Mexico Marine Awareness Experience

Overview

Overview

GVI has been operating in the area for over 12 years and is well respected and valued by our local partners. In the region, GVI is involved in marine conservation, providing critical marine research data to our local partners Amigos de Sian Ka’an and the national parks agency CONANP. GVI routinely train divers through all levels of the PADI system who then spend their time in the field monitoring a portion of the spectacular Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System, focussing on fish and coral surveys and reef mapping. In Playa del Carmen GVI works alongside Save the Children, Quintana Roo Mexico, contributing to community development initiatives while focussing on childcare, teaching English, arts and crafts,

GVI routinely train divers through all levels of the PADI system who then spend their time in the field monitoring a portion of the spectacular Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System, focussing on fish and coral surveys and reef mapping. In Playa del Carmen GVI works alongside Save the Children, Quintana Roo Mexico, contributing to community development initiatives while focussing on childcare, teaching English, arts and crafts, healthcare and animal rescue.

Project Aims and Objectives

GVI’s long-term involvement, capacity building and commitment to our projects, ensure that the service elements of your students’ trips are contributing to long-term sustainable projects helping to achieve our partners’ objectives. These local partnerships along with stakeholder discussions drive the service elements of our trips to ensure they are fully focussed on the most prevalent issues and produce the results required locally.

As a group, students will get a taste of the issues surrounding marine conservation and multiple resource use of this beautiful region, whilst experiencing life on the Riviera Maya. Students will be exposed to various underwater environments while learning or improving their snorkelling skills. As their skills and understanding improve, there will be time to reflect on what they have learnt and achieved and finally a fun side trip to round off the experience

Highlights

Scuba diving in the Caribbean Sea, immersing yourself in a truly remote tropical paradise, one of the world’s only remaining truly pristine environments; living in a beautiful part of a different country, with the opportunity to experience a new culture, food and way of life; learning about the Mesoamerican coral reef and how to identify the wildlife it supports.

Location

Our projects in Mexico are located south of Cancun on the Yucatán peninsula, close to the beautiful resort towns of Playa del Carmen and Tulum. The peninsula comprises the Mexican states of Yucatán, Campeche, and Quintana Roo; the northern part of the nation of Belize; and Guatemala's northern El Petén Department.

Pez Maya's short, mid, and long-term objectives:

All of our programs have short, mid and long-term objectives that fit with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. This enables us to report on our collaborative impact across the world in a streamlined manner, measuring which UN SDGs we are making a substantial contribution to. Furthermore, this will help our local partners and communities measure and visualize their contribution to the UN SDGs.

Upon arrival to base, you will be educated about the history of the UN SDGs. You will learn about the specific goals of your location, the long-, mid- and short-term objectives, and also clarification of how your personal, shorter-term involvement contributes to these goals on a global level.

Our aim is to educate you on local and global issues, so that you continue to act as active global citizens after your program, helping to fulfill our mission of building a global network of people united by their passion to make a difference.

Learn about the long-term objectives you will be contributing to in Pez Maya:

1. Provide data to our partners on the overall health of the reef, to be used for coastal management within the Sian Ka'an Biosphere Reserve, and to have a better understanding of the Mesoamerican barrier reef system.
2. Raise environmental awareness within the reserve.
3. Minimise the environmental impact that Pez Maya visitors and other people have within the reserve.
4. Increase in-country capacity within our partners and community members in the Sian Ka'an Biosphere Reserve

Program Details