I have been scared of the future for as long as I can remember. I have been in school for 12 years and I have learned so much, but I still have no idea how to shape my future. I have so many interests and there are so many things I want to do, but for the longest time I’ve felt stuck, like watching my life play out before me and not having a say in how it plays out. It’s like in the last couple of years, I haven’t been able to sit down and breathe without worrying about something else I should do. Needless to say, I decided to take a gap year because I needed that time to decide and breathe.
During my gap year, I knew that I wanted to take a chance to explore my top interests, one of them being marine biology. I grew up loving the ocean and exploring it on my travels (I live in Switzerland, a landlocked country). I have been diving since I was 11 and did my junior open water certification the minute I turned 12. Since then, I take every chance I get to dive. Being underwater is where I feel most at ease, and whilst I was looking for a place where I could get a picture of how it is to work closely with the ocean, I found Gili Shark Conservation. I had been to Indonesia before and knew I wanted to come back, so that also made my search a lot easier. I was amazed by the work they do, ranging from coral conservation to engaging the locals in cleaning up the island. So without a second thought, I applied to spend four weeks here, and then teach English for another four weeks in Lombok.
Having just turned 18, this was my first time traveling completely by myself. My whole journey took 34 long and exhausting hours and I arrived at the headquarters extremely late, around midnight. It was tough to find alone with two suitcases in the complete dark, and when I finally did arrive, I was ready to drop. It was by pure luck that my roommate Emily was still awake, looking at me as if she’d seen a sweaty, tired ghost. She thought I was arriving the next day, but after a minute of processing, she showed me to our room and helped me settle in. That is the moment I knew, I was surrounded by really good people.
The first few days were hard, having arrived so late and on the weekend which are “off-days”, I was very alone and confused but Emily took the time out of her busy schedule to look after me. After a few days, I got to know the staff and other volunteers, received a brief introduction, and started working on my rescue diver certification. That meant I was separated from the group for a little while, but once I really joined the project and their dives, I felt incredibly welcomed. After a week, I felt I’d really gotten to know a great group of people. It seems really intimidating at first because everyone already knows each other and they have their friends, but all I can say is to give it a little time and eventually you will become one of them. Being part of something so warm and beautiful is an experience I am eternally grateful for.
The diving here is not only fantastic, but the work they do is admirable. During the week you usually have one specific focus, such as monitoring the turtle population, shark research or dives against debris. On Thursdays, you help clean the coral nurseries and participate in beach cleanups. I’ve learned so much from their presentations, doing the things, and from the people here themselves. They are so passionate about the cause and about their respective fields, and it is an honor to get to hear about their work firsthand. I’ve learned so much about marine conservation, corals, turtles, sharks and the field of marine conservation, from what it is like to work here and in the dive industry to what it is like to have jobs out of the western norm.
Being at Gili Shark Conservation has opened my eyes to a whole new world of possibilities, and most of all, it has let me breathe.
I can’t emphasize enough that as great as the work, the learning experiences and the diving here are, nothing compares to the people. Hanging out with them, working with them and living alongside them has finally given me a chance to live in the moment, not to worry and to appreciate my life without having to think about the mysteries of my future.
I sadly leave in a week and I’m dreading it, because I, for once in my life, feel at ease and I’m not ready to let that go. So maybe I did in fact find a lot of the answers I was looking for here.
