Marine Expedition Base Camp Week 1

The GVI staff met us at the Hotel Colorado and we were briefed on some basics on safety procedures and general information. My first impressions of GVI were that they were very organized and do things by the book following strict procedures, rules and regulations. It was very impressive.

A 5 hour bus trip South to Mahahual and then a taxi ride to the base camp. My first impressions of the camp was that it was isolated, serene, beautiful…. But very basic conditions. Our cabins are basic bungalow type structures with thatched roofs and bunk beds. A sand floor, with limited storage meant that a hammer and nail was quickly sought to create some makeshift hangers for clothes and other items. Mosquito nets were essential as we very quickly discovered. Most people started getting bitten straight away from the local parasite ‘Bastard Flies’. Appropriately named as people say ‘Bastard!!’ when they bit you. Sometimes welts about 5cm across would appear. We were all quickly covered from head to toe in bites and quickly learned the ‘Punta Gruesa dance’, waving arms and legs about constantly to avoid any bugs landing on us. The camp runs on minimal electricity provided by solar panels. There is no electricity in the cabins and it is really only used for absolute essentials. We are allowed 1 ‘army style’ showers every 4 days. So we are turning water off when not using it, and standing over a bucket to collect the water to flush the toilets. That’s right, no flushing toilets, only bucket flushing! It’s amazing how one can adapt to such a simple life!

Participants in the Marine exhibition were assigned to either Fish or Coral. Mine was fish, and I have to say I’m very happy about. After getting the textbook ‘Reef Fish Identification: Florida, Caribbean, Bahamas’, I was overwhelmed and concerned that I would not be monitoring until the last week of the exhibition. So I decided to knuckle down in the first 48 hours and study the fish. I had to learn 70 fish by Family and Species. After several revision and flash card sessions I decided to take a test and got 85%. ‘Not bad for a first test’ the scholars said. So I madly studied for another 24 hours and then decided to have another test. 98%. Success!! A pass was 95%. The next step was to start identifying the fish underwater which was a whole other ball game because guess what…. Fish move!! Sometimes you only get a glance and they’ve hidden under a rock. The way this was practiced underwater was we would dive with a staff member, they would point to a fish and we would write it down on our slate and either give us the ‘Ok’ or ‘think again’ signal. I managed to get most of them correct although I was having problems with differentiating between Blue Striped Grunts, Caesar Grunts, and Grey Snappers. Apparently this is very common at first and to the untrained eye, you would understand why. They all look the same! By my third ‘Fish Spot’ dive I was getting 100%.

I’ve now declared war on the bugs and are constantly wearing long pants and long shirt and always wearing insect repellent and burning citronella coils.

Daily life at the base involves getting up at 5.45am ready for chores or duties at 6am that rotate on a daily basis between Kitchen – cooking, cleaning and preparing the Palapa (eating area), Communal – cleaning toilets and bathrooms, Grounds – raking the sand on the base to stop sand flies breeding, and Boats – preparing the boats and dive shop for the day ahead. I must say having done all the duties that I enjoyed the kitchen duties the best, and everyone else seemed to enjoy me being on kitchen as we received a lot of compliments on our days cooking as well as a camp acknowledgment of a ‘Michelin Star’ for outstanding achievements on duties! All that Galley experience on the Sea Shepherds ships obviously came in very handy!

The first week went by fairly quickly and a lot of it was understanding how the camp runs. Whenever you are not diving there are other volunteer duties on base that are required in order for the day to run effectively. They include Radio – a CB radio setup, for the boats so that they are in contact with the base. As well as Compressor – to fill the diving tanks with air so we can dive. If you are not on a particular duty you can relax and enjoy the surroundings. Although there isn’t really much time for this as there is always something to do to help out.

Our first day off came fairly quickly but certainly we all felt as though we could do with a break from the bugs and would love to have a proper shower and sleep somewhere, which had a floor and clean sheets! I have befriended a group of the older crowd from the exhibition and we decided to head into the local town of Mahahual for the night. We found a very cute little hotel on the beach with some lovely cabins and a lovely Texan owner who gave us a GVI discount and some very handy info about the town. Free Wifi, allowing me to catch up on my Internet, Skype and phone time, as well as upload photo’s onto my laptop etc.

So tonight we head back to camp after getting some washing done, restocking on some much needed pharmaceuticals (mainly to combat mosquitoes and bastard flies) and another set of long sleeve pants and top for round 2 of the war on mosquitoes.