A Whiter Shade of Pale

We’re now back on Pulau Dayan after a very special 2-month visit back to Australia in November/December to welcome our first grandchild into the family.  Millie Rose is perfect (of course!) and we were just so overjoyed to meet her and help Nick and Sally in those first few overwhelming weeks.  No one can really prepare you for having a child, but Nick and Sal are such natural, loving, parents that they didn’t need much help in that department – but the cooking, shopping, washing, and occasional Millie cuddles when she wouldn’t settle were something we were very happy to provide.  Being grandparents is a wonderful job! We’ll miss them dreadfully of course, but thank goodness Starlink will allow us have video calls and regular chats now that we’re back at Toucan’s Retreat.

We’re also very grateful to our friends Rusty and Tibby, who were caretaking in our absence and kept the place running while we were away.  Unfortunately, the king tides over Christmas caused significant erosion of the beachfront, and our lovely tree fern outside the living room is now growing horizontally on the sand. So, our next big project will be trying to protect our beachfront, otherwise our living room may be in danger of becoming an over-the-water bungalow.

The other sad news is that a mass coral bleaching event has been unfolding in Raja Ampat since we’ve been away.  By all accounts, it’s not as bad around our island as it is in other parts of the region, but seeing the once-vibrant soft and hard corals reduced to pale, white shells of their former selves is still devasting.  This is a stress response to increased water temperature and/or pollution, causing the corals to expel the algae that normally live inside them and give them their colour.  Scientists believe this current event is the result of  record-breaking marine temperatures fueled by climate change and the recent El Nino conditions. The last time Raja Ampat experienced coral bleaching was 2016, and to a lesser extent in 2021. Then, the corals were able to recover after approximately 12 months, so there’s still hope that this current event is survivable too.  But in the meantime, it’s achingly sad to see.  And a dire warning about how vulnerable our marine ecosystems are to global warming.

The reefs in the shallow, warmer, water are most affected, so we’ve still been able to enjoy diving in the deeper water, discovering some new and old friends. It’s wonderful to be back, although we’ve noticed the visibility is worse and there are fewer nudibranchs around than this time last year.  I wonder if it’s connected to the bleaching event and the stress the marine system is currently under.

Hans’s family have also put new roofs on the beach cabana and our bedroom while we’ve been away, so we’re now nice and dry at night.  And just as well too, as we seem to be having regular nighttime downpours in the last couple of weeks. We’re finding that the roofs have a life of about 3 years, so next to be replaced will be the two guest houses, but  otherwise, all the buildings are standing up well to the elements. 

In the next couple of months, we’re hoping to get a bit further afield with our diving and explore some sites that are new to us, but as always that depends on the weather and whether we can get a driver for the boat.  Now that Hans and his family are flat out with guests at their homestay it’s a bit harder to find someone, but I’m pleased for them that their business is going so well. And thankfully, on our side of the bay, our new signs on the beachfront seem to be successful in keeping those pesky tourists from wandering through our property. So, all in all, everything’s good at Toucan’s Retreat and we’re happy to be back living the simple life again.

I’ll leave you with a beautiful image that Bruce took recently of a fan coral – and no, this one isn’t a victim of bleaching, it’s naturally white. ‘Til next time…