Volunteer Expeditions

Birgit Hermann (country director) and Oldegar ‘Ollie’ Massinga (operations manager) who head up the Blue Ventures team in Timor-Leste, reflect on five years of working with communities to drive locally led marine conservation in the country Read the full post: Five years in Timor-Leste

A new article from BBC travel explores the life of small-scale fishers and coastal communities on Atauro Island, Timor-Leste (also called East Timor). Timor-Leste has some of the most significant marine resources in the world. Local communities are using traditional Timorese resource management laws, known as Tara Bandu, to preserve and protect their ecosystems. Community ...

The last edition of Toko Telo interactive online discussions facilitated by Blue Ventures welcomed experts from across the coastal tropics to discuss how community-based ecotourism can catalyse locally led marine protection. Laura Resti Kalsum of Stay Raja Ampat in Indonesia, Francesca Trotman of Love the Oceans in Mozambique, and Adrian Wells of Seventythree, shared their ...

Blue Ventures is now a ‘100% AWARE Partner’ with Project AWARE, a fellow global non-profit organisation which empowers thousands of ocean adventurers around the world to work together for a clean, healthy and abundant ocean. As a 100% AWARE Partner, Blue Ventures is committed to making a donation towards ocean protection on behalf of every ...

Nick spent four weeks in Timor-Leste diving the most biodiverse reefs in the world and helping his fellow volunteers stay in good health Read the full post: An unforgettable medical elective

Blue Ventures is included in a list of ethical conservation-focused ecotourism providers in a piece by the Wildlife Conservation Network (WCN). The following WCN Conservation Partners and organisations in WCN’s extended network offer ecotourism opportunities: - Blue Ventures hosts a range of marine conservation expeditions and is developing community-based homestays. Read the full piece from WCN: Ethical ...

For World Oceans Day 2019, The World Bank released an interview with Blue Ventures' Dive and Science Assistant Jemima Gomes. The focus of the interview was the problem of marine plastic pollution, and the community response on Atauro Island. I come from a fishing family. As a child I helped my father pull in the ...

Our Timor-Leste volunteers stumble upon one of nature’s most mysterious reproductive events. Read the full post: Witnessing the unknown: coral spawning in Timor-Leste

The Dugong & Seagrass Conservation Project have produced a film showcasing the community-based conservation work of Blue Ventures and Conservation International in Timor-Leste. The power to preserve sea grass and dugong habitats is being put into the hands of those who know them best: local communities. The government of Timor-Leste in partnership with Conservation International ...

Marine conservation volunteer Aleksander Gakovic shares the personal journey of his time in Timor-Leste. Read the full post: Becoming a Divemaster