Category: Volunteer Stories

Straight from the (sea)horse’s mouth… Check out these stories from our expedition volunteers in Madagascar and Belize!

Meeting at Blue Ventures

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...

/ May 13, 2013

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...

/ May 3, 2013

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...

/ May 2, 2013
The team in Madagascar

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...

/ Apr 29, 2013
Beautiful butterflies in the butterfly reserve

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...

/ Apr 22, 2013

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...

/ Mar 28, 2013

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...

/ Mar 28, 2013

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...

/ Mar 25, 2013

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,...

/ Mar 7, 2013

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...

/ Feb 9, 2013

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...

/ Feb 7, 2013

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...

/ Feb 1, 2013

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...

/ Nov 8, 2012

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...

/ Oct 15, 2012

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,...

/ Oct 9, 2012