When cute monkeys go bad

Our last full day on Pulau Tiga greeted us with a halfway decent morning.  The skies were still cloudy, but the the air not as heavy with humidity.  We suspected that better reefs were at the westernmost tip of the island, and one trail took us there after a 3.8 km trek:

The trailhead was conveniently located near our bungalow.  We literally walked down the steps, turned right, and found the sign after 20 paces or so.  Given that the hike was a good one, we opted to hike in our swimsuit/rashguards and carry our fins, masks, and wetsuits.  We also carried a bit of bug repellent and camera to document this hike-turn-snorkel.  

Pulau Tiga may lack the area of the island of Borneo, but it makes up for it with some magnificent trees.  We were amazed at the height of the canopy, the walls of supporting buttresses of some trees, and the size of everything.  I must have imagined a more disturbed forest for this place, but I was not at all disappointed to be wrong on this point.  As we walked further along the path, we felt as though each tree we encountered was larger than the one prior, making for a massive forest with very little understory.

Vines and roots also contributed to the wild feel of the place.  Although no tombs or ruins as we encountered in Cambodia, we played along at being the first swimsuit-clad explorers in a strange land.  At one point, the trail was overcome by water, causing some doubt as to whether or not we were even on the trail.  For myself, knowing the water monitors were all over the place, I was not really keen on wading through this stuff.  My strategy was to edge my way into the water slowly, find where the trail resumed on the other side of the water, and make a bee-line for that point. Shortly after the photo below was taken, I stepped down from a root into 3-4 feet of water, scared the daylights out of myself, but kept it together enough to keep my mask with its anti-fog application above the surface.

Ryan was right there as soon as I found my footing, ready to help me out.  Fortunately, the only thing I discovered was a deep area near the tree, and we continued along the path.

The entire hike was really a great time: big trees, strange noises, scary missteps, and overall adventure and novelty for us.  Unfortunately, we never made it to the "end" of the trail.  Several large treefalls between 3.5 km and the end of the 3.8 km hike made following the path impossible, and bogs of heavy clay and mud made working our way around the treefalls quite an unpleasant endeavor.  In the end, we back-pedaled a bit till we thought we heard the ocean surf at its closest point, and then we cut south to the beach.

When we reached the beach, we were almost at the westernmost tip of the island, but the water was not what we expected.  Lots of runoff from the interior made for very murky conditions, and we ended up walking back towards the resort on the south side of the island.  A large tractor tire on the beach was our "marker" for yesterday's snorkel, and we didn't walk along the shore for very long before we came upon our tire again.  We donned our snorkeling gear and made for the reef, hoping for clearer waters and, in my case, not so many stinging baddies.

We had a great day in the water.  Nothing terribly different from the day before, but it was a more comfortable swim than yesterday.  Ryan handed me a giant clam in an effort to take a picture of me with it, but it was much heavier than I anticipated and I sank headfirst almost immediately to the ocean floor.  More anemones and the enamoured clownfish, corals, and underwater fun.

After returning to our bungalow to shower and figure out what to do for the afternoon, I noticed the largest number of long-tailed macaques that I'd seen in our entire time on Pulau Tiga.  They were everywhere: on the beach, on the grounds, in trees, on roofs of nearby bungalows, and almost anyplace else you looked.  They ranged quite a bit from very young to some good-sized males.  I grabbed my camera and began snapping photos, leaving the porch to get a better look at a few of them, always maintaining a respectable distance so as not to frighten them away.  Two of the macaques found a bottle of what looked to be hot sauce, and were having a high old time with it.  It was fun to watch them manipulate the bottle and interact with each other. 

When we arrived, we were two of more than 60-70 guests.  Today, I think only 4-5 pairs of guests remained, and our bungalow was the furthest from the main buildings of the resort.  I don't know if I did something wrong, if I underestimated my safe distance, if the camera lens was interpreted as a large, aggressively staring eye, or if they simply thought they had the upper hand in terms of numbers, but suddenly their expressions changed and I felt extremely uncomfortable. A few of the macaques seemed to charge us a bit, only for a step or two, and teeth and eyelids flashed.  Here is the best picture I came up with, and probably before I realized something was going wrong:

Suddenly, one of the larger males charged at Ryan, who was making his way back to the bungalow after coming out to meet me to look at something.  Ryan laughed it off and stomped his feet, which was enough to send the male macaque running back.  Then, the male saw me, a bit away from Ryan, and not near the bungalow or any other structure for shelter.  He charged at me, I shrieked, and Ryan quickly stomped over in my direction in an effort to deter the macaque.  In an after action google search, I learned that long-tailed macaques are well known through southeast asia as "bad monkeys" because of their quick transition from calm disinterest to aggression.  Also, screaming at them is usually perceived as a sign of weakness, and tourist would do better to ignore them and walk away.  Difficult to do when they are everywhere and invade your space, such as this guy who thought the REPEL on the porch of our bungalow might be a can of Pringles:

Here is the insect repellent after its close encounter with a long-tailed macaque:

The macaques soon disappeared, and I felt safe to roam around the grounds again.  As I was gathering my binoculars, I noticed something large and brown running across the well-mowed landscape in front of our bungalow.

Not sure what this guy is, but his movements reminded me of the basilisks that were short-lived in the large terrarium in the Biology Department lobby at Arkansas State.  Ryan was much more brave than me, and easily picked up this fantastic reptile so I could get a closer look.  After a few photos, we made sure to release him in an area with lots of shrubs, so as to prevent him from becoming an easy meal for any birds or lingering macaques.

We celebrated sunset with our respective vices and pleasant places to sit.  Ryan always prefers something that allows him to enjoy a good cigar and read.  

As for me, I have eyed this particular tree since I arrived.  It reminded me of a fabulous tie-down tree that I found in Big Bend along with a labmate and excellent travel buddy.  The Big Bend tree will always reign supreme, but this tree is one that Pulau Tiga can be proud of.

Someone anchored their catamaran off Pulau Tiga for our last night there, and we immediately fantasized about a first year of retirement sailing...somewhere...in such a boat.  Not sure the destination was the most important thing at that moment, but the view of the sailboat and the setting sun probably launches retirement or travel dreams the world over.

We tried to commemorate the moment with a selfie, but this is all we could come up with after an embarrassing number of tries.  

The moral of this story: