Things that remind you later that conduction fieldwork at Derawan Island is not the worst job there is:
- Trying to keep the canoe straight and watch how Madelon is counting turtles while keeping her balance standing straight.
- Hearing Laura and Madelon having a serious conversation through their snorkel while working and snorkeling in the seagrass.
- Seeing the face of a turtle pausing from grazing seagrass and hearing Nemo’s ‘Hey, dude” in the back of your head
- Being introduced to the Indonesian tourists by the local police men “These people are from Holland doing research about the sea plant and turtles” while working in front of our rooms
- Cutting hundreds of feathers from badminton shuttles to mark seagrass roots.
- Waking up and having nasi goreng with your feet in the sand on the beach
- Celebrating a green and pink cake on my birthday (Laura and Madelon ☺ )
- After a long day of sorting out seagrass getting your mind clear sitting next to a turtle who is laying here eggs on the beach.
- Canoeing in “Penyu V” to our research location when you see the sun coming up.
- Finding the most weirdest creatures when you are spending most of your time with your nose in the seagrass from yellow batfish mimicking mangroves to seahorses, leaf fish, millions of sea hares heading to mate…
- Walking through the village and never stay unnoticed: Lauwwrrra, Maaayoo
- Entering your room and hearing a strange scraping sound after which you find out it is a bucket of baby turtles waiting to be released at night that Madelon saved from the burning sun.
- Performing my NH toxicity experiment in front of your house, refilling the water in the bottles with your feet in the water (and not having to make artificial seawater)
- Finding out that the “majic jar” is a better/less energy consuming solution to dry your seagrass.
- Don’t waste your time with surfing or checking their email, though I hope they have Internet connection next year…
Most irritating things:
- When you are almost pushed from the jetty when forced to go on the picture by Indonesian toerists, not being able to finish the turtle transect.
- The ever rising Bensin prices causing a big shortage in the research budget
- Trying 15 times before getting a good phone connection
- Toerists walking outside their resort in only triangle bikini’s (should I say something?)
- Toerist being angry at the Manta’s because they were absent at 17:00 (saying to the guide: you said they would be here!!)
