Bangka Island (North Sulawesi) - Trip & Photos Report

[indiedive]

Dear all,

I just write a trip report on Bangka Island (North Sulawesi, Indonesia) in my blog. I took some macro photos as well as you can view in the blog. Saw plenty of pygmy seahorses, I was so happy to take some good photo shots of them (after several dives of course! )

I am not sure how to add my blog in blog section of the scuba board, so I hope it is ok if I just give the link to my blog on this report:

Bangka Island: An Island under Threat | ~indahs on travel~

Sadly, this beautiful island will be mined soon. Please take a look at the petition link on the last paragraph. Your support to save the island will help the islanders whom majority is fishermen and mainly depending on the sea for their livelihoods.

Additional info, my photography gear during the diving in Bangka Island: Olympus epl 5 + its Oly housing, and my fave lens: Oly 60mm, and INON D2000 (single).

Thank you in advance & cheers!

- Indah-

 

[chillyinCanada]

Thank you for sharing this! It is too sad to think of what is to come.

 

[AlMitch]

Nice report.
You spotted a few really interesting critters in Bangka. The Marble (Saron) Shrimp is a beauty and the crazy looking dragon type of shrimp is also a great find.
Mimpi Indah is a great little resort.

 

[indiedive]

Thank you AlMitch. Sincerely, without the help of a good dive guide, I would not find these creatures. I was really happy with Dolfie Bawole, our guide, he has sharp eyes and knows where to find the critters.

And you have awesome photos at Flickr!

 

[indiedive]

Just an update, a news received from a friend in Bangka Island this morning that the company has started building streets in the island for the mining infrastructure. Lookslike the hills in Bangka Island will be gone soon

 

[Wingy]

just an update, a news received from a friend in bangka island this morning that the company has started building streets in the island for the mining infrastructure. Lookslike the hills in bangka island will be gone soon

dislike

 

[chillyinCanada]

Boo hiss boo. Grrrr

 

[AlMitch]

Massive massive dislike!

 

[boletus1973]

Really nice report and photos... wow.... but i've a question.... i want to go in bangka the next july... last ten days of july... do you think that in july the diving is already gone due to the mining issue? :depressed: i have fear of this :-( where they do the mining extraction? near the resort area?
thanks
fabio

 

[astralmind]

I'm in the exact same situation, looking for 2 weeks in Bangka, middle of July. I still have a schedule conflict to work out with work and need to clarify the availability of both resorts we're looking into but... if the island is getting trashed as we speak I am definitely concerned about our trip over there.

Any thoughts from the region's experts ?

A very very disturbing article about Bangka Death metal: the island that's paying the price for your tablet (Wired UK)

Is this the same Bangka we are talking about here ?! If so based on this article it feels like the mining is well underway and the destruction as begun... am I missing something ?!