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t was a fun and exciting Saturday for 180 students from Buleleng and Jembrana regency who traveled to Menjangan Island to join efforts to clean up the island’s beaches.

They cheered as they left Labuhan Lalang port on their half-hour ride to the island to the northwest of Bali, where they would set up tents and spend the time with various activities to raise awareness of conservation.

As they reached the island, the students from two junior high schools, four senior high schools, the Pemuteran Child Foundation and the Dharma Sentana Foundation, were divided into eight groups before they walked around the island collecting garbage.

Each group picked up garbage in five different locations, including two locations along the beach and three temples on the island: Gili Kencana, Segara Giri and Klinting Sari.

“There is so much garbage here,” said Cinthya, an eighth-grade student at SMPN 5 junior high school, who collected garbage from the beach area along with friends.

“We don’t have enough trash bags to put it in,” said Suparno, an officer from the West Bali National Park Agency, who led the students during the clean-up activity.

While the students were collecting trash on the island, a group of 30 local and foreign volunteers — including diving operators, environmentalists, marine scientists, expatriates and tourists — dove into the marine area to collect garbage underwater.

Donning their diving gear, they jumped into the water carrying mesh bags to collect the garbage.

“We found so much plastic garbage down there, mostly food wrappers,” one of the divers, Kartika Dewi Suardana, said as the group finished the underwater clean-up.

A favorite diving and snorkeling destination, Menjangan faces a chronic garbage problem. Garbage from afar is brought by waves and washes up on shore.

The garbage comes from the ferries between Gilimanuk in Jembrana, Bali, and Ketapang in Banyuwa-ngi, East Java, and from surrounding rivers.

“Ocean currents bring the garbage, which piles up on the beaches,” Suparno said, adding that some of the garbage also came from tourists on the island, but added that most were aware of not littering there.

After the clean-up, the students received a lesson in snorkeling and got to see the coral and fish in the turquoise-colored waters. They were also taught to be aware about the importance of conserving the marine ecosystem.

“This is our first time visiting the island and snorkeling. We’re so excited,” Dian and Ayu Eka, students from Jembrana, said.

“It’s regrettable that there’s a lot of garbage here. We want this place to be clean so more tourists come to enjoy this beautiful place,” they said.

The students also wrote their aspirations on a banner. Some wrote slogans such as “Save and Clean Menjangan Island”, “I Love Menjangan Island” and “Save Our Earth”.

The two-day event was held in observance of Earth Day, which falls on April 22, and also marked the launching of Sahabat Menjangan (Friends of Menjangan), a community-based conservation effort to protect the island from looming environmental threats.