Turtle volunteering on Perhentian Island, Malaysia

This is not your ordinary turtle volunteering project you will not only help to protect and manage a turtle nesting beach but also help us to educate the local school children and tourists. Once a month we visit the local school conducting our ‘after-school marine club’ and if you volunteer on our 4-week program you will have the opportunity to help at one of our sessions and teach the children about marine conservation. The aim of the after school marine club is to create a conservation aware generation, and when the hatchlings you have released come back to nest they will do so in a more turtle-friendly environment.

Turtles would not survive without a healthy marine ecosystem; this is why we are offering a PADI Scuba diving course and three environmental training dives as an extra option to our turtle program. If you have never dived before you are in for a real treat, taking your first breaths underwater is so exhilarating you will be hooked for life! You may have heard before that divers cause some destruction on the reefs, this is true. This is why we are offering the three environmental training dives in the dive package so you will learn how to stay off the reef with our peak performance buoyancy diving lesson and be able to identify different fish and substrate types.

All volunteers will learn about fish and substrate identification and help us to survey the natural reefs in a snorkel survey. Collecting data on the fish abundances and coral types on both natural and artificial reefs allows us to measure what is happening with the reefs off our beach and help us to plan for future coral conservation.

You will be working alongside our team which will have its own rewards and be personally enriching. You will share your time with like-minded people and discover a beautiful part of Malaysia on the stunning Perhentian Island beaches. The mornings usually consist of eating a delicious breakfast; the chocolate pancakes are always popular! Followed by relaxing in your hammock and reading a book or perhaps go for a snorkel on the reef just off our beach and meet sharks, bumphead parrotfish and sting rays at will. The afternoon is time for volunteer activities, either prepare for the ‘after-school marine club’ visit, brush up on your Malaysian language skills, help improve the resort to be more turtle friendly, conduct a reef survey, teach some tourists how to swim or go on a beach clean to the other turtle nesting beaches.

A must for everyone is the evening volleyball match which is in preparation for the legendary monthly volunteer versus staff game! Or you can just sit and watch the ripples on the crystal clear waters. After dinner is turtle time and a nightly talk is given to the new tourists about turtles and how they are incredibly endangered. Every night the volunteers help with turtle watch in a rota system. Most nights turtles can be seen laying eggs and the volunteers help to manage the tourists when they watch the nesting turtle. Once you have seen a mother climb her way up the beach, then try multiple nest sites before laying her eggs you can’t fail to feel a strong connection with her. The whole nesting process takes 3 hours and is the most humbling experience one could have and you can help other people experience this while volunteering on our Turtle and reef program.

Day 1:	Arrive at Kuala Besut ready for a 12.30pm boat to Bubbles. Have lunch and settle into your new home followed by a cool down snorkelling session. You will have your first volleyball game and eat dinner in our restaurant, followed by a project brief. Then its to bed or take your first chance to guard the turtle nesting beach over night.
Day 2:	The programme begins at 9am wth scientific monitoring. The volunteers already at the site will show you the ropes. Followed by lunch and experiential learning brief. Complete the evening routine before a game of volleyball and dinner. This will be your official first night on turtle watch.
Day 3-6:	Programme continues. The program follows the same basic structure: 7.00 til 9.00 is breakfast, 9am til midday – scientific monitoring and update of daily environmental tips on the website, 12.30 lunch, 14.00 Experiential learning (week 1 turtle, sharks and coral reef; week 2 forest, freshwater stream and seafloor), 17.00 evening routine, 17.30 volleyball match, 19.30 dinner, 20.00 to 04:00 night turtle watch group, 04:00 to 08.00 Morning turtle watch group.
Day 7:	Depart. A sad farewell of the islands following a midday transfer arriving back in Kuala Besut at 1pm.

Day 1-6:	Same as 1 week programme.
Day 7:	Day off. The 1 week volunteers say a fond farewell of the island, the people and marine wildlife and take a midday boat transfer to Kuala Besut. 2 week and four week volunteers have a day off.
Day 8:	Day off.
Day 9-13:	PADI scuba diving. Normal routine but chance for a PADI scuba diving course in the aftrnoon at an extra cost. If you do not take the scuba dive course option you will do lowland forest, freshwater stream and seafloor experiential learning.
Day 14:	Depart. A sad farewell of the islands following a midday transfer arriving back in Kuala Besut at 1pm.

Day 1-14:	Same as 2 week program.
Day 15:	Day off. New 1,2 and 4 week volunteers arrive - 4 week volunteers have a day off.
Day 16-27:	Snorkle tours & jungle treks. Same routine but in the afternoon you will be leading snorkle tours, jungle treks, water confidence sessions for poor swimmers and assisting with new volunteers.
Day 28:	Depart. A sad farewell of the islands following a midday transfer arriving back in Kuala Besut at 1pm.