I haven't touched land in 7 days. I've swam with four turtles, an eagle ray, a fish as large as my body. I watched dolphins swimming at sunset and planted coral with my own hands (lots of nails were broken). I'm eating many bowls of rice per day with sambal (homemade spice sauce). I've got new records for my deepest (36 meters) and longest (90min) dives. The sun is HOT. My body is salty & sweaty. I've never seen water so blue, so turquoise, so clear in my life! All this adventure is thanks to my friend's invitation to live & work amongst The Sea People; his non-profit coral restoration project just off the coast of a remote village in Raja Ampat, a collection of 1500 islands on the Eastern side of Indonesia.
When the sun rises, so do I. I climb to the top of the boat to stretch in the morning dew. It's the only time when I have privacy and the air is cool. I drink green tea, write three pages in my journal, and five pages in my novel. The novel is coming along nicely; the mermaids have become pirates and they have fairies on the ship with them who live in little lanterns along the ship railings. In the comment below, share something you know about fairies.
It’s the sunset that has brought me here to Raja Ampat. It led me to Indonesia. I dreamed about the ocean for so many years while living in Seattle. I painted the colors of the sky in my art studio, wishing my feet were in the sand. I dreamed of having a painting studio on the beach. I followed the vision to Bali. In Bali, I saw the sunset over the ocean one magical night and wondered what the colored light must look like from below. I picked up phone and texted my friend Arno. We hadn’t spoken in twelve years. I announced my spontaneous decision to learn to dive. For artistic purposes, I needed to go underwater. “Welcome to the new world,” he said. “If you learn to dive, you can come live on my boat in Raja Ampat. I’ll show you what diving is really about." It will blow your mind.”
And here we are now. I’m watching the sunrise and the sunset on Arno’s boat. This boat is home to “The Sea People” aka Orang Laut, a crew of humans dedicating their lives to a coral restoration project. Just off the shore of a remote local village, they dive 8-12 meters underwater. One man swims around picking up pieces of coral that have broken off and are laying on the seafloor. We call these “corals of opportunity.” He carefully carries them to a big plastic laundry basket that has weights tied to it so it doesn’t float up to the surface. His job is to ensure the basket stays full of coral. The other team members, usually three or four guys, will be floating in place, hovering above the rows of freshly planted coral. Just like sowing flowers seeds in an earthy garden, you place one coral down a few feet away from the previous coral. They’re making rows along the sand. They stick each coral into the holes in the chain link fence that has been rolled along the seafloor and secured down. Stick the coral through the chain link fence, then tie it on strongly with zip ties. Most of the coral is just smaller than a square foot in size and requires two to three zip ties to hold it the chain link. In order to grow, the coral needs to be stabilized. If the coral is laying on the ocean floor, rolling around bumping into things its thin skin is damaged. So they tie the loose coral they find to the chain link fence and these broken pieces of coral can start growing again. Within minutes, little fish are swimming around the freshly planted coral, nibbling on it, hiding in it.
The team is working at this particular location because the reef, the coral garden has been destroyed by an underwater avalanche. The people in the village were drawing rocks from the ocean to use in their construction projects. The displacement of the rocks affected the stability of the land and sandy dirt slid down the steep slope, tumbling over and breaking the coral. The reef in this region is massively heavy and vibrant with life. Arno described it as having 200% coral cover, compared to the 20% coral cover that I’ve been swimming with in Bali. Coral is growing on top of coral as far as the eye can see. So it is a threat when the land above is tumbling down and crushing all this life. The loss of coral here is a tragedy, says Arno. We must replant the coral garden that has been smash and in doing so we’ll prevent losing the coral that is further down the hill by creating a barrier.
I brought three cameras (Canon 5D Mark IV, GoPro 9, Insta360 x3) and I wander the decks spying on people. I catch people while they’re drinking coffee, filling air tanks, sawing wood, scooping buckets of water out of the speedboats, pouring honey on toast, painting, answering emails, asking questions.
I hope the images and video footage I capture will be fun and useful for The Sea People website. Happy memories at the very least. So many people around the world are shy in front of the camera, especially these guys. Fashion, Instagram and all the Tiktok dance moves haven’t really touched the culture here. Everyone on this boat is very focused on their practical tasks. My years of camera play, social media marketing experiments, fashion photo shoots, and manicures doesn’t really fit in here at first glance. I feel a bit like a city girl princess walking around the deck in my flowy kimono robe with noise cancelling headphones on and a fancy camera around my neck. I feel a little out of place and yet, I know the value of the work I can offer them. I know how to spy on people. I know how to catch people in genuine moments when they don’t even realize they’re being filmed. I know how to find the beauty and meaning in everyday life. Hand me my camera, please!
It feels deeply fulfilling to use my camera skills. I love how intimately I connect with the world around me when I'm observing it through a lens. There is nothing I don't love when I see it through a camera because behind the camera I am nothing but curiosity. I'm focused on finding beauty and appreciating the layers of this story we're all a part of. The camera helps me love the world. It makes me feel more comfortable. It gives me a purpose on a boat when I might otherwise feel a bit at a loss for what my hands ought to be doing. I got to take the camera underwater today too. Photographing coral and divers underwater is SO CHALLENGING. First of all, I'm swimming. On top of that, color and light works differently underwater, the ocean is pulling me away, careful not to touch the coral or get so focused on taking pictures I lose my friends, don't scare the fish, don't drop the camera etc… Love it.
Dinner looks similar to lunch and yesterday's dinner. Rice, green beans, corn, something orange and spicy, chicken or fish. For breakfast today we enjoyed pisang gorgeng which has been named the best fried dessert in the world. It's a deep fried banana. I ate three…maybe four, or five…let's say four. I'm eating more than I need to but like I said, life on the boat is hot and kind of uncomfortable sometimes so I'm coping in little ways like saying it's fine to eat an entire hand of fried bananas. There will be no consequences apart from a very round little belly. Let's pray the deep fried banana sugar fat just goes straight to my booty so when I'm allowed to wear a bikini again we'll celebrate the joys of a curvaceous physique. haha
Thank you so much for reading my stories.
If you would like to get more involved in the creative process behind my work and participate in the livestream yoga classes and workshops I offer, consider become a Cha Wilde studio member.
If you’d like to support Arno’s team and donate to “The Sea People” you can learn more on their website.
Love & Rainbows,
Cha Wilde