Being Creative
By Kame Westerman, Project Coordinator, Andavadoaka. Thanks to a generous donation by a former Blue Ventures volunteer, members of the women’s association in Andavadoaka are currently receiving training in embroidery and tailoring. For four weeks, the women are spending several...
A sustainable slaughter
By Kame Westerman, Project Coordinator, Andavadoaka. For the Velondriake equivalent of the glorious 12th, the opening of the Nosy Hao Octopus reserve is something of a reserved affair… The procession has snaked its way down the beach with spears, masks...
The festival of Vezo Aho was the culmination of a year long social marketing project …
By Jessie Scurfield. The festival of Vezo Aho was the culmination of a year long social marketing project which uses marketing principles to communicate the conservation/ ecological problems associated with some of the fishing methods used by Vezo. The use...
Ah, the jungle. It’s full of beautiful scenic views, majestic streams and waterfalls…
By Jacob Meyer. Ah, the jungle. It’s full of beautiful scenic views, majestic streams and waterfalls, melodic symphonies that come from tropical birds, monkeys that hand you fresh fruit and coconuts, relaxing nights in hammocks near the cozy fire at...
Why would I want to be on a beach holiday when even the chores bring a genuine smile to my face?
By Neil Hagan. “This is not a beach holiday” – a favourite saying of our fearless (except when you mention floating, smiling vampires) expedition leader. Katie, I happen to agree with you, this is certainly not a beach holiday. I...
The trek, well what to say…?
By Christopher Webb. An eerie quiet sets over Pulau Tioman as bags are packed and the volunteers of expedition 7 prepare to go their separate ways. No more shall Yu Lin’s laugh echo round the dive shop. No more shall...
The Unpredictable Sea
By Jon Lange . The livelihood of the local Vezo people is completely dependent on the sea. This is, after all, why we are here: we are providing the science to help the Vezo understand how make the most of...
Beach holiday…?
By Chris Webb. Before I delve into the ongoings of week 4 I feel it's appropriate to summarise the first half of Expedition 7...
The sun came up just as we did
By Anna Westland. 4am. I manage to grab my alarm before it goes off – my hut mate gets cranky enough when I’m up at 7 – and stumble around a bit, looking for rash vests and bits of my...
Thoughts from shore
By Laurenne Schiller. From this angle, I can observe at least seven distinguishable shades of aquamarine in the ocean below me, and there’s not a cloud in the sky...
just like on National Geographic and Finding Nemo!
By Liesbeth Van de Moortel. We saw some amazing things, a sleeping turtle, nocturnal fishes, polycheates and even some copepods were passing the light of your torch. The top act (for me at least) was the...
Football – the universal language
by Ben Darwent. Placed neatly between Coco Beach (staff quarters/restaurant/tourist huts etc) and Half Moon Beach (the wonderful volunteer hub/dive center) is the Blue Ventures football ‘stadium'...
A 1,293 mile hike, 54 consecutive days, 2 sore feet, 1 determined woman and a very worthy cause..
Tess would walk 500 miles and she would walk 500 more (...plus an additional 293)
Nature’s little surprises
by Rhonwyn Wilkinson. One of the really exciting things about diving is that you never know what you will see when you drop beneath the surface.
Totally amazing first week
Totally amazing first week that has flown by because we have not stoppped learning new things-from diving skills and knowledge to identifying fish, corals and other benthic organisms. That’s not to say all our experiences have been of the studious...