Deep sea hunter fishes underwater for five minutes – on one breath

by Scott Carmichael on

Deep sea hunting is something you have to see to believe – in the video above, an Indonesian hunter swims to a depth of 65 feet, and stays there for just under three minutes. Other dives can send them underwater for up to five minutes. Armed with nothing more than his trunks, a pair of goggles and a spear gun, this hunter scours the seabed for his catch – staying underwater as long as it takes to catch what he needs.

At this depth, Indonesian sea bed hunter Sulbin has an immense amount of pressure above him. Sulbin is a Bajau fisher – a member of an ever decreasing tribe of sea nomads that spend their entire life out at sea. Bajau are born at sea, will live at sea, and will die at sea.

These sea gypsies live in Malaysia and Indonesia. They live on houseboats or in stilt houses off the shores. So much of their time is spent in the water, they often feel landsick when they are on dry land.Because of the pressure from diving, these divers will intentionally rupture their eardrums at an early age – which essentially makes them partially deaf, a high price to pay for ensuring a good catch. The deep dives even change their eye muscles increasing their underwater eyesight.

The catch varies from area to area – some dive for food, others are after pearls or sea cucumbers. To make their job productive, many of these divers will have to make hundreds of dives a year.

The clip is part of the BBC/Discovery produced “Human Planet”. To learn more about the show, and the challenges involved with creating this amazing footage, check out the Human Planet blog.

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Habitat for Humanity building an eco-tourism village in Indonesia

by Annie Scott on


Habitat for Humanity has partnered with Asia Pulp & Paper, one of the world’s largest paper producers, to bring a struggling village in Indonesia out of poverty in an unusual way: by making it into an eco-tourism destination where visitors can stay with families.

This controversial conversion will take place in Soran, a village where 60 percent of the resident families live below the poverty line, despite their long traditions of creating crafts and music, and their location near to one of Indonesia’s most precious attractions, Prambanan Temple, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the Central Java region.

The Soran project will improve living quarters for most families by adding guest accommodations, expanding kitchens for the preparation of guest meals, earthquake proofing and adding laundry facilities. Furthermore, the project will train-to-employ over 250 villagers as laundry management workers (50), cooks of traditional foods (100) and performers and marketers of the village’s traditional arts (100 families). Over 100 villagers will also be trained in “disaster risk mitigation.”

You can watch Habitat for Humanity coordinator Johannes Sigit P. talk about this first-of-its-kind for HfH project in the video above. What do you think?
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Piracy reached record levels in 2010

by Sean McLachlan on


Pirate hijackings in the Red Sea and nearby waters reached their highest levels ever, the Associated Press reports.

Pirate hijackings worldwide claimed 1,181 hostages and 53 vessels, a rise of ten percent since 2009. Of these, 49 ships were taken by Somali gunmen in the Red Sea or nearby waters in the Indian Ocean. Somali piracy has been the biggest problem area despite an international fleet of warships trying to stop it. Somalis have taken four more ships so far in 2011 and currently hold 31 ships and 713 people captive.

Somali pirates generally use speedboats to come up alongside freighters, tankers, or smaller ships and then threaten to open fire if the captain doesn’t stop. The pirates then board the vessel and radio in a ransom demand that can amount to millions of dollars. Prisoners are generally not hurt, although eight were killed last year. Usually the ransom is paid.

Because naval vessels have been able to stop some attacks near the Somali coast, pirates have moved operations further into the Indian Ocean where they’re harder to catch. Other problem areas include Nigerian, Bangladeshi, and Indonesian waters.

Somali pirates claim they have been forced into piracy because their fishermen have been pushed out of work by illegal fishing by foreign vessels and illegal dumping of toxic waste by big corporations.

If you’re worried about piracy, stay away from the Red Sea area, and check out our handy tips on what to do if pirates board your ship.

[Photo courtesy Mass communication Specialist 2nd Class Jason R. Zalasky , U.S. Navy.]

Photo of the Day (01.10.11)

by Mike Barish on

Some meals are just made for the beach. When I think of sandy picnics, I imagine sandwiches, potato chips, fresh seafood (lobster rolls!) and lots of fruit. Other foods, however, just don’t seem right for the beach. I’ve never woking up from sunbathing and said, “Man, I sure could go for a shepherd’s pie right about now.” Not once have I wished that the vendors walking up and down the beach has piping hot lasagna in their carts. Beach food can be a fickle thing.

This photo by Flickr user Bernard-SD got me to thinking about what foods make the most sense on the beach. Noodles on the beach may seem odd, but after surfing in Bali recently, I slurped up a bowl of ramen just a few feet from the water and could not have enjoyed it more. This photo was taken in Lombok, not far from Bali, and I’m beginning to think Indonesian beach food might be better than the turkey sandwiches I’m used to back home. Hm, maybe a shepherd’s pie wouldn’t be so bad after all.

Taken any photos of beach food? Or maybe just some fantastic pictures of the people, places and things you’ve encountered on your travels? Why not add them to our Gadling group on Flickr? We might just pick one of yours as our Photo of the Day.

Photo of the day (1.6.2011)

by Meg Nesterov on

Part of the joy of travel is trying new foods, like wild boar spare ribs or roasted chestnuts. Or barbequed monitor lizard. Flickr user LadyExpat spotted these enterprising young men in Ubud, Bali, taking the unfortunate reptile to market where it is apparently in hot demand for its skin and meat. Perhaps Mike Barish can tell us if it tastes like chicken when he returns from Bali.

Why not add your exotic food pictures to the Gadling Flickr pool? If they look tasty, we might choose one for a future Photo of the Day.