Dogs Off Chains

We returned to Pulau Dayan at the beginning of August, and apart from the usual “settling-back-in” issues like pumps and lights not working and removing mud wasp nests from everywhere, we’ve also been witnessing some significant climate changes compared to this time last year.

Although it’s traditionally the dry and windy season, this season has been much drier, and much, MUCH, windier than we’ve ever experienced in our time living here.  As the Aussie saying goes: “it’s been blowing dogs off chains”. Every day (and night) we’ve been getting an average of 20 kts, sometimes gusting to 30kts from the S/SE.  And as we face south, our place has been copping the brunt of it.  The roofs on our houses have been taking a hammering, and everything is covered in a fine layer of sand that’s been blown in from the beach.  Everything feels gritty, including us.  If it goes on much longer we’ll need a dune buggy to get around the property…

Trying to cook on our gas stove top has become quite a challenge because the wind does its best to get through every gap and crack. So Bruce rigged up a temporary stove guard, which we’ve now replaced with a shiny new one so that we’re not chewing through the gas so quickly. Hans and his family took advantage of one quiet morning to come and repair the roof to the workshop and the kitchen, which has also improved things no end. The other roofs will have to wait until the wind abates…

There also hasn’t been a drop of rain for nearly four months due to the super El Nino event currently unfolding.  Much of Indonesia is in drought with massive wildfires affecting many areas, especially Sumatra and Kalimantan. However, PNG and West Papua haven’t escaped the forest fires, and we’re now witnessing something we never thought we’d see here in the equatorial rainforests – a forest fire burning on the west end of Batanta Island just across the bay from us.   

Most days the sky is thick with smoke haze and at night we can see the flames licking at the trees.  Every so often there’s a thunderous crash as another giant tree is felled by the fire.  It’s heartbreaking to watch and we feel so helpless.  A couple of boats carrying military personnel came last week at the request of the Saleo family, but because the terrain is so mountainous there was little they could do without access to water-bombing planes or helicopters.  So, we watch and wait, and pray for rain….

Meanwhile, our rainwater tank is now empty so thank goodness we have the desalinator for our water supply.  Others locals are not so lucky, and have to cart water from the pearl farm in the next bay.  Even the waterfalls that used to be popular tourist destinations have run dry…

We’ve also noticed that much more of our house reef is being exposed at low tide.  Again, we’ve never seen the tide this low in the nearly five years we’ve been here.  

A quick search on Google confirmed that it’s not our imagination – the severe El Nino effect is also causing a significant drop in sea levels in this region due to changes in ocean currents and winds, where the whole body of pacific ocean waters move further east. Therefore, while sea levels may be rising on the west coast of the Americas, ours are falling. Sadly, the beautiful shallow coral gardens around us may not recover from this extended exposure to the heat and sun.  We can only hope the deeper corals remain unaffected.

The other thing we noticed is that there are few, if any, hermit crabs around.  When we left there were thousands of them everywhere.  Another Google search informed me that in periods of drought they tend to bury themselves underground in a semi-hibernation state to avoid dying of thirst.  Clever little crabs, but another reason to pray for rain soon.

However, there are some pluses amidst these minuses – the drought and the wind has reduced the mozzie population to zero. Not having to put on repellant or light mozzie coils is a small but welcome win.  Secondly, there’s no beach clean ups to do – the winds and currents at this time of year give us some breathing space from the plastic onslaught that usually arrives at the change of season when the winds turn to the NW. We’re certainly not sorry about that and are enjoying it while it lasts…

We weren’t sure if we’d see our Rajah shellducks again after being away for so long, but we’re pleased to report that Nigel has returned, and within a couple of days his mate Nigella appeared plus one more hanger-on.

They were very happy to have some fresh drinking water and handfuls of cooked rice.  The entourage has now grown to four – let’s hope there’s not too many more family members arriving otherwise we’ll need to start posting restaurant hours and charging for meals!

Our other current challenge is dealing with camera equipment failures. My new Olympus camera housing was faulty and leaked soon after I got it last year, so I had to wait to get it replaced when we were back in Australia recently. After so long, you can imagine how excited I was to come back and start taking photos with it. But after a couple of dives, the internal electronic board that fires the strobes gave up the ghost (probably because it had water ingress from the previous leak). Even though it’s still under warranty, the complications of sending it back for repair are enormous and lengthy because of our remote location so I decided to just order a replacement “brain”.  It’s now been 3 weeks and I’m still waiting….. it’s incredibly frustrating but at least I have my trusty compact Olympus TG6 to fall back on.  And one of Bruce’s strobes has stopped working, so no more wide-angle photography for him until we can get it replaced or repaired.  It’s definitely one of the downsides of our location – when things go wrong you can’t just pop into your local dive store or dealer to get it fixed.  Things have to be ordered or sent overseas which all takes time and sorely tests our patience…

But – we count our blessings that we’re still able to get underwater. Even though the strong winds prevent us from going too far afield, we’ve been able to dive off our house reef where we continue to find plenty of little miracles of nature. And since he’s been unable to dive with his camera, Bruce’s skills in spotting tiny macro creatures for me are becoming very impressive – how will I manage without him when he gets to take his own photos again?!

In the meantime, we’re keeping our fingers crossed for less wind, good rain, and camera equipment that works!