Category: Volunteer Stories
Straight from the (sea)horse’s mouth… Check out these stories from our expedition volunteers in Madagascar and Belize!
Tuck School of Business students study aquaculture in Madagascar
In March, five students from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth came to Madagascar to work alongside Blue Ventures’ community-based aquaculture project as part of their First Year Project. These highly experienced business students came to Madagascar, and got...
24 hours of aquaculture site visits
In March, five students from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth came to Madagascar to work alongside Blue Ventures’ community-based aquaculture project as part of their First Year Project. These highly experienced business students came to Madagascar, and got...
A site visit with some amazing Belizean tourism thrown in….
By Richard Nimmo, Managing Director of Blue Ventures Expeditions I have just returned from my annual trip to Belize to work with our team there to review health and safety policies, plan new projects, and meet partners and friends of Blue...
Aquaculture in Madagascar by the Tuck School of Business
In March, five students from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth came to Madagascar to work alongside Blue Ventures’ community-based aquaculture project as part of their First Year Project. These highly experienced business students came to Madagascar, and got...
Education helps to change hearts and minds in Belize
by Rohsny, BV volunteer, Belize Despite its laidback charm, Sarteneja in Belize is a small, fairly insular community that has faced considerable hardship during the past half century. Also, as is true in many other places, the grown-ups in charge...
Playing hide and seek with tortoises
by Rado Lebely, Terrestrial & Fisheries Scientist, Madagascar After six very long months of tortoise hibernation, the Blue Ventures tortoise monitoring team was more than ready to see how abundant the spider tortoises (Pyxis arachnoides) are in the rainy season. We...
A trip to the Royal College of Obstetrics and Gynaecology
by Samantha Cockburn, Medical Elective Student with the Safidy programme, Madagascar I’m Sam, a final year medical student currently studying at the Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry in southwest England. Four years ago I went to a lecture at...
My visit to the Safidy programme in Andavadoaka
by Samantha Cockburn, Medical Elective with Safidy, Madagascar Three years ago I received an email from my medical school advertising a lecture aimed at local GPs entitled ‘Is Sex Going To Kill Us?’ given by Professor John Guillebaud, Emeritus Professor...
Feeling at home in Belize
By Pam Viele, BV volunteer, Belize The Blue Ventures homestay in the quaint fishing village of Sarteneja was the perfect way to experience the culture of this lovely spot beyond the perspective of a tourist. Like most of the volunteers,...
Reflections from a Belizean fishing village
by Daniel le Roux, BV Volunteer, Belize It seems to me that people usually start these sorts of things with a cliché: “Sarteneja was everything I imagined it would be”, or “I instantly felt at home in Sarteneja”. I hate...
The sweet taste of success in Saturday School
by Marzia Garin, former Education and Youth Coordinator, Madagascar In mid-November, the children at Saturday School had a very special guest: the Swiss NGO ADES (The Association for the Development of Solar Energy). ADES travelled down to Andavadoaka to teach...
Have you ever encountered a live sea cucumber?
by Taylor Mayol, Communications and Programme Development Officer, Madagascar I hadn’t either until just a few months ago. I knew I was in for a wild ride during my fellowship after I dove into a crystal clear turquoise bay in...
Culling me softly…
by Hayley McKenzie, Blue Ventures volunteer, Belize The divers hunt in a pack, eyes peeled for the distinctive feathery spines peeking out from behind a rock, huddled into the reef or perched on top of a spur. On sighting a...
Diving deep in Belize
by Jen Chapman, Country Coordinator, Belize The queen conch (Strombus gigas) fishery in Belize is valued at approximately US$ 3,000,000 per year and engages over 3,000 licensed fishermen nationally. Despite non-destructive fishing methods (free-divers collect conch off the seafloor by...
VIP expeditions
by Thomas Forwood, volunteer, Belize Generally speaking, life at Bacalar Chico Dive Camp (BCDC) is routine. You get up at 5am, breakfast is at 8am and lunch is at 1pm. In between is diving, marshalling duties and other enjoyable responsibilities,...