Excellent Project

Being a Blue Ventures volunteer in Madagascar is an experience that I will never forget for all the right reasons. No two days were the same but fun was guaranteed. I am going to try to give an overview of what a typical day might comprise.

You would get a wake up call from the waves and birds just outside your door any time after about 5.30. I normally woke up between 6.15 and 7 and went outside to lie in my hammock and watch the world go by for a while or go slightly crazy and exercise in Jim’s Gym at 6.30. It would then be time to prepare my dive kit before breakfast if I was diving at 9.

Breakfast was at 8 with the rest of the morning normally spent diving or hanging out in the beautiful surroundings of Coco Beach or Andavadoaka. The diving was really varied with different sites visited almost every day. It didn’t matter if you went back to the same site three times in a week as you would see different species every time. Bic, the dive manager, is absolutely fantastic and you should have no fears about going diving if you haven’t as he really knows how to teach and he is just an awesome person to be around.

When not diving, at 9 and 11, you had downtime in which you could study your fish or benthic invertebrates have a relax outside the huts, take a walk into Andavadoaka or go for a swim off the beach. You would dive once most days and twice every couple of days.

The afternoons varied a bit more with different activities almost every day from 3 till 7. There would be a range of these from English/Malagasy exchange (fun but challenging), volleyball, presentations on different BV projects and lectures on the science (Don’t worry it’s not that hard and though the fish list looks daunting you should be on top of it within two weeks). There will also be opportunities to get involved in other Blue Ventures projects such as their Safidy (health) and education programs which are designed to help the communities around Andavadoaka reduce their reliance upon their precious marine resources by enabling them to have choices in their lives

Both volunteer groups I was in got on well and there was always someone to talk to if you felt like it. You can easily get away, though, and have time on your own.

Some of the best experiences for me were when we went on our excursions and spent some time away from base. These were a great chance to see Malagasy culture up close and the two trips we made to the island of Nosy Ve, were both really memorable. I really found the alternative livelihoods project were giving the communities the opportunities that they wanted and I greatly enjoyed assisting with the cucumber sale in the middle of the night. Perhaps the best experience was surveying for the highly endangered Spider Tortoise in the Bay of Assassins.

The diving was in my opinion better than that on the Great Barrier Reef and the fact that you learn to identify the underwater life makes diving much more interesting as you know what your looking at. I’d heartily recommend BV’s volunteer programme to anyone wanting to experience the extraordinary, while contributing to vitally important marine conservation. You also get to work with some of the most positive people living in some of the world’s poorest communities . The combination of diving, learning and contributing to Blue Ventures community projects was fascinating and exhilarating.