I chose this program as I wanted to improve my diving skills in tropical conditions with many species of fish.
Alumni Spotlight: Maisie Wise
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Maisie is a 17-year-old from England who is interested in studying Marine Biology at university.
Why did you choose this program?
What did your program provider assist you with, and what did you have to organize on your own?
I booked the trip though Working Abroad and they communicated with Caribbean Reef Buddy to book my place, including accommodation. All I had to organize was flights and accommodation in Grenada for a night before traveling over to Carriacou via boat.
What is one piece of advice you'd give to someone going on your program?
Make sure you buy an insect repellent called Odomos as soon as possible. The mosquitoes out there will bite you as much as they can and this seems to be the repellent that works the best.
What does an average day/week look like as a participant of this program?
You dive twice a day every day possible except Sundays. Some of these dives are fun dives which you can take a camera and just enjoy the scenery whereas some are training dives such as lionfish containment, underwater photography or reef surveillance. On Saturday nights, there is often a trip to a beach bar called Off the Hook which is great.
Going into your experience abroad, what was your biggest fear, and how did you overcome it? How did your views on the issue change?
My biggest fear was meeting all of the new people. After the first day I realized how kind everyone was and so that problem went away very quickly. I don't have any worries about traveling whether it's by myself or with family. As a young female, I got hit on by a lot of men, which did make me nervous sometimes although as I got used to it I realized that they didn't pose a threat and wouldn't do anything to hurt you.
What's the food like?
There's lots of chicken served in many different ways and a lot less fresh fruit and vegetables than you would expect. They also serve quite a lot of lambi (conch) which I've heard is supposed to be very nice although I didn't try it myself. To buy food at the supermarket is very expensive, costing two or three times the price it does at home.