Coral Reef Transplant at Ai Lemak Beach

Photo by Adventurous Sumbawa

One of the programs of Adventurous Sumbawa community is Coral Reef Transplantation that they decided to do that at Ai Lemak beach which is not that far from the city center. That I didn’t join the activity (sorry) cause I was busy but last weekend I finally went to see the progress of the reef growth and it was wonderful.

It took only 20 minutes driving from my house to Ai Lemak beach, Tanjung Menangis. The government is working on the road and I think soon this area will be crowded. Many investors already bought lands along the road and hopefully they would build many hotels or restaurants around there \\(^o^)//. Well at least that’s what I would do if I have lots of money for that -_-.

Btw to get to Ai Lemak beach we have to go through someone’s private land which is our friend from the community so we have no problem entering it but I think now he opens it for public too but they have to pay parking fee Rp. 5,000. The beach is right behind his land and to get to our coral reef transplant spot so we had to walk for +/- 300 meters by the shore. My friends actually still keep the spot a secret  cause they are worried if more people come then they will break the baby corals, makes sense tho.

We even had to ask some fishermen not to spread their net around that spot cause it disturbs the transplanted corals and even tho I couldn’t swim but I wanted to see it so bad. With a lil help from my friends, they took me to swim to the right spot so I could see the coral reef transplant and it started to grow. Around that spot sooo many pretty corals and fish. I hate myself that I’m not able to swim especially when I saw my other friends went diving so deep that they were so close to those fish, envy :(

Photo by Adventurous Sumbawa

Photo by Adventurous Sumbawa

Photo by Adventurous Sumbawa

It was so hot but I didn’t really care cause the underwater view amazed me so much. At 1^st it was only 5 of us but then some other friends came. I took a rest a lil bit and set up my hammock, even tho I brought some food and drinks and we picked up some coconuts, it still wasn’t enough and I was super happy to see my other friends coming to bring more food :D. One of them also brought an underwater camera so…yayyy. So most of underwater pictures are taken by Adventurous Sumbawa friends.

In the afternoon we went snorkeling again and the water went down. So It was easier to see the corals and fish. That I even spent like 20 minutes in one spot just to play with cute anemone fish. Had to be careful walking or swimming through the coral reefs cause it was so shallow since the water was down, I got some scars all over my body because of that. But I got so much closer with the fish so it was wonderful. 

I really wanted to show this place to more people but also worried that they’re gonna break it…well some people are just irresponsible, and hopefully the fishermen understand it too but so far they act positively towards this and when we told them about our project they moved their boats to stay away from the transplantation spot. If then more people come and snorkeling there i hope they can keep the place clean and help us in taking care of the coral reefs.

Btw the sunset at Ai Lemak beach is also amazing. Sometimes we just go there for the sunset since it's not too far. I saw some other people go there just to drink coffee while enjoying sunset.The place is still pretty quiet so it's a perfect place for spending the evening .