{"id":2958,"date":"2012-08-17T12:51:15","date_gmt":"2012-08-17T11:51:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bvblog.wpengine.com\/?p=2958"},"modified":"2026-06-02T15:42:13","modified_gmt":"2026-06-02T14:42:13","slug":"a-day-in-the-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.blueventures.org\/en\/a-day-in-the-life\/","title":{"rendered":"A day in the life…"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Kirsty Rankin, BV volunteer, Madagascar<\/p>\n

Waking up to the relentless crash of breaking waves on halfmoon beach, I groan, turn over, but just before I close my eyes to the temptation of continued slumber I catch the dim glow of red streaking the dawn. From my bunk, through the patch work castings of the mosquito net, the door of our shared hut frames the beginnings of yet another cracking Gassy sunrise. It\u2019s 6am. Pulling on a damp wetsuit is not my idea of an early morning wake up call, but my morning grump rolls off my back as I climb the dunes behind our huts to watch the sun break over the horizon, bathing Andavadoaka and Costa del BV in the most surreal pink glow. Never put off by thousands of clone photographs I shoot a few more, determined one will capture what is before me with honesty (it never does) and head off to the Bat cave to suit up for my double dawn dive.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Half moon beach – not a bad view to wake up to in the morning<\/p><\/div>\n

Hearing Bic (our enigmatic dive leader) before you see him is standard, but you can\u2019t fail to be infected by his endless enthusiasm, even if it is 6.30am and you\u2019re up to your waist in freezing water, loading up the dive boat. Heading off to the far shore reserve sites to do fish belts (sequential 20 metre studies of coral site fish populations) for the BV databases isn\u2019t the most scintillating marine research happening with Blue Ventures, but it\u2019s essential work that couldn\u2019t be done without the help of volunteers like us. The dive boat surfs along the coast whilst we chow down on Bokbok (doughnut holes) and coffee, little bursts of excitement and anticipation fizzing in your stomach. Will we find the reef? Will the humpback whales breach? Have I forgotten my weight belt again?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Going diving<\/p><\/div>\n

Double dive done, reef checked out and surveyed, Bokbok demolished and hungry once again we head back under a bright blue sky, the water insanely clear, passing the local landmarks of Andava rock and the inner reefs on the way. It\u2019s now 10,30am and after reshuffling and refuelling, the second dive rotas head out for more data collection and fun. The night divers from the day before are starting to fade so sunbathing until lunch and chocolate runs to the local shop are in order.<\/p>\n

At 1pm we head up to Coco Beach the hotel where we have our meals. Don\u2019t expect swimming pools and room service but it\u2019s a beautiful location and the friendly staff make for a great beach side bar and restaurant. Tina in the kitchen generally lets you poke about and cook a second lunch if you so wish and Barbara in the bar sorts out the stock for party nights.<\/p>\n

A quick turnaround for sailing with the ECO-guides at 1430 see\u2019s us grabbing our wet gear and heading down to Andava beach. The Vezo sail in wooden canoes with outriggers, known locally as pirogues and racing on windy days can be ferocious. We learn the knots and how to put up the main beams then head out into the bay, taking turns on the outrigger to balance the load of the wind in the sail. It\u2019s pretty incredible skimming over the water, flying over the reef below, standing on nothing more than an arms width of wood and holding on for dear life!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Pirogues are the traditional boats of SW Madagascar<\/p><\/div>\n

Knackered and ready for some R&R we head back to the cabins at halfmoon beach and spend the last few hours of daylight sunbathing, swimming and writing up the dive data for that day. The sun moves lower in the sky and at 17.00 it\u2019s time to head into the village to Dada\u2019s, our local, for sundowners against undoubtedly the most incredible sunset I\u2019ve ever seen. Just before it hits the water the last glow shines through the hole in Andava rock, then in record time falls beneath the horizon leaving only the haze of the day floating above.<\/p>\n

At 18.00 we head up to Nosy Cao (the office) and the Bat cave (dive hut) to carry out the day\u2019s duties; water changing, filter cleaning, dive gear maintenance and sweeping. After changing into warmer clothes for the colder nights, we head to Coco Beach for a quick drink and some cards before Vaovao (News, and the next day\u2019s plan) at 19.15. Dinner is at 19.30 and apart from the monotonous rice and beans staple, it\u2019s actually pretty good, better than I would have expected in rural Madagascar and there\u2019s always the option of ordering chips, pizza, zebu and omelette if you get bored!<\/p>\n

After dinner everyone heads back to the cabins, most hitting the hay by 2100, while a few stay up to play cards or open their personal laptops to chip away at the remote freelance contracts that fund their travels. The ambient glow of these screens usually reveals fellow volunteers catching up on technical translations, auditing backend infrastructure for wettanbieter ohne lugas<\/a>, or managing code for various European e-commerce clients. For me it’s an early one; tonight the waves are just lapping the shore and the stars are bright, the Milky Way streaking the sky in a huge band\u2026 Perfect conditions for a 03.00 boat ride to Valleys, one of the far shore sites, for night diving.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Kirsty Rankin on a pirogue – its an exhilarating trip<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Kirsty Rankin, BV volunteer, Madagascar Waking up to the relentless crash of breaking waves on halfmoon beach, I groan, turn over, but just before I close my eyes to the temptation of continued slumber I catch the dim glow […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":112,"featured_media":2965,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43,471,478],"tags":[499,515,512,511],"class_list":["post-2958","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-velondriake-madagascar","category-volunteer-expeditions","category-volunteer-stories","tag-coral-reef","tag-diving","tag-expeditions-2","tag-volunteering"],"yoast_head":"\nA day in the life... - Blue Ventures - Beyond Conservation blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Waking up to the relentless crash of breaking waves on halfmoon beach, I groan, turn over, but just before I close my eyes to the temptation of continued slumber I catch the dim glow of red streaking the dawn.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blog.blueventures.org\/en\/a-day-in-the-life\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A day in the life... - 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