The Camp
The “camp” or base is an old school with dorms on the second floor and class rooms on the ground level. One set is still in mostly usable condition but the other is unsafe on the second floor and the main levels are now exposed to the elements and are used as a laundry room, air tank fill room, workshop, etc. The whole place is owned by Emirates air line, leased by the SNPA (Seychelles National Parks Authority) and then leased to GVI. Nobody is willing to spend any money to fix anything so the GVI operation here might be on a countdown of sorts until the place becomes unsafe or unsanitary at which point I can easily see some pressure being applied to create a resort here, the reef is unbelievable.
The “camp” or base is an old school with dorms on the second floor and class rooms on the ground level. One set is still in mostly usable condition but the other is unsafe on the second floor and the main levels are now exposed to the elements and are used as a laundry room, air tank fill room, workshop, etc. The whole place is owned by Emirates air line, leased by the SNPA (Seychelles National Parks Authority) and then leased to GVI. Nobody is willing to spend any money to fix anything so the GVI operation here might be on a countdown of sorts until the place becomes unsafe or unsanitary at which point I can easily see some pressure being applied to create a resort here, the reef is unbelievable.
Camp Life
Every week we are all divided into random groups. Each group is responsible for one camp duty each day: fill air tanks, cook, clean the bathrooms and classrooms or load and unload the dive boat. Our work week is Sunday to Thursday which leaves us Friday and Saturday to head into town or visit other islands. On Sundays all the shops are closed in the Seychelles so it’s nice of them to arrange things this way for us.
Wake up times depend on the tides so that we can squeeze in as many dives as possible. Wake up can be as early as 05:30 for the boat group or as late at 07:30. Duties start fifteen minutes after wake up and breakfast is called fifteen minutes after that. So things move pretty quickly to start but most days it’s a case of hurry up and wait for your dive slot.
The first two weeks were filled with classes on base orientation, local flora and fauna (tons of fruit and herbs on base to freely pick and eat), fish recognition, survey methodology, emergency first responder training and so on but since then things have been quite idle.
Every week we are all divided into random groups. Each group is responsible for one camp duty each day: fill air tanks, cook, clean the bathrooms and classrooms or load and unload the dive boat. Our work week is Sunday to Thursday which leaves us Friday and Saturday to head into town or visit other islands. On Sundays all the shops are closed in the Seychelles so it’s nice of them to arrange things this way for us.
Wake up times depend on the tides so that we can squeeze in as many dives as possible. Wake up can be as early as 05:30 for the boat group or as late at 07:30. Duties start fifteen minutes after wake up and breakfast is called fifteen minutes after that. So things move pretty quickly to start but most days it’s a case of hurry up and wait for your dive slot.
The first two weeks were filled with classes on base orientation, local flora and fauna (tons of fruit and herbs on base to freely pick and eat), fish recognition, survey methodology, emergency first responder training and so on but since then things have been quite idle.
Tropical Climate and the Mother Effin Ocean
My first week here was complete misery solely because of the humidity. I sweated all day and all night for ten days straight until my body finally got acclimatized. Naturally this caused heat rashes in the most uncomfortable of places: inseam, elbows and knees. Walking was a torture and I looked like John Wayne with hemorrhoids. By week three most of that was under control but the small accumulated cuts and scrapes that come with rough living started to become a big worry. More about that in a minute.
There had been no mosquitoes in the dorm that I could see so after two weeks of sweaty nights sleeping under a mosquito net and being denied the airflow from the fans I decided to go commando, er, without the net. Enter the blister-bug. These things have the same acid as wart remover under their carapace so if you, for example, roll over on one at night and break the shell you get a bad blister. If scratched or further rolled on and scraped on sheets etc it will burst and become an open sore (almost exactly like a burst blister). I must have killed one behind my knee because the next morning I had 4 pea sized open sores and another 4 the same size on my waist with several smaller ones in tow, like the bug guts got smeared around a bit.
Back to small cuts becoming a big problem. Salt water at home is sterile and good for infections. The ocean is a cesspool of bacteria and bio-matter (ymmm, bio-matter) that prevents healing and causes infection. So those pea sized blister sites are now dime sized and mildly infected, kept under control only by multiple daily applications of Polysporin. I will soon need to decide if I can make it through the last week or perhaps miss a dive or two and stay dry for a few days to allow some faster healing to occur. Either way the 30 hour trip home is going to suck not to mention suiting up for hockey.
Oct 18 – Nov 3
The tablet died taking with it my blog to date. Why I didn’t save to the memory card instead of the hard drive I’ll never know but all my whining and complaining of the first two weeks is no longer retrievable. No big loss right?
The tablet died taking with it my blog to date. Why I didn’t save to the memory card instead of the hard drive I’ll never know but all my whining and complaining of the first two weeks is no longer retrievable. No big loss right?
Tuesday, Nov 4th
Each DMT (Dive Master in Training) has to come up with and lead a group activity. Lee did the Beach Olympics and now Dorothy is doing: Assassination. I have to “kill” Sara in the Kit Up area with a funnel. I think it will be difficult because unless you are going diving there’s no reason to be there and if you’re going diving then there will be 6-8 others there as well and the kill cannot be witnessed. Still, I have concealed a funnel near the edge of the Kit Up area in hopes of an opportunistic and quick assassination.
The Fish Methodology training dive today with Martino was a bit of a gong show. He’s a terrific guy and pretty funny to boot but maybe not so good yet underwater, yeah? Anyway I got all my shit done and was able to demonstrate I both knew and anticipated each step but I’m a little disappointed that I didn’t do well enough to get signed off. I need to buddy check more often so as not to lose them or get too far separated when I’m counting fish and they are behind reeling in the tape.
Each DMT (Dive Master in Training) has to come up with and lead a group activity. Lee did the Beach Olympics and now Dorothy is doing: Assassination. I have to “kill” Sara in the Kit Up area with a funnel. I think it will be difficult because unless you are going diving there’s no reason to be there and if you’re going diving then there will be 6-8 others there as well and the kill cannot be witnessed. Still, I have concealed a funnel near the edge of the Kit Up area in hopes of an opportunistic and quick assassination.
The Fish Methodology training dive today with Martino was a bit of a gong show. He’s a terrific guy and pretty funny to boot but maybe not so good yet underwater, yeah? Anyway I got all my shit done and was able to demonstrate I both knew and anticipated each step but I’m a little disappointed that I didn’t do well enough to get signed off. I need to buddy check more often so as not to lose them or get too far separated when I’m counting fish and they are behind reeling in the tape.
Wednesday, November 5th
Tank duty today. I slept in so will have to take the late shift and hopefully someone will come out and bring me some dinner. EFR (emergency first responder) course today wrapped up with doing practical drills and scenarios, all of us making up funny ailments for diagnosis. Martino’s was a “weirdness” caused by two weeks abstinence and still taking Viagra. I decided to pay the 500 SCR for the certification, that’s good for 2 years and is a pre-req for rescue diver. I’m not sure I’ll go for that next cert but this way I don’t have to re-take the EFR course.
They paired Elsbeth and I for another fish methodology training dive. There was a three to four meter surge because we were shallow (5m) but we got everything done and I’m now fully signed off and clear to begin actual fish surveys! I feel very proud; all my hard work this year on buoyancy, breathing, trim, studying fish and methodology on the road trip all paid off and I’m the first one of the new group to get signed off.
Tonight is movie night and I think we will be watching Blackfish. Aless is a “teen activist”, her words, and is really passionate about the topic. It seems to resonate with most of the others as well.
I managed to kill Sara this morning on her way to breakfast so now I have to kill Aless in the BBQ Pit with the fake zombie mannequin head... yeesh.
Tank duty today. I slept in so will have to take the late shift and hopefully someone will come out and bring me some dinner. EFR (emergency first responder) course today wrapped up with doing practical drills and scenarios, all of us making up funny ailments for diagnosis. Martino’s was a “weirdness” caused by two weeks abstinence and still taking Viagra. I decided to pay the 500 SCR for the certification, that’s good for 2 years and is a pre-req for rescue diver. I’m not sure I’ll go for that next cert but this way I don’t have to re-take the EFR course.
They paired Elsbeth and I for another fish methodology training dive. There was a three to four meter surge because we were shallow (5m) but we got everything done and I’m now fully signed off and clear to begin actual fish surveys! I feel very proud; all my hard work this year on buoyancy, breathing, trim, studying fish and methodology on the road trip all paid off and I’m the first one of the new group to get signed off.
Tonight is movie night and I think we will be watching Blackfish. Aless is a “teen activist”, her words, and is really passionate about the topic. It seems to resonate with most of the others as well.
I managed to kill Sara this morning on her way to breakfast so now I have to kill Aless in the BBQ Pit with the fake zombie mannequin head... yeesh.
Thursday, November 6th
Tonight is BBQ night, which typically turns into a drink fest and hook-up night. I’m nearing the end of my stay and my cash so I’ll be sticking around base and might finally snorkel to “Secret Beach” which is a modest swim out around the first point to the right. Martino said he wanted to go too so I hope he considers waiting till Saturday. I think I want to take a day off from the water and let the infections have a day to heal up some.
I did my first fish survey today and it was with Sara. She’s not popular around camp for feeding the feral cats which encourages them to enter the dorms and exposes us to pink eye, fleas, you name it (one peed on a staff member’s bed). But she is soft spoken and seems nice otherwise. She’s also fairly decent in the water and knew the steps to follow for the methodology so it went pretty well even if we saw SFA for fish. I’m looking forward to five more days of diving (hopefully 6 dives?) and a chance to buddy up with some of the people I know a little better. As it turns out I’m one of only a handful that came in here with more than 50 dives, which probably explains the slow pace of the training. Well that and the limited number of tanks we can fill in a day, small numbers of staff to supervise and evaluate dives and of course only the one boat. That’s probably my biggest disappointment, only one dive a day.
On Wednesday morning Danny complained, sort of in passing, that all the Snicker’s bars from the PX had been eaten already. I mentioned I had three in my personal stash and I’d trade one for a heads up next time he was driving into town with the van. So later that day when I was snorkelling with the kid’s from President’s Village I bought two Snickers from the little shop there for 20 SCR and put them in the staff fridge with his name on them. Today he quietly gave me a heads up that he would be running into town tomorrow morning for a quick trip, back by noon. Yeah buddy, that’s how I roll.
Tonight is BBQ night, which typically turns into a drink fest and hook-up night. I’m nearing the end of my stay and my cash so I’ll be sticking around base and might finally snorkel to “Secret Beach” which is a modest swim out around the first point to the right. Martino said he wanted to go too so I hope he considers waiting till Saturday. I think I want to take a day off from the water and let the infections have a day to heal up some.
I did my first fish survey today and it was with Sara. She’s not popular around camp for feeding the feral cats which encourages them to enter the dorms and exposes us to pink eye, fleas, you name it (one peed on a staff member’s bed). But she is soft spoken and seems nice otherwise. She’s also fairly decent in the water and knew the steps to follow for the methodology so it went pretty well even if we saw SFA for fish. I’m looking forward to five more days of diving (hopefully 6 dives?) and a chance to buddy up with some of the people I know a little better. As it turns out I’m one of only a handful that came in here with more than 50 dives, which probably explains the slow pace of the training. Well that and the limited number of tanks we can fill in a day, small numbers of staff to supervise and evaluate dives and of course only the one boat. That’s probably my biggest disappointment, only one dive a day.
On Wednesday morning Danny complained, sort of in passing, that all the Snicker’s bars from the PX had been eaten already. I mentioned I had three in my personal stash and I’d trade one for a heads up next time he was driving into town with the van. So later that day when I was snorkelling with the kid’s from President’s Village I bought two Snickers from the little shop there for 20 SCR and put them in the staff fridge with his name on them. Today he quietly gave me a heads up that he would be running into town tomorrow morning for a quick trip, back by noon. Yeah buddy, that’s how I roll.
Friday, November 7th
As it happened I passed up the ride to town and instead accepted an invite from the girls to hike Mount Watoopa. It’s the smallest of the mountains right beside base. It gave us a fantastic view of both camp and the marine park where we dive and survey. We all hiked back to camp for lunch and then went snorkeling to secret beach. It was very overcast so for once I didn’t get burned while snorkeling. Jana spotted a Hawksbill turtle hiding under some coral and Elise and I spotted a Phantom(?) ray.
After dinner we all sat in the rec room around Esteban’s laptop and watched The Family. I think half of us fell asleep before it was over. In all a pretty full and happy day spent with friends.
Tomorrow the group is going to the south of the island where there’s a fun surfing beach and the Takamaka distillery. The distillery has a nice restaurant and I think the plan is to have a nice dinner out. I’ve spent all my cash though so I will probably stay on base and maybe stay dry for a day, let things heal up a bit before getting back to diving next week.
As it happened I passed up the ride to town and instead accepted an invite from the girls to hike Mount Watoopa. It’s the smallest of the mountains right beside base. It gave us a fantastic view of both camp and the marine park where we dive and survey. We all hiked back to camp for lunch and then went snorkeling to secret beach. It was very overcast so for once I didn’t get burned while snorkeling. Jana spotted a Hawksbill turtle hiding under some coral and Elise and I spotted a Phantom(?) ray.
After dinner we all sat in the rec room around Esteban’s laptop and watched The Family. I think half of us fell asleep before it was over. In all a pretty full and happy day spent with friends.
Tomorrow the group is going to the south of the island where there’s a fun surfing beach and the Takamaka distillery. The distillery has a nice restaurant and I think the plan is to have a nice dinner out. I’ve spent all my cash though so I will probably stay on base and maybe stay dry for a day, let things heal up a bit before getting back to diving next week.
Saturday, Nov 8th
I decided not to go to the south beach with the others, instead I joined Naill, Euan, Kyle and Danny on a hike to the lighthouse (via the back beach) to do some shore fishing. It was about an hour and a half hike (more like bouldering really) and then half of us went in the water to spot a good place to fish. The entry was fairly easy but I got caught by some surge and tore up my rash shirt a little. I decided not to even attempt the even sketchier looking exit so just stayed in the water, inflated my SMB and started snorkelling back. I got some great video of an eagle ray, the others caught five or six fish and roasted them for lunch before heading back, also snorkelling. I don’t think anyone wanted to hike back and risk even more cuts and scrapes.
Just about everyone had headed into town for a group dinner and some internet cafe time but the tablet isn’t turning on and now the iPhone won’t find satellites or pick up wifi signals (probably due to the cracked screen and the humidity) so I have no need to go, besides it a 30 minute hike over hills to the bus stop. I’m catching up on my dive logs, picture uploads (using the base laptop) and blogging. Only five more dive days to go and then four days till my flight. T minus 9 days to home!
I decided not to go to the south beach with the others, instead I joined Naill, Euan, Kyle and Danny on a hike to the lighthouse (via the back beach) to do some shore fishing. It was about an hour and a half hike (more like bouldering really) and then half of us went in the water to spot a good place to fish. The entry was fairly easy but I got caught by some surge and tore up my rash shirt a little. I decided not to even attempt the even sketchier looking exit so just stayed in the water, inflated my SMB and started snorkelling back. I got some great video of an eagle ray, the others caught five or six fish and roasted them for lunch before heading back, also snorkelling. I don’t think anyone wanted to hike back and risk even more cuts and scrapes.
Just about everyone had headed into town for a group dinner and some internet cafe time but the tablet isn’t turning on and now the iPhone won’t find satellites or pick up wifi signals (probably due to the cracked screen and the humidity) so I have no need to go, besides it a 30 minute hike over hills to the bus stop. I’m catching up on my dive logs, picture uploads (using the base laptop) and blogging. Only five more dive days to go and then four days till my flight. T minus 9 days to home!
Sunday, November 9th
Today is the start of my last work week here and since most people are still off base from taking extended weekend vacations I get two dives today! Unfortunately there wasn’t much to see within our survey area. Food stores are pretty bare so I’m going to head into Victoria to use an ATM and some internet (now that my phone seems to be working again).
I left at 3:30 and got home by 8:30 and all I accomplished was to pay off my frozen credit card and some Facebooking. No ATM for cash so no nice dinner or grocery shopping in town. When I got back to camp I got a leftover dinner of cold beans and carrots. Who puts carrots in beans?
Today is the start of my last work week here and since most people are still off base from taking extended weekend vacations I get two dives today! Unfortunately there wasn’t much to see within our survey area. Food stores are pretty bare so I’m going to head into Victoria to use an ATM and some internet (now that my phone seems to be working again).
I left at 3:30 and got home by 8:30 and all I accomplished was to pay off my frozen credit card and some Facebooking. No ATM for cash so no nice dinner or grocery shopping in town. When I got back to camp I got a leftover dinner of cold beans and carrots. Who puts carrots in beans?
Monday, November 10th
Wow, another two dive day! Plus I’m on tank duty so nothing to do but sit and relax, fill tanks all afternoon and read. My first dive was a turtle spot and, of course, we didn’t see any turtles just three great barracuda and a smattering of the usual fish. Second dive was a survey with Sara (again) and this one went much better. There were a decent variety of fish and we saw a five foot White Tipped shark. Matt logged his 50th dive this morning and in accordance with tradition (who’s tradition?) he dove in his skivvies. I’ve heard the other tradition is fancy dress which is UK-speak for ridiculous costume, not tuxedo.
It’s a short week this week, Wednesday is our last dive day/work day and Thurs/Fri will be our weekend. It’s possible that the shenanigans on Wed night will be greater than usual. I’ve asked to go along on the shopping trip so I can hit the ATM finally (hopefully the credit card is unfrozen). Saturday morning they will drive all the people who are leaving into Victoria or Beau Vallon according to their preference. I still need to arrange accommodation for Sat and Sun nights.
Wow, another two dive day! Plus I’m on tank duty so nothing to do but sit and relax, fill tanks all afternoon and read. My first dive was a turtle spot and, of course, we didn’t see any turtles just three great barracuda and a smattering of the usual fish. Second dive was a survey with Sara (again) and this one went much better. There were a decent variety of fish and we saw a five foot White Tipped shark. Matt logged his 50th dive this morning and in accordance with tradition (who’s tradition?) he dove in his skivvies. I’ve heard the other tradition is fancy dress which is UK-speak for ridiculous costume, not tuxedo.
It’s a short week this week, Wednesday is our last dive day/work day and Thurs/Fri will be our weekend. It’s possible that the shenanigans on Wed night will be greater than usual. I’ve asked to go along on the shopping trip so I can hit the ATM finally (hopefully the credit card is unfrozen). Saturday morning they will drive all the people who are leaving into Victoria or Beau Vallon according to their preference. I still need to arrange accommodation for Sat and Sun nights.
Tuesday, November 11th
Something new on the dive schedule: two tank boat trip to Therese (island) North Side. Matt and I did back to back Stationary Point Count and Transect Belt surveys, the first deep and the second shallow in the surge. Lots of rock formation and “swim throughs” (little tunnels between two boulders). It was a nice change of pace. Afterwards I did some lazy reading the hammock and caught a ride with the PV Snorkel group to the resort where I was able to use my bank card in the ATM and finally get some cash out before BBQ night and also to buy a few last goodies from the PX.
Last night Kyle asked that everyone put their pictures on the volunteer laptop so he can make up a slide show for tomorrow night so right now I’m downloading GBs of pics and vids from everyone.
Something new on the dive schedule: two tank boat trip to Therese (island) North Side. Matt and I did back to back Stationary Point Count and Transect Belt surveys, the first deep and the second shallow in the surge. Lots of rock formation and “swim throughs” (little tunnels between two boulders). It was a nice change of pace. Afterwards I did some lazy reading the hammock and caught a ride with the PV Snorkel group to the resort where I was able to use my bank card in the ATM and finally get some cash out before BBQ night and also to buy a few last goodies from the PX.
Last night Kyle asked that everyone put their pictures on the volunteer laptop so he can make up a slide show for tomorrow night so right now I’m downloading GBs of pics and vids from everyone.
Wednesday, November 12th
Crappy tides today so wake up was at 5:45 and only two dives scheduled for the day, done by lunch. Everyone got one fun dive at site Y and we all chose to go shallow into the surge and the rocks. Matt and I got paired up again and we got some great pics of each other going through “tunnels” and overhangs. Elise has lined up a car rental for a few days and we’ll be going on a wreck dive tomorrow from Beau Vallon at the dive centre that uses GVI dive master interns so we get a good rate, 600 SCR for a two tank dive.
Lunch today was crepes stuffed with beef chilli and fresh veg toppings in a crepe. I know, I know, but everyone agreed it was the best lunch in weeks, myself included. Our last group meal tonight is going to be Mark’s renowned curry (and other sundries).
Crappy tides today so wake up was at 5:45 and only two dives scheduled for the day, done by lunch. Everyone got one fun dive at site Y and we all chose to go shallow into the surge and the rocks. Matt and I got paired up again and we got some great pics of each other going through “tunnels” and overhangs. Elise has lined up a car rental for a few days and we’ll be going on a wreck dive tomorrow from Beau Vallon at the dive centre that uses GVI dive master interns so we get a good rate, 600 SCR for a two tank dive.
Lunch today was crepes stuffed with beef chilli and fresh veg toppings in a crepe. I know, I know, but everyone agreed it was the best lunch in weeks, myself included. Our last group meal tonight is going to be Mark’s renowned curry (and other sundries).
It's All Over But the Crying
I've wanted to volunteer in Africa since I was 17 so it was nice to fulfill a life long dream but if I had to do it over again I'd spend two or three months instead of just one. The training and slow dive schedule didn't give me much opportunity to contribute; only one short week of actual survey work. That being said however the rest of it was everything I'd hoped for. Anyone who's been to summer camp will immediately recognize the situation, 20+ strangers thrown into dormitories together and given shared duties of cooking and cleaning tends to make people put their best foot forward and like any closed environment you have a ready made circle of friends, kind of like high school. It helps that everyone there is already like-minded, outgoing and has an altruistic streak; in short the people are genuine and were the best part of the experience even for an introvert like me. The living conditions were better than expected and the early bed/early rise schedule actually worked well for me. I always thought I wasn't a morning person, turns out I just don't go to bed early enough. The food was not always inventive but it generally covered the four food groups and the lack of white bread and processed foods made a big difference in my energy level. I lost ten pounds due to healthier food and increased activity and would have easily lost ten more had I stayed another month. Having been home four days now and pigging out on chicken burgers, croissants and sandwiches I already miss the simpler meals of camp.
Now that I'm trained up on fish survey methodologies I'd be interested in doing another four week program somewhere if they would let me challenge the fish identification exams, do a couple fish spot dives for confirmation and then get right into survey work. Either way though I hope I get to visit with the people I met, either abroad on my own travels or if they come to Canada. I've got a couple of guest bedrooms that any of you guys are welcome to!