Half way into the trip…

Today I’m half way into my trip. The days passes fast and they all consist of diving! Todays three dives weren’t the best, a couple of coleman shrimps, three sexy shrimps, a zebra crab, a few nudibranchs and several froggies – but instead I have an inspiring story for you…

Today I said farewell to a Dutch woman named Mariana who left Lembeh to go home to den Haag. She is indeed inspiring!!! Born in Indonesia from a french mother and a dutch father, brought into a Japanese concentration camp during WWII, then moving to the Netherlands as a teenager and with the wish to scuba dive for a very long time.

In her thirties she started, but her mother couldn’t bare the thought of her daughter diving, (especially since ta relative drowned diving in Lac Léman in Switzerland). So in respect for her mother, Mariana stopped just after a few dives.

The years passed and eventually the mother died in 2012, 99 years old. Mariana could now take up the diving – and she did!

Prior to her visit here in Lembeh she had only done twenty dives in all. For three weeks here she has done  35 more dives – three dives a day! Mariana is today 74 years of age!!! What an inspiring person – I am honored to have met you and I will miss you!

So photo of the day is to salute Mariana who really wanted to see the wonderpus (although her dive guide told her that she did – but that had slipped her mind). Here is one from today, in your honor Mariana!!!

Wonderpus Wunderpus photogenicus – Wonderpus octopus