Pom Pom from air 2016

Pom Pom Island, is a jewel of a white sand island in the Celebes Sea.  Nestled next to Borneo island in the NE Semporna islands.
Warm clear water, great diving and snorkelling.  a tropical paradise
Great place for marine conservation - sharks - turtles or coral
Come visit TRACC and make a difference with your next trip.

Volunteering AND Making A Difference

Counting Corals underwater

At Pom Pom island, overfishing and fish bombing activities have caused unstable slopes and damaged reefs. If you ever have the chance to snorkel around Pom Pom, you’ll realize how there are many fragments of corals on the bottom. These corals will eventually die if they can’t find a spot to hold on to and grow. Here is where TRACC makes a difference. TRACC strives to produce around 1000 -2000 coral biscuits (from scratch) every year – some of which have now grown into big corals and help fishes!

When I first heard the term “coral biscuits”, I thought it was a food? (Maybe I was hungry when I had that thought). But when I took my first dive and saw a couple of them on the sea bed, I was amazed. There were massive amounts of coral biscuits around TRACC’s nursery points. Before you go finding for them at Pom Pom, beware that they are actually very fragile. A slight impact could break them! Imagine how I felt when illegal fisherman bombed a huge site filled with coral biscuits?!

Coral biscuits are made by putting small amounts of cement in a plastic pot and adding coral fragments onto it. I’d like to imagine it being a playground for fishes (no see saws though)

I’ve been long enough at TRACC to call it my second home. It has all kinds of fishes, artificial corals, and cool people. I’m reflecting back on my experience at TRACC and it has been nothing but great! It’s one of those rare places where people truly feel welcomed even though that’s your first time stepping into TRACC. I’ve been inspired in some sense to further TRACC’s mission to preserve the ocean and coral reefs. Maybe I’ll get to have my own center one day?

If you’re interested in coral reef conservation, TRACC would be a good place to do this. Not only do you get hands on experience on it but also get to be a part of a community where you learn about conservation. I’m not just saying that I really mean it!

To volunteer and help with coral reef restoration

For more information, please check our website or e-mail info@tracc-borneo.org

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What the Turtle Volunteers have been up to

About 25% of TRACC volunteers from May-September come to monitor the turtle nesting. It isn't possible to dive all day and walk round the island all night so this program is specifically for people who want to do some conservation without the expense (in either money or energy) of diving and reef restoration. They walk quietly round our lovely little island in the silence of the night and then snorkel peacefully in the heat of the day.


The turtle volunteers are also conducting in-water turtle surveys to monitor the turtle population and activity around the island. We've found that the green turtles outnumber the hawksbills by 10:1, but that the population dynamic is different. The green turtles are transitory adults; spending their days sleeping and eating in the shallows, mating and nesting. The hawksbill turtles tend to be resident, active juveniles.

Once the female greens are ready, they haul themselves up the beach and wander round it (often for hours) trying to find the perfect place to lay their precious eggs. We don't have any photos of this because any sort of disturbance at this point will have them beating a hasty retreat. So our turtle volunteers sit in the dark waiting for the girl to be ready.

Finally, when everything is perfect she settles into a semi-trance and starts to lay her eggs. She lays anywhere from 30-150 eggs depending on her age and how long she's been holding them. Often a female will return to the beach and go through the nesting process two or three times before she's finished for the season.

At this point the volunteers get face down in the sand for the enviable privilege of catching turtle eggs straight out of the mother. The eggs are all collected carefully and transferred to the island hatchery where they are safe from human poachers. There are no natural predators of turtle eggs on the island and if it wasn't for poaching the nests could be safely left in situ to develop naturally.

Although turtles are totally protected species and there are stiff penalties for taking their eggs, the local stateless people have very few economic opportunities. The poaching of turtle eggs is a major source of revenue for them but a major threat to turtle conservation.

All credits to Wirginia Romanowicz-Basiak for the photos.

For more information, please check our website or e-mail info@tracc-borneo.org

The main website is at http://tracc-borneo.org
Check out our posts on our activities
on fb tracc.borneo
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on google + tracc

or simply #tracc or #traccblog on Google, Facebook, twitter or instagram

Whitneys project-soft coral and rubble planting

Today I went out with Tom and Helena to help out with Whitneys project.
Whitneys project is to see if soft corals can be used to stabilize a rubble reef slope and if they do, will this enable hard corals to settle, grow and create a coral reef.
I very much look forward following this particular project.

Tom's focused on attaching the cable tie

On the way to the control site we saw a octopus hiding in his hole and on the way back we saw a turtle resting.

The vizibility was, for Pom Pom, not that great, we have had a bit of rain and wind the last few days, which has been very much appreciated, we needed that.

Helena with things to plant

Octopus hiding in his hole

Green turtle resting

With his fellow sucker fish

For more information, please check our website or e-mail info@tracc-borneo.org

The main website is at http://tracc-borneo.org
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Advance Open Water course

Marius practising hovering

On todays schedule for Marius and Martinez in their Advanced Open Water course, with dive instructor Liz, was Peak Performance Bouyancy, PPB.

Water temperatur was 28-30 degrees, there were schools of fish around us and the conditions were perfect for PPB training.

The boys completed all the exercises without fault and got treated with a fun dive afterwards.

Martinez practising hovering

Swimthrough

Kissing 

For more information, please check our website or e-mail info@tracc-borneo.org

The main website is at http://tracc-borneo.org
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The luxury of just walking in

When it comes to diving, Pom Pom is pretty spectacular. Just the luxury of putting your dive gear on, take a short stroll down to the beach and just walk in. Even from the surface you get a glimpse of just how amazing your dive is going to be. And when you descend, you just look around you and every time realise how lucky you are to be diving here on this beautiful island.

Soft coral planting to stabilize the reef slope

The house reef is so full of life and amazing critters. I think there is something for everyone here, except perhaps shark lovers, so far I haven't had the privildge to see one.
But if you love corals, sponges, anemones, fish, molluscs, nudibranchs, macros and volunteering with conservation this is the place to be.

For more information, about learning to dive or volunteering to help save the ocean with TRACC in Malaysia - Turtle Snorkellers - Divers 
 
please check our website or e-mail info@tracc-borneo.org

The main website is at http://tracc-borneo.org
Check out our posts on our activities
on fb tracc.borneo
on twitter tracc_borneo
on google + tracc

or simply #tracc or #traccblog on Google, Facebook, twitter or instagram

Invaders must die, the anemone fish doesn't seem too happy
about about the angel fish in their home

More info about learning to dive or volunteering to help save the ocean with TRACC in Malaysia - Turtle Snorkellers - Divers 

A net is put over the reef slope and
soft corals planted to stabilize the rubble substrate

Mapping the house reef

Last week a team went out to map the house reef, I the self proclaimed photographer in training went with them.

Don't mind me, I'm just scratching myself

I did get some photos of our great team working with the mapping but was also distracted from that by the natural beauty of marine life, what can I say.. diving at Pom Pom is so amazing that you just want to take photos of it all.
I mean who can resist a turtle scratching himself....it is no wonder that the structures that TRACC creates dont always grow in the way we expect.  The turtles rearrange things to suit their itches.




More info about learning to dive or volunteering to help save the ocean with TRACC in Malaysia - Turtle Snorkellers - Divers 

Jo carrying the heavy crate with sand filled bottles to be used for the mapping

Placing the survey line markers gently on the seabed.

The 3rd auditorium, our newest addition

Jo chilling out after work well done

Tom preparing one of the mapping bottles

For more information, about learning to dive or volunteering to help save the ocean with TRACC in Malaysia - Turtle Snorkellers - Divers 
 
please check our website or e-mail info@tracc-borneo.org

The main website is at http://tracc-borneo.org
Check out our posts on our activities
on fb tracc.borneo
on twitter tracc_borneo
on google + tracc

or simply #tracc or #traccblog on Google, Facebook, twitter or instagram

butterfly fish survey

To survey the biodiversity of fish around Pom Pom we have started doing surveys by family since we have such an abundant of fish species.

First one to go was Butterfly fish, the survey was done at the Northern Tip divesite.

We not only saw a good diversity of Butterfly fish, species to be published later, we also saw a big school of about 20 bumphead parrotfish with a clown trigger fish in the middle of the school, and so many other beautiful ocean creatures.
Maria

More info about learning to dive or volunteering to help save the ocean with TRACC in Malaysia - Turtle Snorkellers - Divers 

Fun diving

TRACC is not just conservation dives and diving courses, we also go fun diving. Myself, I love conservation dives, but sometimes it's nice to go out and just dive and appreciate all beauty around me.
Today was such a day, we got the privilage to see the beautiful ocean life and just enjoy.

The dive took place at a site called magic rocks which is in the south of Pom Pom island. Best time to dive here, in my opinion, is when the tides settled to avoid to strong currents. I like to do my dives slow.

Water temperature was 30 degrees, visibility about 17 metres and the sea was calm. Pretty perfect day here, nice to cool down in the water.

More info about learning to dive or volunteering to help save the ocean with TRACC in Malaysia - Turtle Snorkellers - Divers 

Razor fish

Rescue-unconsious, panicked and tired diver

Not bad for doing exercises

After yesterdays practice on land, today our Rescue students got to get into the water for their exercises.
So this morning they entered a perfectly calm ocean with a blue sunny sky above them.
They started in the shallows with a bit of practise, and then went out deeper for the different scenarios.

More info about learning to dive or volunteering to help save the ocean with TRACC in Malaysia - Turtle Snorkellers - Divers 

Unconscious diver

Our dive instructor Gon showing how to retrieve our unconsious diver

and then our students go to work

Notice the hand on the unconsious divers reg and inflation of her BCD

Rescue diver, search pattern exercise

Today we had the search pattern exercise on land for our three rescue diver students.

Tomorrow we will have a rescue scenario underwater, photos of that to follow, so stay tuned...

More info about learning to dive or volunteering to help save the ocean with TRACC in Malaysia - Turtle Snorkellers - Divers 

Underwater art - The shark - 1

Dino and the shark, soon to be seen in the ocean (the shark that is, not Dino)

Imagine how this structure will look in a while with an abundant life of corals on it. It'll be the coral shark.

Ahhh Pom Pom Diving

Today we went diving at the wall at North Tip of Pom Pom Island, Borneo.

It was amazing, saw a rare orange tube anemone, pipefish, lion fish, big schools of fish in so many different colors, a turtle and so much beauty.
Water temperature was 30 degrees, visibility in the shallows endless and in the deep it must have been over 20 metres.
First time to try out my new camera, great pictures which I am sure willl get better as i learn what all the buttons are for.
Maria

moorish idol

Tube anemone

Grouper

tube anenome

Pipefish

More info about learning to dive or volunteering to help save the ocean with TRACC in Malaysia - Turtle Snorkellers - Divers