Category: Belize
Our work in Belize encompasses scientific research at the Bacalar Chico Marine Reserve as part of our award-winning expeditions, and community-based efforts to combat the threat of lionfish to local reefs by stimulating new markets for this invasive species.
Blue Ventures Belize; so much more than a diving expedition
By Laura Brodie, Blue Ventures volunteer, Belize My Belize adventure started in the quiet fishing village of Sarteneja. Having travelled from London via Cancun, Playa de Carmen, Chetumal and Corozal, I was pleased to have reached my final destination. As soon...
Marine mammal heaven
By Jennifer Chapman, Field Scientist, Belize Here in Belize we are lucky enough to see dolphins fairly frequently from our boat and the jetty at dive camp. Last year, sightings consisted of mostly bottlenose dolphins throughout the seasons, with occasional...
Science Schooling
A poem by Naomi Lucas, Blue Ventures Medic, Sarteneja, Belize Welcome to the Benthic Test A sea of colours, shapes and crests Urchins, sponges, coral and algae Tunicates, ‘trolls hair’ and the cowrie Starting with soft coral whips and rods...
Getting to know Belize
By Joe Armstrong, Blue Ventures Volunteer, Sarteneja, Belize Sarteneja As a group we spent a week in Sarteneja staying with local host families. My host family was amazing and the food was incredible! Everyone else seemed to be having similar...
Lionfish Please!
By Garry Phillips, Expedition and Dive Manager, Sarteneja, Belize. Belize fisheries department are in the process of publishing a book of recipes for lionfish. The lionfish cookbook will feature a number of different ways in which the lionfish can be...
The Easter Regatta
By Crystal Soutière, Blue Ventures Volunteer, Sarteneja, Belize. After the beautiful full moon on Tuesday April the 19th, we were landed with a couple of days of bad weather at our dive camp which meant that diving was off the...
Things Volunteers Do That Make Us Love Them!
By Jen Chapman and Nikkita Lawton, Field Scientists, Sarteneja, Belize. The Blue Ventures Staff have been delighted to host 4 amazing volunteers and our new medic. We love them all so much that we wanted to dedicate our first blog...
The Mangroves
By Dan Purnell, BV Belize Volunteer, Sarteneja, Belize. It happens to be another windy day in Belize. This usually means that it will be a “Plan B” day; we won’t be doing much in the way of diving. But no...
Less than two weeks to go in BCDC…
By Steph Remion, BV Belize Volunteer, Sarteneja, Belize. Less than two weeks to go in Bacalar Chico Dive Camp (BCDC)… Belize it or not, despite living in wooden huts, washing with cold water, and having only three hours of electricity...
Would you BELIZE it???
By Gaz Phillips, Expedition Leader, Sarteneja, Belize. Would you BELIZE it??? A manatee or two or three or …………….. The weather can sometimes blow hard on the Caribbean coast making diving the outer reef a little treacherous. Despair not as...
BV Belize Primary School Teaching in Sarteneja
By Sarah Adams, Expedition Manager, Sarteneja, Belize. The theme for BV Belize primary school teaching session this expedition was conservation and natural resources. We accompanied 25 pupils from the Standard V class at Sarteneja’s RC School to Shipstern Nature Reserve...
BV Belize joins Seagrass Net Survey
By Sarah Adams, Expedition Manager, Sarteneja, Belize. Blue Ventures Belize staff and volunteers joined the Belize Fisheries Department in January’s Seagrass Net survey. The Fisheries Department have a base in Bacalar Chico, at the San Juan Ranger Station, and Blue...
Blue Ventures helps local tour guides refresh their first aid skills.
By Garry Phillips, Dive Manager, Sarteneja, Belize. Four members of the Sarteneja Tour guides association (STGA) recently took part in the Emergency first responder course. They require a First aid qualification to be able to renew their guides licence. BV...
A Belizean adventure
By Jodi Burley, Blue Ventures Belize Volunteer.
A visit to Belize
By Richard Nimmo, BV Managing Director. I have just returned from a whistle-stop tour of Belize in which I visited all of Blue Ventures’ project partners and spent time in our host village of Sartegna and at our Expedition site...