A silent symphony of color and movement

Mabul Island, 1 januari 2009

It is a symphony, without sound, played in movement and non-movement, in singles and doubles and millions, small notes and big ones, with waving plants and majestic turtle fins, in colors and in bubbles.

I had NO idea, could have NO idea, that diving is this magic. The world beneath the waves has an indescribable and entrancing quality. No time, no weight, absolutely free and in the moment, like the deepest state of meditation.

After three days of theory and practicing skills under water I got my Open Water certificate, so I can officially do dives till a depth of 18 meters. Today was the first day I went for ‘fun-diving’, sight seeing under water so to speak. And what a way to start the new year! If the first day of the year is any indication of how the rest of that year will be… I will be living a beautiful dream in 2009.

Sipedan is a national marine park, an atoll in the middle of the ocean. Only 120 divers per day are allowed to dive, 10 per dive outfitter. This is strictly followed; we all had to sign in with the Marine guys who are manning the island. It is a very small island, a tropical paradise, white beaches and palm trees, surrounded by azure blue seas. Just a few meters into the sea steep seawalls, covered in coral, plummet down to a depth of a staggering 600 meters. This ecosystem is an amazing home to all the sea animals you can imagine and see. But most exciting to many divers are the hundreds of giant sea turtles and white tip and reef sharks living there.

I saw them for the first time today, the sharks. How beautiful, how humbling, to see them pass by, with slow and elegant movements, cool and haughty, undisturbed by our presence. And how they sleep! Lying on the sandy sides and bottoms of the coral reef, like statues, sometimes in pairs. I could swim right next to them, hovering above them, under them. They were all around us, swimming and sleeping. It was beautiful to be with the sharks and not feel any fear or worry. These are cute sharks! Just one to two meters long and not interested in humans in neoprene suits at all….Nothing like the surreal fear of sharks I had for years, after watching Jaws by accident at the tender age of 8….. I even freaked out swimming in the North Sea or lakes, but today those fears were gone. These sharks only feed of the fish on the reef, and there are so many that they never have to go hungry. Besides, they have kind of tiny mouths!

The sea turtles are superb, they nest on Sipedan and it is an important breeding ground for them. They are swimming everywhere in all shapes and sizes, and lying and resting on the coral reef as well. Their slow swimming movements, their wise heads, black observing eyes and majestic shields never fail to raise my admiration.

What a wonderful world we live in! A feeling of grace and humility fills me. What is the name of the one who created this? Even if I had a thousand tongues I could not sing enough praise…. Ek Ong Kar.

A Malaysian Soundtrack...

Day 1 and 2 – Semporna, Sabah, Malaysia

Flying from Kuala Lumpur to Sabah (the Malaysian side of Borneo) was amazing, really like entering wilderness. Not for nothing that Borneo is sometimes called ‘The WILD West’… Jungle beneath, very dense forest, some mud-colored rivers waving and bending their way through, and then, slash and burn clearings, destroyed hills, palm plantations, little farmhouses, like a wound in the forest. Rugged little hills with jagged peaks pass by underneath, the sun is setting, spreading a warm yellow light, showing the shadow of the airplane. A sudden rainbow behind the wing... Magical.

Getting out of the plane in Tawau, around dusk, the air rich with smells and humidity. Wonderful natural smells, of trees and soil. Almost there…. After 24 hours of traveling all I need to do is take a one hour drive with a taxi to Semporna, over a dark winding road. Some dangerously big trucks carry people in the open hatch. Laborers from the Palm oil plantations, or so my taxi driver tells me. The poorest of the poor, often from the Philippines or Indonesia. They earn 1 ringit an hour, that is 20 eurocent…..

Dark road with dogs crossing, a big dead reptile (lizard?) on the tarmac, its intestines splashed out red and dark…. The view makes me nauseous. Up on the electricity cable an owl is watching down, its silhouette perfect against the dark blue sky.

Houses on poles, little wooden stands along the road were farmers sell their products during the day. I sleep a bit, wake up, sleep, chat with the driver. Semporna is a little town on the seaside, but not romantic or beautiful. It’s dirty, filled with concrete buildings, garbage everywhere, typical of many Asian towns and cities. An attack on the senses, bad smells, good smells, people, food, colors and music. It feels familiar, a bit like some parts of Jakarta. Groups of boys stare at me, not unfriendly, just staring, but the women and children stare too. Everybody is curious, asking “where you go miss? Where is your husband miss?” I have invented one by now. One who had to stay home and work hard and could not come with me. Even the Westerners here at Scubajunkie are surprised that I am travelling alone, this seems uncommon around here. I am not sure why, it feels perfectly fine to do so, and I feel perfectly safe and protected.

I sleep for a few hours that first night in the scubajunkie hostel, jetlag is still obvious and I get up at 3 for my daily meditation and yoga practice. It is nice and quiet and my room is big enough. I had a very strong meditation experience during the mantras, my body was immovable, like a rock, and it did not have to move once. My awareness was free floating above it, aware and peaceful, sensing the body but no longer contained by it. Are those hands I feel really my hands? I feel a very satisfying sense of detachment and freedom, no distracting signals from my physical body, no shifting and stretching of joints. Just being, heavy, like a log, a stone, my thoughts cascading along like water. And then this awareness separate from that, observing but still connected.

A beautiful sunset is my reward for early rising…. just before six, right when I was done the sun came up with splendor and immediately birds start singing and people start moving around. Those equatorial sunrises and sunsets are so fast, like switching the light on or off. I was planning to sleep some more but it was too beautiful outside and I walked out the door, the town bustling with life under the first sunrise, the market full of vendors and buyers, fruits and fish.

At the waterside the first impression was stench and garbage, everything drifting in the water and piled up on the shore. Environmental awareness is not very common, yet. It will be I hope… You can’t blame people, the government does not provide and garbage collection and people have bigger worries than pollution of the environment. Still, it is a painful sight. But there is a nice blue sea as well, with jagged little island peaks in the distance. Boats everywhere, rickety little boats bringing fish on shore.

Whole families on living boats, most of them so-called Sea Gypsies: stateless people, living on and off the sea. On boats and on house they have built in the middle of the sea, floating or on poles.

They sell little sharks with dead eyes and bloody fins, big beautiful fish, sadly beaten and lifeless. Beautiful amounts of little sardines, like raindrops in a bucket. Everything dead.

I am sure this fresh fish tastes amazing, but most divers (and yogis) won’t eat it. After seeing them alive around you all day in the water, eating them is like eating your own puppy. Not for the faint of heart….

In the harbor people are sitting and staring at each other and me. The share greetings and laughs, openly curious, but I am getting used to it again. Indonesia is not much different, in fact, most of my Asian experiences have been colored by the friendliness and curiosity of the locals.

Slowly, I am getting used to the stench and filth, the dead rats on the street, guts splashed out, hunted down by dogs and cars, eaten. The living rats, big as cats, eating the garbage in the back yard of the hostel. The stray dogs in the street hunt them down and living of them.

Then there is the giant lizard (2 meters? It is gigantic) slowly passing through the backyard when I am in the shower. Amazing animal, prehistoric design and still working fine!

Smells, sights, color and sound. Asia on my Mind and Soul, providing a new soundtrack to the stability I feel inside.

Besides the mosque it is not beautiful here in Semporna, but the ocean is one of the most amazing marine areas in the world. I did my open water scuba diving course theory today and so tomorrow it will be diving, first theory and practice, and then, in the afternoon, dipping under and seeing and sensing that hidden world…..