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Present Day
Now, having a string of qualifications and
certificates in environmental awareness and
protection (from over 6 different Indonesian
Agencies and International NGOs), Dodent has also
been awarded a special prize (in 1997) by the
Indonesian Government in recognition of his efforts.
Working and diving from a live aboard yacht and
sailing around the East Coast of Thailand, the
Maldives, Malaysia and Singapore was the start of
Dodent's diving career. His work-mates had no
trouble in convincing him of Pulau Weh's obvious
potential as an Asian diving Mecca and the necessity
of caring for the reef.
He set about saving up and acquiring official diving
qualifications, a compressor and 3 sets of second
hand equipment, Mr. Dodent was ready for the Grand
opening of RTD four years later in 1989. Starting
initially as a diving club for Indonesian commercial
divers, Mr. D also continued promoting Pulau Weh as
a tourist location and the first adventurous
travelers started trickling in.
Slowly but surely the development of tourism on
Pulau Weh can be largely attributed to the condition
of the reef and the desire of one man to make his
'dreams' come true!
The photo on the top is a replica of the original
sailing vessel that was used by the famous Arab
traveler "Sinbad the Sailor". The replica retraced
the route that Sinbad had traveled from Arabia to
China. The special re-enactment journey was
sponsored by the Sultan of Oman (Qabois bin Said)
and the crew set sail on 19 April, 1981. According
to arab traders in the 10th Century, Pulau Weh was
an important shiping and trading post and was known
as the "Island of Gold". Following the tradition of
his predecesors, Sinbad had also visited Pulau Weh
on his way through the Malacca Strait.
Mr Dodent is shown holding up a special medallion
that he received from the replica voyage during
their stay on Pulau Weh. Mr Dodent also handled all
local logistics for the crew of the Sinbad Voyage. |
