Bahamas Marine Conservation with Gapforce

We went scuba diving almost everyday, we saw sharks and turtles and dived in a blue hole for the first time! One of the nurse sharks even came really close to the shore, we could see it from the volunteer house!
Met some of the most amazing people who I will never forget. Thanks for one of the best experiences ever Greenforce!

I could write pages and pages about this amazing experience. As someone from my phase said to me, it sounds cliche but it is indeed a life changing experience. I can only agree.

As a advanced open water, I was looking forward to dive the reefs of Andros. And they lived up to my expectations! The oceanic blue hole King Kong is the most stunning dive I ever did. The geology is outstanding!! The reefs lay deep, but provide an amazing topography and the drop off called Tongue of the Ocean is dramatic and makes one realize how small and insignificant a human being is in the ocean. During every single dive we had a lot of fun, fooled around (of course within saftey regulations) and cracked jokes before and after.

The camp itself was perfect. We had a huge group (I recon 25 volunteers +staff) so they were people everywhere. But if one wanted time off, relax and enjoy the silence, people went up on the balcony where the `chill area` was and could do just that. Otherwise there was always something going on. The other volunteers were fun loving, it did not take long until we all became close friends. I really hope to have a reunion. Same goes for the staff, they did a awesome job coordinating our group and making sure everyone feels good and gets to dive as much as possible. I can´t lie, they were just as fun loving as every volunteer and always good for a laugh. And yeh, Saturdays were the best evenings.

About the lectures, teaching, and the program: If somebody is interested in Marine Science I would highly recommend it! It is a great chance to get some skills, knowledge and to be involved in intercultural education as it is a big part of the whole program to educate the local community about various topics. We also did beach clean ups, set up survey sites, did a lot of identification dives and had lectures about Fish, Corals, Invertebrates, Turtles, Ecology and and and...we watched documentaries in the evening from time to time which gave us a great idea about issues and life out there.

Other days were spent at the blue wholes, which you see in the videos (one of the best days we had was there) or by some randome activities which were up to you.

Before I go on and write a book let´s just say that this trip was not only great but a perfect chance to dive every single day and learn about the oceans and marine conservation. If you can imagine doing this for weeks or months, go!! Don´t hesitate because I am sure you will never regret it.

The experience of living outside by the ocean for 5 weeks is one which I will never forget. There is not a day that goes by which I don't think about my time on Andros and I would recommend this trip to anyone.

There wasn't ever an average day on Andros but most days were spent diving for half of the day and then learning about either the various types of fish and coral and the marine environment. We also learned about other conservation efforts taking place around the world and species that were in danger. Diving is one of the most incredible activities and the reefs around Andros were a spectacular vantage point for marine life. It felt like descending into a complete other world on my very first dive - one which I never wanted to leave once I was in it.

Other days were spent seeing the island and taking in the local culture. We would take trips to the amazing blue holes on the islands, sometimes with picnics and sometimes stopping at local cafe's and restaurants. We would also get involved with teaching local kids to swim or educating them about what they could do to aid the protection of the marine environment.

By the weekends after all that hard work we'd definitely earned alot of rum drinks from the beach bar we were based near to. The social side of this project was brilliant and the pictures from our Saturday nights will always help us to remember the amazing times we had together. On this trip you can't help but make friends that you'll keep for life.

If you want an out of this world experience, cut off from the world's life in one of the most incredible settings, where you contribute to the conservation of the world's oceans then this trip is definitely for you!

I love the ocean and marine life, so when I stumbled upon the greenforce Bahamas trip I was excited but really didn't know what to expect. However, once I got there I never wanted to leave! The relationships I made with the interns, supervisors and other members are ones I will always cherish, and we are all still in contact. We became a team and looked after each other, we all had chores and all worked together to make the experience as good as possible. I not only developed a true passion for the marine environment, but through fish and benthic lessons and actually seeing the underwater world first hand, am now studying environmental science in Uni, using a lot of what I learned in the Bahamas. I would recommend this to anyone, it developed me as a person who is more open to making new friendships, and 'literally' diving into unknown experiences.

I spent 6 months on the island of Andros. 3 months as a volunteer and 3 months as an intern. Both phrases were excellent!!
The island holds some awesome natural beauty which include the blue holes and the beaches. I loved waking up every morning on the beach and seeing the sun.
You do work hard during the week with many dives, school lessons and fish learning but this makes the weekend fun at the bars feel even better.
I will never forget my first dive on the reef, it felt like I was on another planet and I would recommend diving to everyone because of that experience.
If you like sun, sea, sand and alcohol this is the trip for you!!!

I had the best diving trip of my life out in The Bahamas. I felt it was a very authentic experience of the country because we weren't in any touristy areas. Having a huge bay all to ourselves was brilliant and being able to stop the boat and dive anywhere without anyone else around was a unique experience I haven't had diving anywhere else.
Day to day we would be up early; first group would dive while the rest of us learnt how to identify all aspects of marine life from the fish to the reef. Then everyone would be in camp for lunch before we would swap diving and lectures around.
With perfect conditions we were able to get 2 dives per boat trip, but due to weather it didn't always happen.
The marine life was insane with me seeing my first site of sharks, sea turtles and a spotted eagle ray within my first 2 dives!
The people were just awesome as well and made the trip that much more of a quality trip. We've already had one reunion in the UK and have another on the way.
Things didn't always go to the exact plan, however that's what this kind of trip is all about. It made the experience that much more exciting!