Scott Benson, from Jamursba-Medi, Indonesia. It’s a beautiful sunny morning, the clearest day we’ve seen all week. We toast the final telemetry deployments before Betuel, Ricardo, and I climb into the boat that will take us back to Sorong, the beginning of my long journey back to California. Overall, this visit to Jamursba-Medi was grueling and somewhat miserable, but we still had some fun, and it was a complete success. Deploying these satellite tags would not have been possible without a team mentality and the help of many, both here at Jamursba-Medi and in California.

I was very impressed with the large new group of students from the State University of Papua and Cenderawasih University (in our farewell photo, above...I'm the guy with the big floppy hat). Ricardo is enthusiastically developing a monitoring and research program that will nurture future generations of leatherbacks and marine scientists (that's Ricardo on the left in the photo below, with ace guide Betuel and me). This is unique in New Guinea. If we want to see leatherbacks swimming in Monterey Bay or anywhere else off the North American coast in the future, we’ll need to support the growth of these young people and the communities that co-exist with this nesting population. If you’re interested in supporting leatherback research and conservation in Papua Barat, contact Ricardo Tapilatu directly at the State University of Papua via: rf.tapilatu@unipa.ac.id

Speeding back to Sorong along the wild coast (there's the tiny hatchery on the beach, and, after a wide shot of Jamursba-Medi), I wonder what Bird’s Head will be like 20 years or more from now…I hope it remains wild, for the sake of the leatherbacks and the human spirit.

I also wonder how the jellyfish and leatherbacks are doing back at home, in Monterey Bay….Written July 28, 2007, after leaving Jamursba-Medi, Indonesia.