Divemaster & Marine Conservation Internship in Nusa Penida

I spent 3 months in Nusa Penida, diving with Joma and the other members of Project Laut almost every day - we worked together on coral restoration and sea turtles protection, between beautiful corals and tropical fishes. It was a wonderful and productive time. I learned a lot about myself, my limits and strenghts as a diver. Joma teached me how to be confident underwater, giving me the instruments to become an independent divemaster.
I'll never forget the time spent together, he was my best buddy, looking forward to share with him another crazy drift dive.

My experience with Project Laut was unforgettable. I spent five weeks doing the marine conservation internship (having already done my dive master) and learnt so much from the amazing staff there, as well as made lifelong friends.

Nusa Penida has such a large range of dive sites that you get to do something different every day, and I felt extremely supported in my first times experiencing strong drift, coming to love it afterwards.

Project Laut has inspired me and given me the experience needed to continue my career in marine biotechnology, and the amazing staff there made me want to do my dive instructors.

I stayed two months in Nusa Penida, diving every day with Nomads & assisting in the Project Laut internship. I honestly had the best time here and learned so much about marine conservation. Joma's passion for conservation and dedication to monitor the Hawksbill turtles are contagious & inspiring for any ocean advocate! I gained more knowledge in coral rehabilitation since we planted coral fragments on our spiders during shore dives. Also the ecology classes were very interesting. Can't recommend this internship enough!

This internship was absolutely brilliant. I spent 3 months on Nusa Penida with Project Laut completing my dive master and every single day was different. I learnt so much about conservation, both coral conservation and general marine conservation from Joma who took a very holistic approach to our learning. With my background being in neuroscience, all of the marine science was completely new to me. After coral identification classes, Joma then went on to ID coral on our next few dives with me so I really understood what was being taught in the classroom. I particularly enjoyed the building of the coral spiders as it is so rewarding to then plant coral on them and watch the coral restoration process on subsequent dives. The diving in Nusa Penida was beautiful and I will be going back to complete my instructor with Nomads diving later and see the coral restoration project again. Identifying turtles on dives was always really fun and its such a privilege to see them each time. The software we use to ID the turtles was really interesting and a great skill to have learnt.

I can’t reccomend this internship enough, every aspect of it from living on a beautiful island; diving with colourful corals and making friends I know I’ll see again. Joma is a fantastic teacher and the best dive instructor I have ever met, few people have the ability to make you feel as reassured as he does on dives. This really is the best thing I have ever done and I can’t wait to go back.

After previous plans for a DM internship had fallen apart, I found Project Laut and thought this has what I’m looking for, so why not. It turned out to be better than I ever could’ve imagined, and I wouldn’t have traded it for anything. I had been looking for a DMT with an ACTUAL conservation project, not just a dive shop that claimed to do more than they did. Project Laut is not only active in coral restoration, but they’re also the lead project monitoring the species of Hawksbill turtles around Penida. Everyday we are either out diving or at the shop, building coral spiders and tending to our coral garden, or updating the turtle database. Even on dive days, someone always has a GoPro to log any of turtles we may come across (which is often). You can tell how much Joma, the lead instructor, cares about the projects and his passion easily transferred to myself and the other interns.

In terms of the dive training, Joma is an incredible instructor. I started with only 9 dives, all from 3 years earlier, and was quite nervous. From the first dive I felt extremely safe and comfortable diving with him, and I’d be able to voice my nerves without thinking twice. In my 12 weeks I learned so much, and logged over 100 dives! Definitely coming out of this internship feeling confident in my diving abilities. I valued my time so much in fact that I’m continuing my training with Project Laut, starting their instructor course next week.

On top of all this, Nusa Penida is paradise, and I definitely fell in love with the island and it’s people. I’m leaving the internship with a ton more dives, some amazing new relationships, and even some welding skills :)

I’ve been working in the conservation field for the past six years. I recently decided to pursue a more marine focused route. The Project Laut Divemaster and Conservation Internship was a perfect fit! It allowed me to further advance my dive and marine field skills. I started out the internship often nervous on drift dives, but left feeling confident guiding others in the same conditions. One of my favorite aspects of the internship was coral “spider” building and restoration - in just 3.5 months there was a noticeable difference in the coral growth at the project’s house reef. Additionally, I loved assisting in the hawkbill sea turtle recording and identification to help assess the size and movement of local population.

Joma, the project founder and lead instructor, is simply an amazing person! He has an incredible amount of patience and gives great direction as an instructor. His calm presence and skill in the water also allow you to feel safe and confident in the sometimes challenging dive conditions on Nusa Penida. His passion for conservation and dedication to the project also should not be overlooked.

Lastly, the community and friendships had a major impact on my experience. We had an extremely close intern group during my time, which made surface intervals on the boat and exploring the island on days off even better!

Project Laut is run by a passionate and knowledgeable team who do everything they can to make your stay as enjoyable and worthwhile as possible. This is a genuine conservation experience coupled with some amazing diving and the chance to develop new skills. It's a great opportunity to meet like minded people from all over the world and life on the island gives you the perfect break from hectic life.
This has been an incredibly inspiring and formative experience for me. From the moment I arrived, I was welcomed into a family of people who care deeply about the work they do, and each other. The course has given me the most up to date methods and knowledge in the fields of marine conservation and research so I can go forward more confident and able. I came with no dive experience and now I am falling more in love with diving, and Nusa Penida each day!

I had the most rewarding experience with Project Laut with some highlights being Turtle Identification dives and Coral Restauration on the house reef! Work is very interesting and diverse. Most importantly, I felt useful. It is a motivating environment seeing the turtle database grow from week to week and watching marine life come back to the Coral Spiders we planted.

We are supervised by Joma (project leader and founder) and interns and/or staff who explain the work and give us advice and tips. Most interns come from Marine Biology backgrounds or would like to contribute to conservation in some way. Everyone brings something to the project, everyone is happy to share their knowledge and help this start up grow and make a difference.

Penida itself is absolutely beautiful, but one can definitely see the negative impact of tourism and rapid growth/development. Being part of this project - finding a sustainable way of traveling the world by staying longer and caring for the local environment whilst becoming a better diver is the reason why I chose Project Laut and I couldn‘t recommend it more.