Career Break to St Helene, Honduras
Added to website: 15 July 2005
As we were bouncing up and down, sea water splashing and soaking through our clothes I thought “Oh my God, not again”. We were taking the 30 minute boat trip to the expedition site on St Helene, having just met the rest of the new volunteers and Richard, our expedition leader, at the island’s airport. It was April, and Rob and I had spent four months before that on board a boat, sailing from Brazil to Antigua and the around the Caribbean. We were used to rough seas and salty skin but had just started enjoying dry land and wearing decent smelling clothes again.
When we arrived at the jetty, sopping wet and slightly bruised!, we were greeted with the lovely smiling bronzed faces of the current volunteers, who helped us and our gear out of the boat. After a few minutes of ten way conversations “my name’s Charlie/Tom/Becca/etc - nice to see you - it’s boiling here - how was your journey? - did you bring any post? - these are mosquito bites, honest - blimey you’re pale/brown! - where were you before this? is it raining at home?” the collection of squeaky new arrivals dumped our heavy bags and had a cup of tea and a ‘welcome’ talk from Richard. With the do’s and don’ts, water, toilet and general island etiquette covered, we were left to settle in and look around our new home for the next few months.
I can say that the immediate and overwhelming fondness I felt for Helene grew and grew over the months we spent there. The intense few weeks of science and scuba training, 5.30am starts and long days that ended in a happy and fulfiled ‘I’ve done something great today’ feeling, the people we were surrounded by (other volunteers, amazing staff and gorgeous local people), captivating skies and magical dives, made our time on Helene one we’ll never forget. It was far removed from the life and careers we’d left behind in London, but we’d decided to take a risk (30 years old and getting on a bit!) and spend a year travelling, experiencing a different way of living. Life on site was a mix of learning (something new everyday it seemed), laughing, hard work, listening, adapting and enjoying. The time spent surveying that beautiful area of reef made both of us appreciate how delicate and important it is. We’d both love to go back to Helene in a few years to see how things (and people) are and how the area has changed. It’s a great feeling to know that we have done our bit (however small) to help keep those fairy basslets where they should be.
Lindsey Jordan and Rob Aldous,
Project Bay Islands, Honduras,
10 weeks (April - June 2004).
