…Smells a lot like Balinese incense these days. That’s what I’m immersed in, along with the bathyspheric strains of System 777’s Fire+Water CD, as I prepare for a November 10th departure to Indonesia and beyond. It’s the longest semi-open-ended trip I’ve taken in a while, and though it won’t compare with the 16-month odysseys that defined my younger days, it promises to be an amazing series of adventures.

The expedition will begin in Sulawesi, an Ichabod Crane-shaped island north of Bali and east of Singapore. I’ll be working with the Berkeley-based Seacology Foundation, writing about their ingenious environmental projects and sending dispatches back to Salon, Islands, and the Seacology site itself – not to mention my own party, Ethical Traveler. (Visit the Events section for web links.)

Among Seacology’s efforts in northern Sulawesi is a project to protect and rehabilitate the coral reefs around Bunaken Island, at Sulawesi’s northern tip. My story about diving that spectacular area (where Charles Wallace did his research) appears in the current issue of Outside Adventures. But words can’t do justice to the experience of diving in those warm, pristine waters, whose residents include the elusive and amazing ghost pipefish. Because the Bunaken reefs are above a sheer wall 10,00 feet deep, cool upwellings have prevented coral bleaching. In my opinion, Bunaken ties with Palau as the world’s best dive spot. (more…)