Hand-Picking Corals in Indonesia
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OP
OP
This is very cool, I really enjoy seeing this part of the hobby because it is not often shared. I have been eyeing a few corals (and the Purple LTA!) on your site and I am just waiting to order everything in one go. Please keep sharing these interesting travel (work?) stories!
OP
OP
Lots of stories to tell, such as setting up a coral farm in the Solomon Islands or clam farm in French Polynesia and meeting the President and legislature there, or any number of adventures. These will be on our new site we're putting together now, should be up soon.
Me with Village Chief in the Solomon Islands
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Dr. Mac,
Kudos to you and your willingness to go to some pretty challenging places in search of corals for us reefers. Quite extraordinary. Your friends and customers are all thinking “Oooh! Cool Chalices!”, but you are no doubt thinking “Did I take my malaria pill? I know the flight to Brisbane will be late, but will it be today or am i sleeping on the floor in the terminal again? I can tell that plate has meat on it, but what kind? Only 48 hours left before a/c in my bedroom! “ And many more, no doubt.
You have the same attitude about travel that my 34 year old daughter has. Backpacking in Nicaragua, no problems. They have the Chicken buses. Backpacking from Jakarta to Nusa Penida was great, except she was 6months pregnant and developed a severe case of “revenge” that required medivac back to Jakarta for treatment. That travel gene did not come from me! I would love to see those places, but would never strike out on my own. Pioneer spirit, my friend! Playing travel agent is probably not your thing, but you could lead a reefer safari that would be beyond belief! Throw in some snorkeling and diving oriented at corals and reef fish and it would be a trip for a life time! French Polynesia to the Solomon Islands to Indonesia! I’m 60,so don’t do this In ten years or I will need to take an oxygen tank and defibrillator!
Thanks! We can at least live through you a little.
Mark
Kudos to you and your willingness to go to some pretty challenging places in search of corals for us reefers. Quite extraordinary. Your friends and customers are all thinking “Oooh! Cool Chalices!”, but you are no doubt thinking “Did I take my malaria pill? I know the flight to Brisbane will be late, but will it be today or am i sleeping on the floor in the terminal again? I can tell that plate has meat on it, but what kind? Only 48 hours left before a/c in my bedroom! “ And many more, no doubt.
You have the same attitude about travel that my 34 year old daughter has. Backpacking in Nicaragua, no problems. They have the Chicken buses. Backpacking from Jakarta to Nusa Penida was great, except she was 6months pregnant and developed a severe case of “revenge” that required medivac back to Jakarta for treatment. That travel gene did not come from me! I would love to see those places, but would never strike out on my own. Pioneer spirit, my friend! Playing travel agent is probably not your thing, but you could lead a reefer safari that would be beyond belief! Throw in some snorkeling and diving oriented at corals and reef fish and it would be a trip for a life time! French Polynesia to the Solomon Islands to Indonesia! I’m 60,so don’t do this In ten years or I will need to take an oxygen tank and defibrillator!
Thanks! We can at least live through you a little.
Mark
OP
OP
Well Mark, I'm 60+ too, you just got to go for it.
There was the time in Marau when a village chief told me if I had enough whale teeth I could buy a wife---and then he handed me a bunch of whale teeth. Or the time they told me everyone you meet or a direct relative has tasted human flesh. Or the fun times on planes like when our 777 suddenly tipped on its side from wind gusts landing in Tokyo and was perpendicular to the runway not once but twice aborting landings. Or every morning at 4:30am when the call to prayer screams out over the PA system throughout Jakarta when you just fell asleep at 2:30am and have to get up at 7am. Those and a million other memories. Ya gotta go for it!
You are correct, there must be something in the genes. One of my son's teaches English and has lived for extended periods in France, Germany, and now China and my other son is a Counter Intelligence Officer in the Marines but can't tell us the places he goes. However, my wife won't get on a plane--couple years ago when MACNA was in San Diego we drove there from Maryland!
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Rip Van Winkle
Active Member
Very nice.
Welcome to my neck of the woods.If you wanna impress me, try driving your scooter through rush hour traffic in Jakarta
crazy!!
OP
OP
Very nice.
If you wanna impress me, try driving your scooter through rush hour traffic in Jakarta
Indeed, those scooters are nuts!!!!
OP
OP
The crazy things that happen along the way are just distractions from the main event:
Rip Van Winkle
Active Member
The Goni's you were showing in your video are my favorites.
I mean everything is really beautiful but those were my favs.
I mean everything is really beautiful but those were my favs.
Travis Stewart
Valuable Member
Some new Zoanthids and Mushrooms
Those last few zoas . What a gig you have going.
OP
OP
Finally the shipment of the hand-picked corals has arrived, it's 2am Saturday and everything is in our tanks. The last few days are always the most nerve-racking of the entire ordeal. Allow me to take you through the process......
On Wednesday at 3pm my time the packing of the shipment began (3am Thursday Indonesian time)
Finally the groggy packers finish about noon Thursday Indonesian time, midnight Wednesday my time. As the boxes are loaded onto the truck to go to the airport, the tedious paperwork is completed.
Traveling with the shipment are the all important documents that include a certificate of health issued by a local Indonesian veterinarian, the packing list for each box, the invoice, the airbill with all the flight particulars, and the original CITES permit. Without that original permit that has the Indonesian government stamp affixed, the shipment would not be allowed to enter the US. Many years ago, we actually had a shipment denied entry when the permit was left in Germany as it transferred to the US via Frankfort. Luckily the permit was put on the next flight and we were able to clear the shipment into the U.S..
Once at the airport in Jakarta, the boxes are weighed, the shipment is inspected, and then put into a metal container to be loaded on the flight departing at 10pm local time, 10am Thursday my time.
The shipper had previously promised to ship on Monday, but was not able to confirm the space on the flights to the US. You see, it's not a simple matter getting space for a cargo container on flights. The process starts with a cargo agent hired by the shipper who requests space for 45 boxes to travel to the US on Korean Air. The airline takes the reservation, but it doesn't travel until they issue a confirmation that they guarantee space for that container on both flights going to the US. Passenger luggage, other cargo, and the type of aircraft dictate when space is confirmed. Although we had requested departure Monday, they gave us Thursday, meaning the shipment arrives in Washington DC Friday via Seoul South Korea. Korean Air is definitely the best airline we have ever used over the years. Once they issue the confirmation, that is their guarantee the container will travel and will be transferred onto the designated flights. They have been flawless in their handling of our shipments over the years.
So here I sat, since Wednesday afternoon at 3pm until Friday at 12:30pm when I was at the airport in Washington DC, knowing my precious corals, anemones, and fish I had hand-picked weeks earlier would be packed up for over 48 hours until they finally got into my tanks.
The airport is a 3-hour drive from my facility. My journey to the airport started at 10am on Friday. Luckily the weather was clear and cool, perfect weather for the shipment. The heat of the summer and cold of winter are always an added measure of nervousness for shipments, but today was perfect. Once at the cargo facility at the airport, I had to present a release form from my customs broker. Behind the scenes I had been working for days with my broker to get all the paperwork to them so they could submit it to all the government agencies that needed to sign off on the shipment before it was allowed into the US. It was 2.5-hours since the flight had landed and by now all the different agencies had been contacted and signed off on the shipment including a physical inspection by the US Fish & Wildlife Service. They determine if every item in the shipment matches that CITES permit. If there is any error then they will confiscate those items and possibly issue a fine and even have the power to arrest anyone that tries to smuggle animals into the country without proper paperwork. So, the paperwork is extremely important and attention must be paid to it at every step of the way.
All the fees and freight and the livestock are paid for in full in advance of them ever being packed or shipped. Now I had to pay the cargo handling company a fee to give me my boxes, an excruciating process that takes over an hour from the time I paid the fee. Finally at 1:30pm Friday I had the boxes loaded in my cargo van. I get in and discover the battery was dead! Oh my@!! Luckily I got a jumpstart and finally at 2:30 I was on the road back to my facility.
Anyone familiar with Beltway traffic on a Friday afternoon before Thanksgiving week can attest to its, shall we say politely, fun! OK, so the 3 hour drive to the Eastern Shore of Maryland via the Chesapeake Bay Bridge is an otherwise delightful trip, on this day at this time it would be more like a 5 hour not so delightful journey. Anyway, the eventful day was just beginning when I returned to my facility with the shipment, some 9+hours after I left! Now the real work began as we put away all the fish, corals, and anemones.
Now you know why I have grey hair!
On Wednesday at 3pm my time the packing of the shipment began (3am Thursday Indonesian time)
Finally the groggy packers finish about noon Thursday Indonesian time, midnight Wednesday my time. As the boxes are loaded onto the truck to go to the airport, the tedious paperwork is completed.
Traveling with the shipment are the all important documents that include a certificate of health issued by a local Indonesian veterinarian, the packing list for each box, the invoice, the airbill with all the flight particulars, and the original CITES permit. Without that original permit that has the Indonesian government stamp affixed, the shipment would not be allowed to enter the US. Many years ago, we actually had a shipment denied entry when the permit was left in Germany as it transferred to the US via Frankfort. Luckily the permit was put on the next flight and we were able to clear the shipment into the U.S..
Once at the airport in Jakarta, the boxes are weighed, the shipment is inspected, and then put into a metal container to be loaded on the flight departing at 10pm local time, 10am Thursday my time.
The shipper had previously promised to ship on Monday, but was not able to confirm the space on the flights to the US. You see, it's not a simple matter getting space for a cargo container on flights. The process starts with a cargo agent hired by the shipper who requests space for 45 boxes to travel to the US on Korean Air. The airline takes the reservation, but it doesn't travel until they issue a confirmation that they guarantee space for that container on both flights going to the US. Passenger luggage, other cargo, and the type of aircraft dictate when space is confirmed. Although we had requested departure Monday, they gave us Thursday, meaning the shipment arrives in Washington DC Friday via Seoul South Korea. Korean Air is definitely the best airline we have ever used over the years. Once they issue the confirmation, that is their guarantee the container will travel and will be transferred onto the designated flights. They have been flawless in their handling of our shipments over the years.
So here I sat, since Wednesday afternoon at 3pm until Friday at 12:30pm when I was at the airport in Washington DC, knowing my precious corals, anemones, and fish I had hand-picked weeks earlier would be packed up for over 48 hours until they finally got into my tanks.
The airport is a 3-hour drive from my facility. My journey to the airport started at 10am on Friday. Luckily the weather was clear and cool, perfect weather for the shipment. The heat of the summer and cold of winter are always an added measure of nervousness for shipments, but today was perfect. Once at the cargo facility at the airport, I had to present a release form from my customs broker. Behind the scenes I had been working for days with my broker to get all the paperwork to them so they could submit it to all the government agencies that needed to sign off on the shipment before it was allowed into the US. It was 2.5-hours since the flight had landed and by now all the different agencies had been contacted and signed off on the shipment including a physical inspection by the US Fish & Wildlife Service. They determine if every item in the shipment matches that CITES permit. If there is any error then they will confiscate those items and possibly issue a fine and even have the power to arrest anyone that tries to smuggle animals into the country without proper paperwork. So, the paperwork is extremely important and attention must be paid to it at every step of the way.
All the fees and freight and the livestock are paid for in full in advance of them ever being packed or shipped. Now I had to pay the cargo handling company a fee to give me my boxes, an excruciating process that takes over an hour from the time I paid the fee. Finally at 1:30pm Friday I had the boxes loaded in my cargo van. I get in and discover the battery was dead! Oh my@!! Luckily I got a jumpstart and finally at 2:30 I was on the road back to my facility.
Anyone familiar with Beltway traffic on a Friday afternoon before Thanksgiving week can attest to its, shall we say politely, fun! OK, so the 3 hour drive to the Eastern Shore of Maryland via the Chesapeake Bay Bridge is an otherwise delightful trip, on this day at this time it would be more like a 5 hour not so delightful journey. Anyway, the eventful day was just beginning when I returned to my facility with the shipment, some 9+hours after I left! Now the real work began as we put away all the fish, corals, and anemones.
Now you know why I have grey hair!
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OP
OP
Jakarta mostly. For me, cost of the trip is part of doing business, for others it would depend upon your goals. Airfare is just one consideration, usually mine is under $1000. I can't say I'd go to Jakarta for the fun of it, Bali maybe, but not Jakarta. Access to the coral exporters would be impossible unless you were a licensed importer and serious customer, their facilities are not open to the public.
Travis Stewart
Valuable Member
Great info. I’m a diver and want to go to Raja Ampat before I die.
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