A tattered skull and crossbones fluttered high on the stern mast of the double-mast prahu KLM Shakti as it cut through tranquil waters off the western tip off Papua. This is the secret islands of Raja Ampat, an area steeped in a shadowy past and present. It’s a life of intrigue and adventure out here, the glorious bay we entered was framed by looming cliffs and primeval jungle.

In terms of diving and snorkeling exploration, remoteness, and biological diversity, there are few places remaining worldwide that compare to eastern Indonesia. Many scientists, photographers, and divers consider this area as the holy grail of the Indo-Pacific region, yet it’s still largely unexplored both above and below the surface. In fact, the most precise descriptions of these islands come from the writings of Alfred Russell Wallace who blundered through the region in 1860 searching for rare specimens of the bird of paradise!

The sea surrounding Raja Ampat, translated as ‘the Four Kings,’ (Waigeo, Batanta, Sulawati, and Mysool Islands) is literally the world’s epicenter of marine life. The massive species number is primarily due to the islands’ location. Marine fauna originating from Micronesia, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea and western Indonesia, have congregated over millions of years in Raja Ampat due to plate tectonics, the warm, equatorial waters, stable climate, and variety of habitats. More fish and invertebrate species are expected amongst the reefs of these four islands than anywhere else on Earth. The two highest fish counts ever recorded on single dives, 283 and 281 species, were within Raja Ampat’s waters. Simply put, the reefs are overwhelming.

Raja Ampat covers a gigantic area, nearly 10 million acres, and has an endless supply of dramatic dive sites. Undoubtedly, a good quantity of un-described species exist among these waters as well. It is literally a last frontier for those seeking the planet’s untainted marine communities, home to pygmy seahorses, tassled wobbegongs, stealthy mantas, and mellow turtles. The desire to stay one step ahead and venture even further to where few footsteps have fallen and where even fewer divers have blown bubbles is an innate yearning, and Raja Ampat had all of the means to satisfy this desire.

The sea surrounding Raja Ampat is not only amenable to high diversity but is also a healthy ecosystem. Along the larger volcanic islands, vast tracts of mangroves supporting a wide array of epiphytic, parasitic, and climbing plants. Early each morning the bird calls from the forest canopy were outrageously loud, giving a prehistoric aura to the area. The intricate mangrove root systems revealed sponges, crustaceans, molluscs, echinoderms, and fishes in a variety of life stages. The thick mangroves serve as a gigantic filter, protecting nearby reefs from runoff during the monsoon season and as a nursery for hundreds of species of small reef fish which shelter and feed there. Though I enjoyed exploring these mucky habitats at high tide, searching for weird critters, it was hard to concentrate knowing that Indo-Pacific crocodiles, the world’s largest and toothiest living reptile, also dwelled in the mangroves and adjacent sea-grass beds.

The raison d’étre in Raja Ampat, the vibrant coral reefs. It’s tricky to adequately illustrate any one dive site in such a lush and vibrant marine environment like Raja Ampat, but a few have recurred in my dreams and begged to be put down in words.

Backrolling into tropical 30 meter is always a rush, but it’s even more so to be instantly surrounded by dense schools of size-able fish. In blue water at Sardine Reef, chevron barracuda, slender unicorn fish, bigeye trevally, and longfin bannerfish formed concentrated shoals. But the substantial patch reef, with its hundreds of species of vibrant reef fishes and thousands of invertebrates, couldn’t be ignored. From a brown-spotted cat-shark, giant trevally, dogtooth tuna, Spanish mackerel, and giant bumphead parrotfish, to petite nudibranchs, spider crabs, mantis shrimp, toadfish and jawfish, it was sensory overload.

The tiny islet of Kerupiar, another spectacular spot, sat amidst the myriad of islands and swirling currents, supporting a little bit of everything imaginable. Dropping in on an incredible assortment of hard corals, the reef quickly morphed into a magnificent wall dripping with soft corals, gorgonians, and barrel sponges. Jacks, batfish, fusiliers and anthias obstructed views of not only the wall’s inhabitants but also several hawksbill turtles and blacktip sharks. Drifting with the strong current gave me little time to admire it all, but a field of colossal boulders soon appeared so I hunkered down in the lee with a large school of ribbon sweetlips. Two tawny sharks had squeezed under the rocks just underneath me but my attention was shortly called elsewhere. Upon ascending past a slope of seawhips and garden eels, an immaculate plantation of table and leather corals flourished as far as the eye could see a tiny piece of paradise. David soon pointed out a tiny manta, no more than 1.5 meters wing to wing, that swooped in out of nowhere.

Conservation International and The Nature Conservancy previously counted more coral species on the reef of Batu Born than are known from any other place of similar size on Earth. Needless to say, descending onto this gently sloping reef brought seemingly endless fauna. Hundreds of vivid reef fish zipped in and out of this three-dimensional coral city going about their daily business. Out in the blue Spanish mackerel, great barracuda, and dogtooth tuna, prowled amongst redtooth triggerfish and fusiliers.

Like large predatory carpets, funky tassled wobbegongs were found lounging on several large table corals. Yet again, towards the end of the dive, floating amongst an absurdly beautiful zone of corals and gorgonians. It mesmerized even the most seasoned `been there, done that’ diver amongst us. Beginning on a wall smothered in sponges, corals, crinoids, or tunicates, we drifted leisurely around some bends, noting a few reef sharks below and an occasional green or hawksbill turtle munching on a sponge. Approximately two-thirds of the way through the dive we ascended into one of the most intricate and aesthetic coral gardens in the Pacific Ocean. Ranging from 20 to 5 feet deep, it was difficult to believe that the beauty there wasn’t a mirage. While I meditated on the splendor of the shallows, thousands of silver sides encased me in a whirlwind of silver and blue.

The entire trip went by in a blink of the eye and it was time to head for Sorong, Papua’s main port. As we sailed out of the stunning limestone islands of Wayag, or `God’s Country’, lusting for more undiscovered paradises. The possibility of Raja Ampat becoming a World Heritage site, which has been proposed by several NGOs. As with other areas within Southeast Asia, the use of dynamite and cyanide is not unheard of, though we didn’t see any signs of their use. The lack of larger predators does indicate the shark finners long arms have reached even these remote spots. But Raja Ampat is one of the few areas on Earth that’s retained an impressive proportion of intact forests and reefs, making its overall health well worth protecting.

Then, on each descent, we were greeted by devastation. White skeletons of dead or dying corals and almost everywhere we looked, crown of thorns were eating the few surviving corals. The reefs were all but deserted; most fish had moved out of their coral homes. We thought the reefs of Pemuteran were dying right before our eyes.

Fast forward 10 years to 2007. We’re visiting Pemuteran again for a dive trip. What would we find — decimated reefs or signs of recovery? We were really surprised — the story that unfolded during our recent visit was a legacy to the human spirit, a shining example of -what can be achieved by the active participation of local community members in ecology and conservation projects. We discovered the Reef Gardeners of Pemuteran Bay.

Pemuteran is in a dry arid part of Bali in the rain shadow of the island’s central mountain chain, but due to little fresh water runoff, coral reefs thrive around the coastline. Once just a small quiet fishing village, its potential as a base for visiting divers to explore the offshore reefs was recognized and in 1992 Pemuterants first dive center opened, plus a couple of small accommodations. Since then these accommodations have expanded, plus a few more mini-resorts have opened, along with their own dive center.

In 1999 the local community recognized the importance of the area’s marine attractions and declared the inshore waters of Pemuteran Bay a Marine Protected Area (MPA); in 2005 the area was extended to cover an offshore reef known as Tukad Jarang. Brainchild of expat Australian Chris Brown, also a long­time resident of Pemuteran, the Reef Gardeners are a small group of local Balinese who were first trained as scuba divers and then introduced to the conservation methods required to help save the damaged reefs.

Funding for the Reef Gardeners has come from a combination of the AUSAID program, public donations, and from funds raised by the Reef Gardeners themselves by taking visitors out on snorkeling trips to see the coral reefs. One of the primary roles of the Reef Gardeners is to remove crown of thorns and the coral-consuming drupella snails from the reefs. Without these predators, corals often naturally recover rapidly from the effects of bleaching. To date the Reef Gardeners have removed over 5,000 crown of thorns and 53,000 drupella snails from Pemuteran Bay. They’ve also scuttled six ‘wrecks’ close to one of the offshore reefs, plus constructed and sunk a bio-wreck – a boat-shaped steel structure – at the same site. They’ve also constructed Bali’s first underwater Hindu temple, complete with stone statues 30 meters below the surface.

Our first dive back at Pemuteran was at Kuburan Kapal (Ships Graveyard), where we explored some of the Reef Gardeners sunken wrecks. These are mostly old fishing boats scuttled on a sand bottom close to the edge of Tukad Jarang reef. Among these is a Madurese fishing prahu that was enveloped in steel mesh before being submerged.

Each day the Reef Gardeners take their boat Reef Re-Gee out to the Ships Graveyard and connect an on-board low voltage generator, via buoyed cables, to the Madurese fishing prahu and the Bio­Wreck. This electrical current stimulation is known as Bits-Reef and has been used along the inshore reefs of Pemuteran for over 10 years and is recognized as one of Just after the Bin-Wreck was submerged the Reef Gardeners tied small pieces of live corals all around its structure. These were collected from patches of reef damaged by boat anchors in the area, which are now thriving with plenty of healthy new growth in vibrant colors. Now many smaller reef fish have taken up residence here after less than a year on the bottom. The Reef Gardeners’ daily patrols out to the reefs ensures that fishermen from outside Pemuteran are reminded this area is now closed to dynamite fishing and aquarium collecting, destructive practices previously carried out here.

We were invited by the Reef Gardeners to join them on a reef monitoring dive. A 15 minute boat journey had us tied to a mooring at Napoleon Reef a few kilometers offshore. We descended armed with a metal hook, collecting bag and Kadek our Reef Gardener guide. We slowly finned along the reef following Kadek as he searched the reef for crown of thorn sea stars and drupella snails. We meandered among healthy patches of elegant staghorn and large table corals; this reef had recovered well, with very few signs of damage at all. But not too far into the dive Kadek was gesturing for us to look below a small coral ledge. We could just see one spiky arm of a crown of thorns, well hidden in the dark recesses.

Kadek carefully hooked the feeding sea star from its coral breakfast and slipped it into his collecting hag, moving along the reef in search of more predators. On this dive alone, he collected eight crown of thorns and around 30 drupella snails, all of which we wouldn’t normally have seen as they are camouflaged so well among the corals.

To us the jewel in the Reef Gardeners crown of achievements has been the construction of an underwater Balinese Temple at a dive site known as Taman Pura (Temple Garden). The reef lies along the western shore of Pemuteran Bay, overlooked by three traditional Balinese hillside temples. There’s beautiful shallows close to shore that make excellent snorkeling, but just a little further out the reef drops dramatically over a sheer wall to 28 metres. It’s here that the Reef Gardeners have erected a dozen or more large Balinese stone statues on plinths, plus a Candi Bentar gateway — the traditional entrance gate to a Balinese Temple.

Our first glimpse of Bali’s underwater temple was in near-perfect calm and clear conditions. We could see the entire assemblage of statues as we descended. The entrance guardian statues sternly look out to sea over a vast sandy bottom. Inside the gateway were more statues, already encrusted with yellow, green and orange sponges. The underwater shrine has been constructed around a huge boulder overgrown with corals and surrounded by schools of fish. Swaying orange seafans, red soft corals and technicolour sponges cover the rock while shimmering schools of tiny glassfish seem to flow among the statues. This is a very impressive dive and a must-do for visitors.

With the Reef Gardeners caring for and maintaining the reefs of Pemuteran, marine life in the area is nose thriving. As the reefs rejuvenate, the reef fish are re- inhabiting the coral crevices and ledges. And all the other forms of life that make coral reefs the richest natural habitats on Earth are arriving. In this era of nothing but had news for the environment, the Reef Gardeners brought us some good news.