Jacqueline Evans: What travel has taught me

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This was published 4 years ago

Jacqueline Evans: What travel has taught me

By Julietta Jameson
Marine conservationist Jacqueline Evans.

Marine conservationist Jacqueline Evans.

SERENITY

In 1991 I travelled to Honiara, Solomon Islands, for work. Some friends of my work colleagues asked if I wanted to scuba-dive Iron Bottom Sound. We took a small boat to a nearby island. The sea was like glass. The warmth of the sun enveloped us and the breeze buffered the heat. The calmness of the ocean was like nowhere else I know. When diving, the silence of the deep was soothing.

JOY

In Egypt, I took a two-week scuba-diving vacation in the middle of backpacking around western Europe. We flew from Munich to Hurghada and drove about 400 kilometres south to Marsa Alam. Every day we dived, the sun on our skin as we rode the dive boat from location to location. The tropical fish danced around the coral as we discovered and explored each dive site. After our dive, the local boat crew formed a small band, singing and creating percussion with the fast clapping of their hands.

HOSPITALITY

In 2014, we flew 1200 kilometres on a Bandeirante from Rarotonga to a black pearl farming location in the northern Cook Islands called Manihiki. The community took turns to prepare our meals, which consisted of local fish, coconut and special baked local produce. On our final night, we were seated on a row of chairs, and to the beat of drums, our hosts danced towards us with gifts made from coconut fibre and pearl shells. We were clothed with hats, earrings and necklaces.

RESPECT

While I studied at university in Hawaii, a crew of outrigger canoe paddlers visited from the Cook Islands. We drove to Sandy's Beach and jumped into the water. The waves pounded the beach and pushed us until we rolled in the sand. The water spat me out and I was soaked in sand from head to toe. Looking back at the water, I listened to the boom and swish of the waves. Nature is vulnerable but can also be truly powerful and should never be underestimated.

APPRECIATION

As a biology and geography student at the University of the South Pacific, Fiji, we travelled extensively around the country learning about the environment and development. With a team of archaeologists and geographers we travelled to the island of Totoya where we found pottery created by the Lapita people who are the ocean voyaging ancestors of Polynesians. There were no cars on the island, only tracks connecting villages, plantations and fishing spots. The community didn't have much in the way of material wealth, but they hosted us with love and joy. If we choose, we can have a simple lifestyle, with a small environmental impact on our planet and we can feed our spirit with happiness and appreciation.

Jacqueline Evans has led a five-year campaign to protect the Cook Islands' stunning marine biodiversity. Because of her persistent organising, the Cook Islands enacted Marae Moana legislation to sustainably manage and conserve the almost 2 million square kilometres of the country's ocean territory, designating marine protected areas around all 15 islands. In April, she was awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize. See goldmanprize.org

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