There is a moment I return to whenever I close my eyes. I am floating at the edge of a channel called The Rip, off Direction Island in the Cocos Keeling Islands, holding gently onto a submerged rock, placing my hands with care so the current cannot carry me off. Below me is the most pristine piece of reef I have ever seen, and the fish are dancing. I hung on so I could simply sit there and watch. When I think of that moment now it is so clear that I wish I could transport myself back to it.
I was there as a volunteer with Tangaroa Blue, an Australian organisation with a very clear mission: track marine debris to its source, and stop it there. First stop, the Cocos Keeling Islands, and we went straight to work. In one week our team collected two and a half tonnes of marine debris across West Island, Home Island, Horsburgh Island and Direction Island. The days were hot and long, perfect for a summer water baby, and the beaches are so beautiful that every cleared stretch of sand felt like handing a home back to the wildlife that owns it.
We did more than lift and carry. Every piece was counted and categorised, and monitoring sites were logged for government agencies, in the very real hope that governments across the globe take notice. In between, I snorkelled with my trusty little camera and added observations to the ever growing database on iNaturalist, because every fish you record helps science see the reef a little more clearly.
What stays with me most is the people. A group of dedicated strangers who became a team, sweating and lifting together in all their own capacities, striving for the good of the planet. Places like this are part of our lives to enjoy and to preserve, and the two belong together. The holiday and the care of the place that holds it are the same love, twice.
If you go: Direction Island sits a short ride across the lagoon, the swimming is world class, and when the tide is right, The Rip is the snorkel of a lifetime. Take your reef manners with you: float, watch, and leave only footprints.
Next stop, Christmas Island, where the second half of this journey continues in a coming edition.
An Earth to Sea News original. Nicole volunteered with Tangaroa Blue, whose Australian Marine Debris Initiative turns beach cleanups into the data that stops litter at its source. Photographs: Nicole McMahon, with the cleanup scenes by Renee Mouritz. See more frames from this reef in our photo gallery.