Hard to get to Dumagete, Harder to Leave

Next on our itinerary was Dumagete on the southern coast of Negros. However, we had a problem in the that the ferry from Bohol to there wasn't running that week. So after some discussion we decided that we had to backtrack to Cebu and get a ferry from there. We stayed the night in Moalboal a village almost completely dedicated to diving. Nick had stayed the week before and a friend of his was doing his dive master there. We had a good night playing pool in their favorite bar before heading to Dumagete the next day.

I really enjoyed my stay in Dumagete - so much so I left a lot later than I had expected. The town had a large university and s o the atmosphere was really cool. In amongst a lot of chilling out I did some cool stuff as well as having some good nights out.

I visited Centrop (The Center for Tropical Conservation Studies) where they are researching and breeding some of the Visaya's endangered animals including the warty pig, spotted deer and bleeding heart pigeon. We even got a personal tour by the zookeeper! We also visited the Marine Labs of the university which had some interesting displays and some live specimens. It'd be a nice place to work :)

I also got to some diving whilst I was there. We went to dive an island called Apo which is a great example of how MPAs and ecotourism can work. I also did a 'muck dive' in Dauin which there is dark sand beach.

Finally I went to visit the twin lakes and some water falls on a day trip.

As well as the sights I think the thing I will remember Dumagete for is the cake! There were loads of great (and cheap) cafes and bakeries which you could get amazing gateaux and muffins.

Dumagete was where Nick (and also Helen who had joined us on a holiday from the Thresher shark Project) and I said our goodbyes and I headed off to the next stop on my journey.

Abi
xxx

Beautiful Bohol

So I have put up the photos from Bohol but not explained what I've been up to - so here goes!

We (Nick and I) got the ferry from Cebu to Bohol at lunch time. The terminal was pretty well organised and it was a bit like going to the airport with checking in and whatnot. The ferry was also pretty comfortable but we were disappointed we couldn't go outside. When we arrive we went straight to or accommodation Nuts Huts which were in the interior of the island. Once we were dropped off it was a bit of a trek on a dirt track to get there and then lots and lots of steps but it was well worth it. We stayed in a traditional wooden hut which looked out onto the Lomboc river. The river was the gorgeous shade of Wedgwood green.

The only thing which spoilt the tranquility a few times a day were the cruise boats the went by on the river. They were set up for tourists to have dinner whilst listening to some dodgy live music - that we were also subjected to. We went for a swim in the river up to the falls and we even saw one boat with a wedding reception on it!

Whilst on Bohol we got up to all of the typical toursisty things including going to the Chocolate Hills - which looked exactly like the photos. We also went to see the Tarsiers at the Tarsier Sanctuary. It was a really good day and we got to see the little primates really close up. There was also a film telling you about them and Nick and IU went on a massive trek inside the protected forest area.

After Nuts Huts we moved on for a night at the Bohol Bee Farm. This was an organic farm that was set up by a local woman. Originally she also kept bees there but most of the hives have been moved to another part of the island. The room was really nice as was it's surroundings. We had a tour of the farm where we saw where the herbs, fruit and veg were grown. I got to hold a frame from the bee hive and didn't get stung and we had a go on the loom that the ladies were using to make cloth for the crafts. The food at the Bee Farm was amazing. the best thing were the salads as they all came with lots of edible flowers in them :)

After that we tried to make our way to the next island our trip.

Abi
xxx

Sailing and Cebu

I left Napantao very early on Wednesday morning and headed to Maasin. Here I met the crew of the South Sea Nomads. Rich was a former SO at CCC and, along with Katie, Kitt and boat captain Arial, had built a boat which they were sailing to Malaysia in order to set up a dive operation. They had arrived at CCC and few weeks earlier for a Saturday night and we had also bumped into them whilst in Maasin. Luckily for me they were due to start their epic voyage on the day I was leaving CCC and offered to take me along! The boat was moored on a small island close to Maasin which was a bit of a holiday resort – but mid week it was really quiet. The paperwork they require took some time coming through so we stayed there for my first night. We had a BBQ on the beach with some really yummy fish and veggies.

The next day we set off (a little later than planned) for Cebu. It was really cool to see the crew (inc. puppies Jack and Lettie) get so excited to be starting something they had been planning and working on for so long. The crossing was good and I fell asleep at the front of the boat (and got quite sunburnt too!). We arrive into Cebu just as it was getting dark which made the city look really pretty but made docking just a little more stressful. But all was well in the end and we set off into town for a TGI Friday and a few drinks.

The next day was pretty stressful one for me. I had lots of things to sort out and buy before setting of travelling proper and spent most of the day in the two big shopping malls of Cebu. In the evening though I went to the cinema which was great. It was a big cinema but the tickets were about £2.50! They played the national anthem before the film (like they do before just about anything) and the power went down for a few minutes in the middle of the film.

On Saturday morning I said goodbye to the crew, thanked them for their kindness and wished them luck for the rest of the journey. I set off to SM mall to meet Nick, from the Thresher Shark Project, who would be my travelling buddy for the next couple of weeks.

Last Adventures at CCC

Lots of exciting things happened in my last few weeks at CCC. Tim and Petchy, the new SOs, did really well in learning the ropes and with my last SDP finished I was able to get in the water and diving on surveys a lot more. However, we all took a break from diving to spend a few nights in the provincial capital of Southern Leyte, Maasin. It was the 50^th anniversary of the region and we had been invited to take part in the celebrations. The first evening we went down to the Capitol – a big grassy area in front of the government buildings. There they were holding the Miss Southern Leyte beauty pageant on the massive stage. All around were food and other stalls; it was just like a festival. The next morning was the main event and we gathered on the main street for the big parade. Everyone seemed to be taking part from school children to government officials at all levels. Every so often there was a marching band and majorettes to keep the pace. We were near the end of the parade and all walked with our matching t-shirts behind our banner. It was really fun, despite the light drizzle, and everyone watching liked to wave and cheer. I felt really proud and honoured to be invited to take part in such an important occasion. When the parade finished, back at the Capitol, there was a short ceremony and Rach, Holly and I were invited to sit on the stage during it. I got to meet the governor of Southern Leyte but it was a little embarrassing as we were all wearing shorts and t-shirts and looking a bit bedraggled while everyone else were in the poshest outfits! Afterward we were free to enjoy all of the things that had been put on such as stalls with crafts from each of the regions in S. Leyte. And of course there was also time to fit in some shopping in the ‘big city’ for things we don’t get at Napantao. That evening we had our own celebrations as it was Holly and Rach’s birthdays while we were away. The next morning all the girls went to a beauty salon for birthday treatments.

On Saturday we had yet more celebrations for the birthdays (inc. Emily’s too) and my last Saturday night. We all went into Liloan to a bar for BBQ and karaoke which was lots of fun.

On Wednesday it was time for me to say goodbye to CCC and hit the road for a few weeks of travel. Tuesday was a really emotional day as I had a lot of things to sort out and really didn’t want to leave. On Tuesday evening we had the traditional goodbye after dinner. Everyone especially Rach and Holly were really nice and I even got presents! I had to say a few words and said how inspirational the people I’d met and the things I’d seen were.

UPDATE:

EXCITING NEWS - I am now a qualified PADI Dive Master! (All bar some pesky paperwork...) Me, Rach, Holly & Fabrice all completed the course yesterday and are really chuffed to have got this far. We had a bit of a celebration on the beach last night with a hog roast. I ate A LOT of cake too!
So I'll see you all underwater soon!!
xx

Under the Sea

So I hope that you’ve been keeping up to date with everything that I’m up to by looking at my Fickr photo stream (see the link above). A picture says a thousand words after all. But I thought I was well overdue for a bit of a blog update.


Lots and lots have been going on since I last wrote. One big thing is that Claire, my fellow Science Officer left to go back home about a month ago. This left me to do all of the Science Officer stuff all by myself. It was quite daunting at first especially since Claire was so amazing and I was still learning new stuff from her on her last day. It was a pretty hectic few weeks as I ran the Science Development Program as well as going out on the boat for surveys. But I survived and don’t think I did too badly particularly with help from Rach our Project Scientist. Now we have three Science Officers because Tim and Chris arrived to take over last week. I have just started my last SDP and although it’s great to be showing the boys the ropes it’s also really sad to have to let things go.
I’ve also been busy doing my Dive Master training. PADI Diver Master is the next SCUBA qualification up after the Rescue Diver course which I completed a couple of months ago. It’s a professional qualification which means I can use it to work doing things like guiding divers and helping instructors doing courses. The training programme involves all sorts of things like theory exams, practical tasks (e.g. a rescue scenario & mapping an area), swimming tests and then an internship. I have been helping Instructor Emily (and now also Mark) with things like checkout dives and the dive training vols do. It’s been really good to hone all of my skills. I can even swim along with no mask without any worries!
I have also been doing lots of cool diving too. I arrived with 26 logged dives and hit 100 two weeks ago. It’s tradition to go a bit silly for that and so I went out in just my bikini and got graffitied all over me. Turned out it was mostly permanent marker so it took a while to come off! The water here is now really warm. It’s usually about 29degC which means that even a wimp like me doesn’t need to wear a wet suit. Instead I just wear board shorts and a thin rash vest.
Jollies on Saturdays have been really nice the last couple of weeks. In the morning we often dive the south wall at the edge of site. It’s an amazing place and lonely planet actually named it one of the top dive sites in the Philippines! Week before last I saw a really big turtle. In fact lots have been seen around and they’ve even been nesting on a near by beach. The best spot for me last week was a clown trigger fish which was something I’d been waiting to see for ages. Another really exciting thing in the water is our resident family of black tip reef sharks. These like to hang around in the shallows just outside base. Because they’re really quite small (the biggest is only about 1m long) they get really shallow in about .5m of water and so are perfect to spot when snorkelling. There seems to have been an increase in numbers recently and some people have see 10 at once!
Last month I also went on holiday for a long weekend. I went over to Padre Burgos to a dive resort there. It was nice to live in a bit of luxury for a couple of days – hot running water, flushing toilets and some different food! I did some amazing dives whilst I was there too and saw some really cool, rare stuff. I went on a night dive around the pier which was a new experience. It was really quite spooky but I saw a mandarin fish and a crab jumped on my head! I also dived on their house reef and saw a pygmy seahorse. My favourite thing I saw though was some white ornate ghost pipe fish. Although I had seen a dark one on the house reef the week before.

A couple of weeks ago we also did a Crown of Thorns clean up at Padre Burgos. Crown of Thorns seastars are predators of coral and can get really out of control and decimate a reef. Therefore we always try to keep an eye on them and remove them when numbers start to increase. You have to do it really carefully though as they have poisonous spines and release all of their larvae when stressed!

Last Sunday we went on another Whaleshark watching trip. We had an amazing experience with a female who kept hanging around the boat. She was feeding with her mouth open and we were able to get really close (although not closer than 5m) because she wasn’t really swimming quickly at all but staying in the same place. I was so pleased that my last trip was a great success.
Saturday nights have continued to be lots of fun with plenty of opportunities to dress up. Themes have included circus, the letter ‘D’ and ‘anything but clothes. Photos to follow. We’ve also been up to lots of fun things in the community like planting Mangrove trees, open days and attending the Napantao fiesta :)
I can’t believe I have less then three weeks to go here. Then it’s off on some travels around the rest of the Philippines!

Love
Abi
xxx

Workin' 6 'til 10

So a few people have commented on how it doesn’t seem that I actually do much work. I think mainly because I’ve been writing about exciting things rather than the day to day. So with a new batch of volunteers just arrived or dive trained I thought it was the perfect opportunity to let you know how I am earning my keep. As one third of ‘Team Science’, as we are affectionately known, I help to keep the science which goes on running smoothly.

One of the central aims of the Coral Cay expeditions is to gather data about the coral reefs in the area. This data can be used in a variety of ways to help conservation efforts here in the bay, in the Philippines and also worldwide. Firstly we want to get a picture of what is actually out there. You can’t protect something if you don’t know what that something is. Our data is also be used to find suitable sites to set up MPAs (Marine Protected Areas), compose reports which go to local government and then to monitor what affect they are having on reef health. We also do Reef Check surveys which contribute to a world wide data collection effort.

The most important type of survey which we do, and the ones which go ahead throughout the year (rather than every 6 months as with reef check and MPA surveys), are baseline surveys. These are the most in depth and look at everything found on the reef; corals, algae, invertebrates, fish and the physical environment. Coral Cay aims to make a detailed map of the coast of Southern Leyte using this information. With each transect on which we record data only 250m apart this is a massive task! To make things easier the coast is divided into 1km long stretches and currently we are focusing on just 3 of these which are fairly close to base. Each survey starts at a depth of 24m meters and then progresses into shore. This usually quite a long way so each transect will take several dives to complete.

For the past couple of weeks we have been moving on with surveys while we have had at least one survey team (4 divers). I have spent a lot of time on the boat (the way we travel to survey sites) as Boat Marshall. This job includes being on the boat to check that all the divers are safe, inform Delia of the divers’ status and make sure they enter the water at the right point (using GPS) as well as noting down data such as weather and boat activity on the surface. I am also responsible for deciding exactly where we are going to go in a day and what volunteers are doing what job. I also have to log what we have done and help with the entry of the data into the computer.

But before any volunteer can take part in a survey they have to know how to do one and what it is they’re looking at. This is where SDP (Science Development Programme) comes in. This is a course that lasts about 10 days where the volunteers learn how to identify basically everything on the reef as well as the survey techniques they will be using and therefore become ‘validated’. This is done though lectures, ‘pointy’ dives where vols get to see in the field what they have just learnt about in the classroom and several tests. For each topic there is a computer slideshow test, a pointy test on a dive (where a validated vol points at organisms to identify) and trails which are permanent transects which mimic what happens on a real survey.

Currently Claire (the other SO) is away in Malupasca visiting the Thresher Shark Project so this time I’m all on own to teach and organise SDP (with some help from Project Scientist Rachel). So far it’s been good. Although the group is massive it was great to see them so happy after coming up from their first pointy dive. I’m really excited to teach them all the cool stuff I know and get them out doing surveys.

So I am a busy bee doing all sorts of things in the name of conservation science!

Love

Abi

xxx

Seven Weeks

I have just realised I’ve been on site for nearly 7 weeks. Time has flown by but it’s also made me realise how rubbish I’ve been at updating. I hope everyone has seen the photos that I’ve been putting up on Flickr though – if not heck out the link above.

I thought I’d tell you about some of the things that I’ve been getting up to that aren’t aprt of the day to day business of the site.

A big part of Coral Cay’s work is to do with community education and involvement. There’s no point in doing the science if the people who are directly affected by and have an impact on the health of the reef are not knowledgeable and enthusiastic about conservation issues. This means the Bridget the Education officer and Rachel the Project Scientist spend at lot of the time going out and about. But sometimes the vols can get involved too. The first week I was on site we took everyone on the boat to the nearby town of Santa Paz. Here we did a reef and beach clean as well as a presentation about waste management for the local kids. It was a lot of fun and I even had to dress up in full SCUBA gear to show how it all worked!

We also get involved with school children (and the wider community) by doing wall paintings. We’ve had a couple of sessions at the schools in Napantao where we have adorned the boring walls with a multitude of brightly coloured sea creatures. Again, this is really good fun; especially when the children get involved.

We have also gone to play San Francisco at basketball. Basketball is the Philippines national sport and the basketball court is often the centre of the community. It also means they take their game very seriously. At first we put up a good fight but then we decided that us girls should show them how it’s done. It kind of got a bit silly after that…

On a completely different note, a couple of Saturdays ago we all went to the local Karaoke place. It wasn’t a bar as such but an open wooden shack with the machine inside. These karaoke machines are all over the place and are just like an arcade game – you put in the money and make your choice. But as always we had a brilliant time and some people shone out as real performers!

We have also been on a couple of trips on Sundays. The best was the waterfall trip (post karaoke). We all got on a hired bus and travelled a little distance down the coast. It was just like a school trip complete with singing on the way. It was then about an hour and a half walk (and seven river crossings) to get to our destination. Walking through the forest was really exciting and we saw loads of cool bugs on the way. Sometimes the trail was pretty hairy with some steep slopes and rocks to climb over but the singing continued. Arriving at the waterfall was amazing. It just looked just like the ones in the shampoo adverts. We immediately jumped in to cool down and wash off. It was so nice to but fully immersed in fresh water even if it was a little cold. There were lots of ledges where you could sit and even a ‘Jacuzzi’ where there was a seat right in where the water flowed. We had our picnic sat on the rocks before setting off back down the river to the bus.

Last week was a bit different on site because of Holy Week. All of the staff went home to their families so there was no diving and we had to fend for ourselves. But we used the time well and I completed my Rescue Diver training (because we didn’t have to go deeper tan 5m). They were right when they said it would probably be the most fun course. We spent almost the whole day in the water practicing how to deal with different emergencies; in particular dealing with a panicked diver who will just lash out and probably try to push you down. Bridget (who is also an assistant instructor) did a great job of trying to drown us all. Another important thing we learnt was how to give rescue breaths in the water while towing a person to safety. That was tiring! Then we put everything together in some scenarios. I had to deal with Nick who had run out of air underwater, panicked, got cramp and then finally stopped breathing. Dragging someone who is at least 50% larger than you onto a beach is not easy.

I also went into Liloan with Holly to do resupply (aka the shopping). It was really good to get off site and see a bit of ‘real life’.

On Easter day itself we had been invited to a festival in Santa Paz. Some of us arrive at about 9.30am to find that we had either missed it or it wasn’t due to start until much later. But Rodrigo, the town captain, took us to the local karaoke bar and we sang out hearts out. This time in the morning g beat karaoke queen Claire’s record which I was quite proud of. And we got 100% score for one of the songs. The next day we were invited back in the evening for the singing contest which was really quite funny.

But this week things have been back to normal and I have been involved in the teaching of vols and running of surveys as usual. But in exciting news I have started my training to become a Dive Master. It’ll be hard work but an amazing qualification to have.

Keep those e-mails and comments coming. It’s great to hear from back home :)

Love

Abi

xxx

Where am I?

Things are still busy, busy, busy here and set to get busier with four new arrivals today. But I thought I’d tell you a bit about the place that I’m calling home for this next 5 months.


The CCC base is called Napantao Dive Resort and is unsurprisingly found next to the village of Napantao. We’re in the big bay at the bottom of Leyte (called Sogod bay) and are actually situated on the large island at the bottom of the eastern peninsular.

Our base is pretty much self contained with the village and one tiny shop at the top of a very steep hill. We are by no means in the middle of nowhere like on Hoga but it does feel a bit like that some times; especially because volunteers aren’t allowed off site unless on an organised trip. Although I haven’t been anywhere much yet staff like the Bridget the Education Officer, Rachel the Project Scientist and Holly the Expedition Leader are always off seeing people and doing things in the area and even further afield.


We have one main building which is basically a large dining hall with bedrooms coming off it. I am sharing my room with Bridget who is a high school teacher from Canada. Although the room is pretty basic with only a little bit of furniture we have made it feel quite homely. (Although any pictures, photos, drawings etc that you can send to brighten the place up would be most welcome.) Each room also has an ensuite toilet and shower. The only problem is that they are not plumbed in! However, there is a well where you can go and have a shower or pick up fresh water to take back to your room.


One of the perks of being staff or a long term volunteer is having a front room. These are on the front and I get to wake up to the view of the sea every morning. The base also has a terrace out front with bamboo benches to sit on. The best bit is that the building is only about 10m from the water. The shore is rocky and so there is a wall in front with the water below. When we go diving just outside the base we just go down some steps and there we are!

The actual view from my bedroom window

There is also a Science Room; where I am sat right now, which has two computers, a blackboard and lots of bits of equipment etc. This is the classroom where are the dive and science teaching takes place and I will spending a lot of my time in here. There’s also a kitchen where Tata, the cook, makes his yummy dinners for us. Everyone takes it in turns to do chores (although the staff less so) like cleaning, washing up and making breakfast. Making breakfast is the least favourite chore because it involves getting up at 5:30am so that the meal is ready for 6:00am. But you get the fun of waking everyone up with the lunch bell and your favourite tune blasted out loud. Breakfast is at 6am most days with lunch at 12noon and dinner at 6pm. In between times is science and diving but more about that another time.


In the main room there is also the ‘Whale Shark Bar’ which is a bar with a big whale shark painted on it. There are fishy things painted on all the walls. The cool thing is you get to sign your name on the bar if you see one :)


I hope everyone at home isn’t too cold. Summer is starting here and it’s just getting hotter and hotter. To make you feel better there has been some rain today and a heavy downpour last night. Also, it isn’t sunny everyday with some clouds in the sky.


It’s been lovely too read all of your e-mails and comments. I’m doing my best to reply but be assured that I am reading them!


Love


Abi
xxx

WHALE SHARK!

Hi everyone!
Things have been really busy here and the internet, although existant, is really slow but I promise that I will post soon about CCC life here at Napanto Dive Resort.

However, I had to tell you right away about the coolest day I had yesterday. As the title suggests I went on a Whale Shark spotting trip. Whale Sharks are the biggest fish in world and are massive. Although they mainly live in the open ocean they do come and feed closer to shore every so often and it just so happens that my part of the Philippines is one of the places where they do this! So we all got on the boat yesterday morning and went off to a neighbouring island called Limasawa. Before we had even got to where we were picking up a couple of other people (some scientists working on Thresher Sharks) we saw one! (Well Jessie, one of the boat boys did.) Everyone lept in with their fins, mask and snorkel and swam toward it. I managed to catch up with the Shark's tail for a while but it was just a bit too fast and I couldn't keep up. It was prety amazing all the same.

When we got to the bay they was more excitement and another dive boat was also there. It turned out there was a Shark in the bay. So, once again, we all got in the water. This time the Shark was swimming much slower so it was easy to keep up with it. It was so beautiful with its white spots and looked so graceful in the water even though it was so big. The Shark was only a small one at about 5 meters. We stayed snorkelling with it for what seemed like forever but was probably about half an hour before it swam away into the blue. It was all a bit chaotic because all the fishing boats came out to see too. Hopefully the pictures that some of the group took can be used by the Whale Shark Project to help identify and track these amazing creatures as they travel around the world. He also had a scar on his head that it turned out was from when the municipality boat had hit it with its propeller a few days earlier. But the shark was so tough that the propeller was bent and the wound had healed really quicky (quicker than the local embarresment I guess). Then just as we were leaving another was spotted. This time it was a bit bigger but quickly went deeper.

A Whale Shark (but not the one we saw...)

http://scienceblogs.com/deepseanews/upload/2007/04/Whale-Shark-01_about_utila.jpg

In the afternoon we had a picnic in a little cove with beach and a medow above it with plam trees all around. It just looked like the pictures you get in travel magazines!

I was so tired at the end of the day but it was such an amazing expereince. I hope that I will get to see more (bigger) Whale Sharks while I'm here although I'm not sure about when the season ends. But I am happy to know that my name is now written on the Whale Shark bar on site.

Abi

xxx

P.S. Although they are massive and they are sharks Whale Sharks aren't dangerous - in fact they eat plankton. But not many sharks are dangerous anyway and this is something that CCC is working with the community on - to try and educate people that sharks are not scary!

I've Arrived!

Just a quick note to say that I arived safe and well yesterday evening.
Have been diving today and have started on the science programme to
fast track learning what seems like all the species in the sea!
We're going on an afternoon trip tomorrow to do a reef clean up and
meet with some of the local community.
You may have guessed WE HAVE INTERNET! (Even though there is no
running water...) So you can e-mail me at my normal address and I will
get it and be able to read your lovely thoughts (and even the not so
lovely ones if you want). Also I have a new mobile number so also
e-mail me if you want that.
Abi
xxx

Today's the day!

Today is the day that I start my journey to Napanto (the name of the place I'm going - I think...) As usual things have seemed to creep up on me and there are always things that I haven't got round to doing. But the most important things are ready. I'm hoping that my luggage isn't over weight - I have so many books to take!
As I've said before please keep in touch. I have no idea what the internet situation is like but when and if I get to my e-mail it'd be lovely to see all the news from the UK.
So for now it's so long and I'll see you soon(ish)!
Abi
xxx

Three Days

This is (most of) the stuff I'm planning on taking. I think I must be mad!

 

So my departure date is getting closer and closer. I can’t believe I only have three days left! I now have all of my kit and just have the rather daunting task of packing it all and then probably leaving half of it at home. Apart from a few little bits and bobs to sort out and some frantic learning of fish species I’m all ready.

I thought I’d better let everyone know a bit more about why I’m actually going to some exotic location and how exactly I’ve got someone to pay for (some) of it. As you know I’m going to work/volunteer for an organisation called Coral Cay Conservation who are based in London. They’re working in a range of different places to help conserve coral reefs. In order to effectively implement conservation efforts you need scientific data to find out, for example, how healthy a reef is, if this is changing and what specific threats the reef is facing. You also need to find out if the things you are doing are actually working! Obviously, it would cost lots of money to employ professional scientists to do all of this work and this is where volunteers come in. Coral Cay volunteers pay to come out to the research site and are trained in SCUBA diving and coral reef surveying techniques. As Science Officer I will be helping out with this training and the management of the data we collect. Volunteers are really good for doing this type of work because the survey techniques are pretty straight forward and they are really enthusiastic.

Coral Cay is also highly involved with the local communities. They train local people to survey too so they can help look after their reefs. Volunteers are also involved in education initiatives and visit local schools. Coral Cay have set up several ‘no fishing’ zones in the area too and are working to provide alternative employment for fishermen.

But don’t just take my work for it. Checkout the Coral Cay website for loads more (and possibly more accurate) information.

CORAL CAY CONSERVATION

Abi

xxx 

Making a Splash

 

The week before last I went over to Newcastle to have a go with all of my new SCUBA diving kit in a swimming pool. It was fun to get back into the water and I had a go some of the tricky skill syou have to do when you are learning to dive. Here are couple of pictures and there are more on my Flickr stream (click the link at the top.)

Abi

xxx

THREE WEEKS

http://www.cebu-philippines.net/south-east-asia-map.html 

In three weeks from now I will be sitting on an airplane with no idea what time zone I really am in. I’m off on my travels again.

This time it’s not to get data for me but to work with an organisation to get data for them. Indonesia didn’t put me off and so in my post graduation gap year I wanted to get more experience in tropical coral reef conservation, SCUBA diving and travel – just like I said I would.

I have a job for 20 weeks with Coral Cay Conservation working as a science officer on their site in Southern Leyte, Philippines. I’ll be working with volunteers and other members of staff to survey the reefs in the area as well as working with the local community on various conservation projects. I’m really excited by the prospect of learning new things and being able to pass on my knowledge. Also I am going to get so much better at SCUBA diving as we’ll be diving nearly every day!

After my contract finishes I fly home out of Singapore so I have given myself three weeks to travel there from the Philippines. At the moment I plan to spend some time in the Philippines and then move on to Thailand but this is all subject to change.

I have known that I am going out to the Philippines since January 2009 so it’s amazing to think that it’s now so near. I’ve been doing loads to get ready which has mostly involved buying lots and lots of kit. This includes a full set of SCUBA gear which I will be testing out in a pool in Newcastle on Wednesday. I’ve also had to have yet more immunisation which is less fun. I finish work at the end of this week and that’s when things will get really hectic!

I’m going to try and keep this blog up to date with all that’s happening with me while I’m away. Hopefully the communications will be better this time and I’ll be able to get on the internet more often. If you want to get in touch with me just leave a comment on a post or send me an e-mail.

Abi

xxx