Reef Check Italia Completes 11th Expedition to Indonesia; Participant Reflects on Trip

By Elena Manfredini

Reef Check Italia recently completed its 11^th annual expedition to Bangka Island, North Sulawesi, Indonesia. Participant Elena Manfredini, a recent graduate with a master’s in marine biology, vividly shares her valuable experience here:

“Some experiences can never be fully captured in words: they have to be lived.

Still, I want to try to share what I felt during an intense week on Bangka Island, a small slice of paradise in Indonesia. It is a breathtaking place, surrounded by nature and home to extraordinary people. Here, humans don’t seek to dominate, but to coexist with the environment, and this mutual respect creates a fragile yet precious balance that must be carefully protected.

The island’s heartbeat seems to echo the rhythm of the waves. Every day, researchers, students, and volunteers come together with a single mission: to safeguard the coral reef, one of the most diverse and vital ecosystems on Earth.

Corals are far more than the colorful, intricate organisms that make the underwater world so fascinating. They provide shelter and food for thousands of marine species. Without them, the ocean would lose much of its biodiversity, and the survival of coastal communities would be at serious risk.

With the guidance of professors and local dive instructors, we built a multidisciplinary team, each of us contributing our skills and knowledge. Using Reef Check and Coral Watch protocols, we monitored reef health and collected valuable data, essential for understanding how these ecosystems evolve over time.

But this experience went beyond environmental monitoring. It was about becoming part of something greater, a collective purpose fueled by enthusiasm and commitment.

It taught me many lessons: the value of collaboration, a deeper respect for the natural world, and the realization that indifference is no longer an option. Climate change and pollution are putting the future of these ecosystems at risk, with consequences that extend well beyond the ocean.

From this extraordinary journey, I bring back strong bonds, both with the people I had the privilege to work alongside and with nature itself. Only by observing the underwater world up close, and experiencing the vibrancy of its inhabitants, can one truly grasp how interconnected everything is.

I am deeply grateful to Reef Check for the opportunity and for their tireless efforts to protect coral reefs worldwide. And I want to acknowledge all who are already committed to this mission, and those who will join in the years ahead: only together can we achieve meaningful change.”Reef Check Italia’s next trip will be in Fall 2026; details will be announced in a future newsletter. You can also visit this year’s trip page for more information.