Expeditions
From SV Infinity's anchorage very close to the S point of the outer reef, we made three expeditions to the islands and lagoons of Bawah plus one dive and two snorkeling expeditions surveying the outer reefs.

Island observations
Bawah is like an atoll in formation with a small islands surrounding several lagoons, interspersed with small areas of land and enclosed by a narrow ring of land. The lagoons are varying in depth and color. We took the zodiac inside the lagoon running along the north stretch of the island. It is a narrow channel with a land strip on the seaward side and  cliffs on the interior. There are trees growing on the rocks and interior but there was not much in the way of soil. There are mangroves at the edges of the beach and young mangrove shrubs growing in the intertidal zone. Close to the rocks on the NW tip, the lagoon deepens into a ‘blue hole’ in front of the white sand beach. At SV Infinity's anchorage, we encountered a bloom of small jellyfish on the surface; something we have experienced several times this month in Malaysia/Anambas Islands and is perhaps a monsoonal phenomenon.

landscapes around the islands of Bawah

scenes on the beach where we celebrated Eibes' birthday

exploring the lagoon strip on the north side of Bawah where we met a fishing boat who had engine problems

the entrance to the lagoon on the north side, barely passable at low tide

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views from the top of the cliffs on the NW side, onto the shallow fringing reef shelf outside the island the 'blue hole' in the lagoon

Reef observations
Coral observations: On the N tip of Bawah adjacent to the steep basalt rocks that sheer out of the water is a small and shallow fringing reef dominated by table Acropora spp., colonies. The corals grow easily on the rock substrate that extends from the island. The shallows get crashed by wave action but at about 1 meter depth table Acropora spp. colonies are beginning to dominate and by 2m they are quite dense in places. There are many branching Acropora spp., some Pocillopora spp. and small Porites spp. boulders.
On the east side, in front of the beach bordering the lagoon, there are several very large Porites spp. boulders, one 10 meters in diameter, also some large monospecific areas of foliaceous Montipora spp. There are also significant amounts of branching Acropora spp. The corals are diverse and vibrant between 1m and 6m depths. When the reef drops off below 7m, coral coverage dwindles to very little. There is a significant level of sedimentation on this slope.
On the S tip, coral colonies are few and scattered at 20 meters. There is sedimentation in the water column and some has settled onto the corals. There are significant amounts of macroalgae between 10 – 15 meters, growing predominantly in between corals but beginning to encroach on live tissue. There is a vertical wall section on this reef which was interesting as his is not common from what we have observed in the Anambas group. In the shallow zone, 1-6m, are healthy Acropora spp., Porites spp. and Montipora spp. colonies. Corals observed inside the lagoon strip on the NW side include Hydnophora spp., Porites spp. boulders, branching Acropora spp. and Pavona cactus.
Close to the SE tip, in front of the small beach, are mostly Porites spp. boulders

Fish observations: Several jacks were sighted on the outer reef of the east side. We were surprised by how few fish we found in the current on the S tip. On the SE tip we observed a large 80cm reef ray resting in the sand, several lone jacks, many parrotfish and a vibrant population of small reef fish. Inside the lagoon strip on the NW side, we saw one large bumphead parrotfish and a school of about 200 small parrotfish close to the beach. Inside the central lagoon, several juvenile blacktip reef sharks were sighted.

Health and Vitality observations: We observed no crown of thorns seastars at Bawah, nor evidence of previous dynamite fishing episodes and very few traces of coral disease.

snorkeling on the NE tip where shallow table Acropora spp. colonies were healthy

a very large field of 100% healthy foliaceous Montipora spp. colonies

shallows with dense hard coral coverage

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