Dear friends,

I’ve been to the most magnificent place. I’m worried to describe it, afraid I’ll do it injustice, or entice you all to visit and transform it into Bali.

But, this place is too glorious not to write about: the Raja Ampat Regency in Southwest Papua, Indonesia, which bills itself as “The Last Paradise.”

Raja Ampat is far removed even by remote island standards. I spoke to several Indonesian friends, and it’s easier and more affordable to fly to a different continent (my friend from Java went all the way to the Balkans) than it is to reach Southwest Papua. And getting to Papua is only half the struggle. Once there, you’ll take a two-hour ferry and a series of small boats to Gam Island, the site of my homestay and dive center.

People may opt to do a liveaboard or stay in a large dive resort, but I was on a budget and wanted to stay in a locally-owned place. Over the course of my six months in Asia, the Kordiris Homestay was my favorite place I stayed. Simple, sturdy cabanas over the ocean, fish swimming beneath your feet. An invitation to slow down, write, and think.

I didn’t want to leave. I wanted to sit in my hammock overlooking the water, dive and snorkel in the mornings, lounge and laze in the long afternoons of tropical storms and wide-skied sunsets.

I did notice a disconnect between the Papuan way of doing things and Western and East Asian mindsets. Some of the guests described the island’s facilities as primitive (or less flattering terms). You brush up against this idea when you travel. We think our country has discovered the correct way of living, and everyone else just hasn’t figured it out yet.

Back home, eco-influencers and sustainability experts pay big bucks for environmentally friendly homes with outdoor showers, tiny houses, and off-grid retreats. Meanwhile, people in Papua have been living an energy-efficient lifestyle for decades. We spend a lot of effort getting back to how we used to be.

Raja Ampat has one of the most biodiverse reefs on the planet, and Papuans are making strides to preserve their waters. They have funds set up for cultural research, and Raja Ampat hosts various Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) that work to support reef health and local food security.

Diving in Raja Ampat is some of the best in the world. Seeing whales breach on the surface and cuttlefish shifting colors under the water. Massive sea turtles, baby clownfish, weird-faced sharks... The dive sites reveal the entire universes of life in our water systems. Who knows what answers or cures for diseases lie beneath their waves?

I never labeled myself as an environmentalist because I saw no need. I am part of the environment, like any other organism. It is my home. The air I breathe, the currents I swim against, the movement of light on the reef. Disrespecting it is an affront to myself, a stab wound in my survival. I cannot experience wonders like whales spouting next to the fishing boat or manta rays gliding out of the ether, and pretend that the environment does not matter, that my place does not have a rippling effect.

I can choose how I interact with my home, my body, my lungs. Or, I can wait for the day when the coral is bleached, and the clownfish hiding in the anemones have disappeared, when our children’s children will only read about the last paradise, but will never experience it for themselves.

How can we preserve paradise? Mary Oliver wrote the act of devotion begins with attention. Pay attention to all that surrounds you, and the rest will follow. We do not have the monopoly on the correct way to conserve. But, if we can focus on the light hitting the water on a long afternoon in Southwest Papua, we begin to see why it matters.

Until next week,

Ash