Volunteer Conservation - THAILAND Daily Life

Weekly / Daily schedule

Being a marine conservation project we are the mercy of the tides and the weather, so we must be flexible and there is rarely a week that goes by that the schedule is identical to the previous one, or the next. A normal week however, generally consists of three diving days and two land-based work days, both of which generate data that must be plugged into the database at the end of the day. Some evenings there are additional activities such as presentations to the newly arrived volunteers on reef and mangrove ecology and the work they will be carrying out, or Thai language and culture lessons.

Diving Days

On dive days a bus takes all volunteers into the town of Ao Nang from where they take a longtail boat out to the diveboat which is moored just off the coast. They travel to a dive site, which could be local or up to 3 hours away, e.g. the Phi Phi islands. Some volunteers train while others carry out salvage or marine observation work. Beginners have the opportunity to pass their Open Water Scuba Diver and their Advanced Diver course. Advanced courses allow volunteers to improve their buoyancy, navigation and recovery skills. Generally volunteers have two dives, except for volunteers on the Advanced Diver course who may do three dives one day depending on the schedule.

Land-based days

The schedule for land-based activities is dependent on location, tide and the type of work that is planned. It may be an early start (6 or 7 am), working all morning and returning to the house for a late lunch and an afternoon carrying out tasks such as data input, tool repairs or updating the presentation boards. Or volunteers may leave at 9am, work for 3 hours before having lunch on site and continuing for another 2 - 3 hours after the heat of the midday sun has subsided. Travel to the site is either by open-aired bus, in the back of a pick-up truck or by tuk tuk (motorbike with passenger car attached) if only small numbers of volunteers.

Rainy Season

On the west coast of Thailand this normally occurs during the months of May to October. The weather is often very unpredictable, which can consequently effect the planned programme of the project. This is due to rough seas making boat journeys uncomfortable and the diving potentially dangerous. Volunteers must be prepared for the schedule to change at the last minute, with diving days sometimes being postponed for up to two weeks, being replaced by several consecutive days of land-based work.