End of an Intern experience

Cliché as it is, they are right about how time flies. 
In a blink of an eye, I am at the end of my Intern experience.  Four months have passed. My time in TRACC has finally come to an end. 
Over the past four months, I have gone through the ups and the downs but I have learnt so much at the same time by taking up some leadership roles in TRACC. Leading dives, fish surveys, turtle walks, organizing fun day trips, turtle surveys and so much more. Although I will not miss the centipedes crawling around outside my tent or mosquitoes and sweaty humid weather, I will miss everything else. 

Intern Experience - too many. 

 Alone time on the jetty-the cool breeze from the jetty-the sunset that hits Bohey Dulang-turtles that popped up once in a while to breathe-dolphins that past by house reef-girls night with my favourite girls-naked dive-horror movie nights-Rasma’s and Neng’s cooking-Gon’s late night cooking snacks-the tiki bar-hammock talks with Christine-bottle scraping deep talks-creative bottle reef making with Sophia-crashing CBR’s place during the Olympics-peanut butter and kaya crackers-Community Coral day at Kalapuan-saving CBR’s big boat from sinking during a late night storm-errands in Semporna-juggling session with Chris-badminton session-the fireflies-the moon that shines over TRACC-the games of werewolf-the glitter-the 80s theme party-the tribal theme party-cooking sessions with party music with the girls-late night grilled cheese sandwich making with Alana-uno games-Joey’s constant whining-Monsoon’s weird sleeping patterns and howling-Black Jack’s overall craziness-coming up from every dive to discover new species of nudibranch-seeing an eagle ray breaching from underwater-discovering a translucent nudibranch that curls up into a ball when it got swept away by the current or even the late night heart-to-heart talk at the jetty. 

Ultimately, what I will miss the most is the friendship that was formed. 
The people that I met, that come and go and the company of them. Cheesy as it sounds, I will miss all the TRACC staff members, the volunteers and our dear friend Erik Hagestad. Now, I close this chapter in my life and look back with no regrets, knowing that I will one day return to this beautiful island call Pom Pom. 

(This blog is written by Natalie Chai)

If you want to help with any marine conservation activity, please check our website http://tracc.org or email info@tracc-borneo.org

For more updates on TRACC check out our Facebook, Twitter or Google+

If visits to Tracc are not possible then please help with financial support and follow our projects on facebook

Funday at Matabuan

A healthy coral reef at Matabuan.

On Sundays, we normally take a day off from conservation work and go FUNdiving :-) I remember when we went to Matabuan as our fun day trip. The ride to Matabuan was rather rough as a storm has just hit. Thus, when we went down for a dive, the visibility was not as great. However, undeniably, the coral reef is so much more diverse and healthier compared to Pom Pom Island. Good job done by Sabah Parks (Mantabuan is in Tun Sakaran Park, and has a marine police presence.)

A green turtle swimming into the blue.

Divers showing off their flying kicks and back flips.

Other than admiring the beauty of the coral reef, one of the most memorial part of the dive in Matabuan was 

when we found a patch of sand at depth about 8 meters. What is more fun than to take off our fins and do flips and flying kicks? We spent a good time defying gravity and although we consumed a lot of our air, it was still unforgettable.

Lunch at Matabuan Island.

Hunger took over after that dive and so we had lunch on the island. We found a good spot with lots of shade, placed a tarp on the sand and settled down. We had some good discussion about what we saw during the dive and played a game of charades. After much laughter, it was time to head back to Pom Pom. Fun day to Matabuan was definitely a day we would never trade for any other days. The dive site, the company of these volunteers, the food, the view and everything else on top of that.

If you want to help with any marine conservation activity, please check our website http://tracc.org or email info@tracc-borneo.org

For more updates on TRACC check out our Facebook, Twitter or Google+

More Marine conservation projects

Reef conservation would not be possible without generous financial support from

GEF /SGP for Malaysia who are helping our community activities and coralreefcare.com who generously provided materials to build the new reefs.

If visits to Tracc are not possible then please help with financial support and follow their projects on Facebook.