Island paradise on Pom Pom.

Over the next week we did a total of 15 dives in the reef around Pom Pom (well Andy did 15, I did 13 because of ear problems). After seeing the abundance of life and coral around Sipadan it was sad to see and hear about the destruction that most of the non-protected reefs have endured due to over fishing and fish bombing. “Fish bombing, what’s that?!” Well… some a** hole realized that if you drop explosives in a fish rich area, all the innards of the sea life turn to mush and they float to the surface for easy collection. The same desperate fisherman did not have the foresight to realize that if you destroy the reef, the fish will cease to procreate, making fishing (not to mention eco-tourism) a no go - even less than a decade later. Although fish bombing has been officially outlawed, it still occurs today. In fact, it happened twice while we were diving. Although the bombs were dropped some distance away, the sound and vibration were enough to scare the sh*t out of you underwater. The steep slope around Pom Pom was completely destroyed by fish bombing and much of the restoration work that TRACC is attempting is focused on stabilizing the dead coral to regrow the reef. Although the coral reef is abysmal around most of the island, the fish and animal life was surprisingly plentiful. The waters were filled with schools of tropical fish, turtles, micro-life, and even a grouper the size of 3x me! It was also exciting to see that the efforts of the staff and volunteers were paying off - new corals were starting to grow and attract new life to the area!

"Working" at TRACC.

Although we were “working” for most of the dives, we got a lot out of our time with TRACC. We learned (or tried to learn) how to identify fish and got to repeat the advanced open water buoyancy course with a fabulous instructor. It turns out that in order to plant corals 5 meters deep, you really have to control your buoyancy under water. We also did a good number of fun dives exploring the tropical waters around Pom Pom and Timba Timba Islands. It was infectious to be surrounded by people that were so passionate about diving and conservation!

Apart from work and fun dives, we spent our on-land hours building artificial reefs to stabilize the slope and attach live coral. The artificial reefs mostly consisted of glass bottles encased in concrete (bottle reefs), PVC piping structures for biscuits (live coral planted in concrete), and netting to attach soft corals. Also, for the first time in almost a year, we put our educations to good use by helping the staff design a system to ionize the water using solar energy to promote coral growth. 

Island life wouldn’t be island life without down time though… we spend a good amount of time lounging in hammocks, eating, playing volleyball with the locals (who are ridiculously good), and hanging out with the crew. We quickly discovered that the members of TRACC like to party! On most nights, there was some reason to party – welcome party, goodbye party, tribal harvest festival party, birthday party, you name it, there was a reason to party. With such a charismatic group, the parties were always entertaining. Several lessons were learned as a result of these parties:

1.       It is possible to successfully cheat at UNO so long as you keep your cheater pride to a minimum.

2.       A round of limbo (accompanied by limbo music) and a game where you have to pick up a box with your mouth and no hands made it inescapably apparent that I have to work on my flexibility.

3.       Group streaking attracts strange clothed locals.

4.       My alcohol tolerance (especially for a combo of box wine and cheap whisky) is low.  

The TRACC dogs - Monsoon and Joey and the start of our goodbye party. 

Although our overall experience with TRACC was overwhelmingly positive, there were some frustrating aspects to the non-profit (apart from the hellish trip from Semporna). Even though several of the staff members had high level degrees in marine conservation, there was little continuity between projects thanks to mismanagement and a high turn-over rate. You can’t blame people for not sticking around long term – the pay is appallingly low and island life is not as glamorous as it sounds. The staff are there because they are truly passionate about what they do, but passion doesn’t pay off student loans. Since staff and volunteers are a constant revolving door and funding is low, it is not surprising that many projects end up half completed or abandoned. Also, without a mentor, newbies are left repeating the mistakes of previous scientists. Lastly, the grunge of island life really wears on you. Even after only a week, I had a fungal skin infection and we were more than ready for a fresh water shower. Regardless, we were thrilled to have been a part of such a sincere effort to restore our precious tropical reefs. We hope to stay in touch with the friends that we made and hopefully return for a longer stay one day (although it’d be great if we could somehow avoid Semporna completely).