CENTRAL SULAWESI Bajau Tribe
The Bajau are excellent free-divers. Unlike most fishermen who float above their prey, the Bajau dive and walk the ocean’s floor to hunt fish and octopi with homemade spear-guns. Wearing wooden goggles and no fins, Bajaus dive up to 20 metres deep and remain underwater for as long as five minutes on a single breath. Bajau children destined to be spear-gun fishermen have their eardrums pierced when they are young so they will not burst later from water pressure while diving. The Bajaus are Sunni Muslims, but many still believe in the spirit world of the sea, which must be appeased through rituals and offerings.