Diver Magazine May 2001. Want to Fill a Gap?
Added to website: 23 May 2001
Have you got what it takes? Volunteer eco-diving is popular with gap-year students and graduates, but all sorts of people opt out of the rat-race to become temporary reef-dwellers. It can change your life, says veteran John Liddiard, who met the latest crop of conservationists in Roatan in Honduras.
JESSICA PALMER IS A GAP-YEAR STUDENT, AND A BIT OF A SUN BUNNY. While the other volunteers fill out their survey reports in the shade, she takes her notes outside and works on her tan.
“I did my A-levels in June, then applied to Coral Cay Conservation while working hard to earn some money to pay for it,” she tells me as we sit in the afternoon sun at the end of the pier. “I managed to save enough for two months on the expedition.” Clearly not superstitious, she adds: “I arrived on Friday the 13th on a Russian turboprop aeroplane!
“The trip is exactly what I hoped for,” says Jessica. “Lots of people getting on well together, all interested in the science and enjoying the diving.
“The living conditions and food are better than I expected, because before the trip I’d seen pics of camping in Belize. I haven’t missed home at all. The lack of communications made it easier; I could just forget about home completely.”
Jessica has learned to dive on the expedition. “Completing the course was one of the high spots and I hope to do Rescue Diver before I return.” Another highlight was provided by a pod of dolphins: “We saw them from the base and rushed out in a boat to snorkel with them. They rode the bow wave, then we drove ahead, jumped in and watched them circle and pass.”
Ten years ago, I joined one of the early Coral Cay Conservation expeditions. I spent three months at Southwater Cay in Belize, learning about corals and fish, diving, surveying the reef and lagoon, and doing my share of the chores.
I left Belize feeling I had achieved something. Pete Raines, one of CCC’s founding directors, had told me the experience would change my life. I couldn’t see it then, but it was part of a chain of events that resulted in my giving up the corporate rat-race and writing for Diver.
CCC has grown since then. It now has a full-time expedition in the Philippines, short-term expeditions have been completed at several other locations and new projects start this year in Fiji, US Samoa, Papua New Guinea, Malaysia and Eritrea. CCC has won international awards for its work with coral reefs and its use of volunteer-workers.
The Belize expedition moved north to Calabash Cay, built a marine research centre, completed its scientific work in Belize and moved south to the Bay Islands of Honduras, first Utilla and now Roatan. I visited the site for a couple of weeks last November to see how things were going.
Read the full article Want to Fill a Gap?.
