The accommodation, level of involvement with the local community and amount of time you’ll spend working throughout the day or night varies greatly with each different trip, so the most important thing you can do when choosing a marine conservation holiday is research as much as you can. Speak to your tour operator in detail and find out what the aims of the project are and what activities you will be doing on a daily basis, but also what they’ve already achieved, so you can get an idea of what past volunteers have helped to make happen. It’s also a good idea to ask where the data is going – is it being fed into local marine fisheries departments, or being used in collaboration with local or international universities? You want to ensure that your time, money and energy is being made the most of and that the initiative is making progress in a conservation area that you feel passionate about.

Finding a marine conservation trip that matches both your own interests and your skill level is as important as your enthusiasm and commitment while you’re there – match the holiday to your own expectations and not only will you learn and achieve loads, but you’ll also have lots of fun with a group of like minded people while doing it.

Photo credits: [dive research: Julia Calderwood] [set square: Julia Calderwood] [mussel in lab: Julia Calderwood] [researcher: Julia Calderwood] [seaweed collection: Julia Calderwood]