It is easy to assume that teenagers are rarely away from a screen, yet 14-year-old twins Nathan and Aaron Crossan from London prove there is another way to spend a holiday, immersed in the underwater world of Wakatobi.
“The ocean is the most magical place to be… At Wakatobi you will see hundreds of species all at once with amazing colours all around you,” says Nathan, 14, whose enthusiasm for life beneath the surface now fills the pages of his growing field guides.
During a recent stay at Wakatobi, the twins took time out to talk about their experiences for a short film that captures their passion for the reef.
Drawing on days spent exploring the house reef and surrounding sites, they describe how photographing reef life is shaping their next guidebook, a new volume that will be almost twice the length of their previous work and will showcase the remarkable biodiversity that makes Wakatobi so special.
“We have enjoyed Wakatobi the most because it has got a lot more species,” Nathan explains with a grin.
“In just one holiday here we have recorded almost 500 species. There is so much diversity, which is really exciting. It means every snorkel and every dive is fun because you are always seeing something new.”
Capturing that many species on camera would be a serious task for even the most seasoned underwater photographers.
At Wakatobi, Nathan and Aaron had expert help from dive guides Aswan and Frengki, whose sharp eyes pick out creatures that most visitors would never notice.
Their ability to find even the tiniest inhabitants turns each session in the water into a lesson in how the reef works and how its many residents fit together.
“Aswan and Frengki help us a lot,” the twins admit. “We are not that good yet. Towards the end we were spotting nudibranchs and some of the bigger species we know we are still looking for, but the guides are really good at spotting things.”
With that support, the boys not only added pages to their checklists, they also gained a deeper understanding of the reef itself.
Travellers can hear more from the Crossan brothers and see their images in the accompanying video, which is also available on Wakatobi’s YouTube channel.
It offers a glimpse of what young guests experience when they swap screens for snorkels and spend time learning from the sea.
Young Explorers And Advocates Of Our Oceans
In their conversation, Nathan and Aaron talk about why they believe the underwater world should be accessible to everyone, not just divers.
Through their photographic field guides and species checklists, they hope to open a window onto the reef for people who may never have visited the tropics, showing why healthy coral ecosystems matter to life far beyond the shoreline.
During their stay, the twins joined Wakatobi’s resident marine biologist, Julia Mellers, to examine a Portuguese man o’ war that had washed onto the beach, a close up encounter that turned a casual shoreline walk into a learning moment about ocean currents and marine life.
In another quiet moment topside, Aaron and Nathan posed with their “Wakatobi Common Fish” checklist alongside their previously published guides, a snapshot of two young authors whose curiosity has already inspired a small library of reef knowledge.
Their growing body of work underlines how powerful curiosity and access can be in shaping the next generation of ocean advocates.
For three decades Wakatobi has welcomed families with every level of diving and snorkelling experience, creating a place where guests of all ages can build a personal connection with the sea.
Through a privately managed marine protected area that now extends more than 60 kilometres, Wakatobi remains committed to safeguarding the reefs that captivate visitors like Nathan and Aaron, ensuring that the vibrant scenes they document today will still be there for future travellers, families and young storytellers to discover.
