Expedition Life
Marine Conservation Expedition in Mexico

The expedition base is quite luxurious for an expedition, as there is running water and though this is sometimes limited due to the size of the water tank, this usually means each expedition member can experience two freshwater showers a week as well as the good old bucket showers (which make it feel just that bit more like an expedition!). The food is very basic, consisting mainly of rice, beans and pasta. There is usually porridge for breakfast, with pancakes on special occasions.

See up to date info on the Mexico Blog

The cooking and general camp maintenance are shared between everybody. The group is divided into four who will do kitchen duty every four days. When you are not on kitchen duty, you will either be on boat duty (kitting up the boat for that day’s diving) or on ground duty (which involves raking the grounds and the beach). All of this contributes to the smooth running of the camp; keeping the base looking tidy and reducing the sand fly and ant problems.

Expedition members will be trained in how to use the compressor, and everyone takes it in turns to help fill the dive tanks for the next day’s diving. Everyone also takes it in turns to enter the research data that we have collected, which is then handed over to our in-country partners for analysis. Yet we will perform our own analysis of the data as well. Each expedition member will be responsible for other aspects of expedition life, which ranges from being dive and boat monitor to being food monitor or the much sought after rubbish monitor!

We work Monday morning to Saturday afternoon, which is followed by an end-of-the-work Saturday night barbeque. The weekend lasts from Saturday afternoon to Sunday evening. At the weekend you are free to do what you want, so you could stay on the base to relax in a hammock and enjoy the village of Mahahual or take the local bus out of Mahahual and visit some different parts of Mexico.

Expedition members can expect to do one to two dives per day, six days a week (weather depending), to assess the health of the Mesoamerican barrier reef system collecting data on fish, coral and other benthos. The first three weeks are always the hardest as expedition members have to push themselves to learn both the diving skills and the marine survey skills required to assist in the collection of data to a quantifiable level. In addition to the underwater work, expedition members will rotate between projects to take some time away from the hard diving work, in which you may spend some of your time participating in additional projects such as those listed in the initial expedition section.

It is important to note that the community work programme does not begin until week three of a ten week expedition, to allow for all the dive and science training which generally takes up a lot of time.

Days are long, hard and begin early to make the most of daylight hours. During a typical day you will travel to the survey sites to do the survey work, then return from the site to wash down the equipment, fill the air tanks ready for the following dives and generally finish late once all the data collected has been reviewed and input in the database. Expedition members will rotate between projects, thus taking some time away from the hard diving work. At the end of the day, the whole team gathers in the evening to debrief, eat and socialise over a few cold beers as the sun goes down. There may also be optional conversational Spanish evening classes available. GVI can also arrange for expedition members to go on a Spanish crash course to learn or review the basics before commencing the expedition. GVI can provide interested expedition members with more information upon request.

At weekends (Saturday afternoon to Sunday evening) your time is free to spend however you see fit. Expedition staff may run optional fun dives and can help expedition members organise diving and snorkelling trips to hidden cenotes, or the atoll Banco Chinchorro. There are also the variety of unique cultural excursions that the Yucatan has to offer, which includes going on trips into the jungle to the untouched local Mayan ruins and the famous Mayan sites of Coba and Tulum, and of course the infamous and well deserved Saturday night fiesta!

After nearly 4 years based in the local University’s Field Research Station, GVI has recently moved to develop a new research station set in a remote location North of the Caribbean village of Mahahual. Surrounded by spectacular scenery and wildlife, the training and opportunities for personal development you will have here are second to none. This is your opportunity to use your skills and knowledge to make a difference to the conservation of the area and have the experiences of a lifetime.

The expedition offers numerous incredibly exciting opportunities to expedition members. As an expedition member, you will have the opportunity to:

• Immerse yourself in a truly remote tropical paradise that is one of the worlds only remaining truly pristine environments, living and working alongside local people, experiencing their culture, food and way of life
• Increase your personal knowledge and understanding of marine conservation’s importance and threats, whilst helping to increase both local and global knowledge and awareness
• Learn a variety of marine survey skills within the tropical environment
• Divers will be trained specifically for research purposes, and you may have the chance to increase your dive qualifications to rescue diver and/or divemaster level
• Assist both the child and adult marine education and awareness programmes, visiting and teaching within the local schools and dive centres, at the expedition base, and in the open marine environment
• Assist in the development of the base as an Ecological Research and Awareness Centre
• Take optional locally taught Spanish lessons
• Dive in the warm, crystal-clear waters of one of the most pristine and spectacular examples of the coral reef environment in the world, to hopefully see turtles, dolphins, rays and sharks up close in their natural environment
• Relax and party with your new friends at the well deserved Saturday Night Fiesta!

Expedition members may also have the opportunity to:

• Dive or snorkel within the unique cenotes – the underwater river systems of the area
• Visit the amazing wetlands environment, including the mangrove forests and see a multitude of bird species in their natural environment
• Take a trip to experience lowland tropical forests and try to seek out threatened species such as jaguar, puma, tapir, white tailed deer, howler monkey, spider monkey, anteater, ocellated turkey, great curassow, toucan and king vulture and over 300 species of birds
• Immerse yourself in the surviving Mayan culture of the area and visit remote and untouched Mayan archaeological sites as well as the more famous sites such as Chichen Itza and Coba.