Volunteer diary, George Wise, Punta Gruesa Mahahual

I have never been to a place like Punta Gruesa before. It is a tropical paradise in the middle of nowhere and I have yet to see a map that shows it’s exact location. Indeed, Punta Gruesa is certainly a great place to live if you want to turn your back on the hussle and bussle of the modern world.

Most of my days are spent diving, studying or learning about some aspect of marine conservation. The days fly by and I cannot believe 5 weeks has past already, luckily for me I have another 17 weeks to go!!

Our group is comprised of 24 expedition members all from a variety of backgrounds and nationalities. It has been great to meet so many different people with different stories but of course communal living has it’s advantages and disadvantages. Cooking for 32 people, for instance, is definitely something I have not done before and requires a cool head and a creative imagination. There are a limited number of ingredients so it is a challenge to cook something different every day but we have had some wonderful meals including many cakes – which are always gratefully received. I don’t think I have ever had such a healthy diet or missed meat so much!

After 5 weeks here I feel really settled and am looking forward to getting stuck into the coral monitoring. Despite the warm beer and early mornings life here is great and I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.

Volunteer diary, George Wise, Punta Gruesa Mahahual

Horsing around at PG

In addition to the rare and wonderful sighting of a Manta Ray there have been many unusual incidental sightings here at Punta Gruesa this phase. During a spot dive on Saturday a group of divers discovered a Longsnout Seahorse (Hippocampus reidi) hidden on the stem of a dead Gorgonian. This caused much excitement as seahorse sightings are a rare occurrence and some species are currently on the endangered species list. They are greatly sought after for use in Chinese medicine and the aquarium trade. Luckily for us this little one seemed safe on our reef and was more than happy to pose for many photographs.

We have also been privileged to see Spotted Eagle Rays, Nurse sharks, Stingrays, Turtles, and the beautiful yet dangerous Lionfish. Sadly sightings of the Lionfish are becoming a regular occurrence with them being seen on nearly every dive. GVI Mexico staff have attended some regional workshops on the management of this invasive species and attempts are being made to control their population numbers.

Horsing around at PG

Diving into the Mayan Underworld

After watching a DVD on the Mayan Underworld about the cenote freshwater cave systems, some of us decided to spend our long weekend in Tulum and experience them for ourselves. We teamed up with Adam & Ela from Cave Heaven in Tulum who had been kind enough to come down to base the week before to give us a talk about the Cenotes.

The first cenote, Temple of Doom, involved a 3 metre giant stride entry into the dark pool below. It was our first experience of diving in freshwater and it took a while to adjust our buoyancy. After a few minutes though we managed to get the hang of it and just enjoy the wonderful place we were in. This cenote has a halocline, and passing from the saltwater to fresh and back again was a unique experience with our surroundings blurring and coming back into focus again. The surrounding rock was very dark and the light from our torches made strange and eerie shadows around us.

The second dive, Gran Cenote, felt very different. Initially much brighter and more open, it gave way to bright white rock formations with stalactites and stalagmites stretching from floor to roof. On this dive we were never far from daylight, and the sunlight through the water gave an unearthly blue-green glow. The water was so clear that at times it felt that we were floating in air as you could see everything so clearly.

After the dives we were all totally exhilarated and I would highly recommend this diving experience to anyone that comes to Mexico. I am certain that another trip to Tulum can be expected soon to explore more of these wonderful phenomenons.

Diving into the Mayan Underworld

Recycling Center in Tulum in good use!

We are very happy to inform you that the Recycling Centre that was built in 2007 in Tulum during our former expedition there is still in use and yesterday was the venue to Award the Winners of the 1st Recylcing School contest (Reciclatón Escolar) of this new Municipality. One of the winners gathered 3,679 kg of plastic, carton, paper and glass and another 1,522 kg.

Congratulations to the winner schools that participated during October and the organizers for promoting the recycling culture! Also to all the volunteers and staff that participated building it as your work continues making the difference!

Tulum was officially designated as Municipality in 2008 and is located very close to Pez maya, which is one of our Marine conservation expeditions. Hence, it is there also where all the recycling items that are not reused or transformed into something amazing like board games, flowers, costums, etc in the expedition are taken!

Recycling Center in Tulum in good use!

A close encounter of the Manta Ray kind…

Punta Gruesa can add a new entry to it’s incidental sightings book! A lucky group of divers (Helen, Rhu, Angelika, Dan, Ricky and Orelie) spotted one of the most amazing and graceful creatures that inhabit our oceans: a Manta Ray!

As far as we know this is the first time that one has been seen on any of our dive sites, which makes these divers even more happy and privileged. The coral spotting dive was getting to its end, having a few minutes left for one last coral when suddenly Orelie raised her eyes to the surface. She not only noticed that a big ray was dancing above them, but soon found out that it was not the usual Spotted Eagle Ray or Southern Stingray often encountered in our waters. This creature was far bigger! No time to get her tank banger, she decided to scream in her regulator in order to get the others' attention.

The whole group watched the beautiful ray swoop and dance for a few minutes before waving goodbye as it carried on its journey south. The divers ascended to the surface and could eventually release their joyful screams as well as spread their news as soon as the boat hit the shore back on base. This is the happy story of a normal day in our paradise of Punta Gruesa, which will stay for a long time in these lucky people's memories.

A close encounter of the Manta Ray kind…

Workshop on Lion fish held in Tulum

Last Tuesday we had the opportunity to participate in a workshop about the Lion Fish called “Regional Strategy to control and mitigate the impact of lion fish in the Mexican Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico” which was held in Tulum and it was organized by different governmental agencies.

During the talk they described the species giving important facts about its biology. Also there was information about the venom that this fish has in his spines; what are the first aid and the symptoms after a stung. It was very interesting to know more about this fish as they also told us the life cycle, only one female can laid 15 to 30,000 eggs for four days every month!!!

There aren’t any predators for this invasive species so that is helping them to reproduce more and more. This fish is originally from the Indo Pacific and its been around in the Atlantic for more than a decade, however the last few months it was started to be seen more. They are known to eat only fish back in their natural area but here they are little greedy creatures and they are having whatever they find from crustaceans, molluscs and even important fish of fisheries like snappers and groupers.

In the workshop they talked also about the strategy to get rid of them, they showed a plastic net that is used to catch them.

Several dive shops and other organizations went to this meeting as everybody is very worried about the situation. It is necessary to act now before it gets worse. In the Bahamas this problem started a few years ago and as they didn’t do anything now you can see up to 300 lion fish in only a square meter!

Workshop on Lion fish held in Tulum

Day of the Dead in Mahahual volunteer diary

Day of the Dead Mahahual Primary School

Day of the Dead in Mahahual volunteer diary

Week 5 in Pez Maya, cenote diving, turtle sightings and Mexican Festivities!

Week 5 has not been the most productive week for diving unfortunately but we managed to do many other exciting stuff here in Pez maya!!

Friday saw problems with the engine on Ka’ay so we couldn’t dive because we didn’t have a rescue boat for our other boat, Vision. Instead we got on with exciting things like rescue diver theory and the weekly kitchen clean, a joyful task which involves taking EVERYTHING out of the kitchen, cleaning it and then putting it back. The day improved dramatically after lunch though with a volleyball tournament to get rid of everyone’s frustration.

On Saturday Ka’ay was ready to be tested but the sea was too rough to get the boats in the water. The rest of the morning consisted of the most enormous thunder storm. Most of the rain we’ve had so far has fallen in short, sharp, heavy bursts, but this was about four hours of persistent lashing rain and thunder and lightning. It was pretty impressive except for the fact it meant we couldn’t dive! It wasn’t the end of the world though. Saturday is our half day anyway so we got to leave nice and early.

Most of the group went to stay in Playa del Carmen that night to take advantage of the many luxuries that town offers; meat, cheese, air con, showers and maybe a civilised drink or two? They also went to see Andres, one of our volunteers, perform fire poi at one of the beach-front bars, which was amazing, especially with a very moody lightning-filled sky as a backdrop!

That weekend also coincided with the Dia de Muertos or Day of the Dead festival. This is a time of year when people remember and celebrate the lives of those who have died. Liz, Sarah, Laura and Jo decided to head for Xcaret to see a bit of Mexican culture where there were traditional alters, loads of people with painted faces, lots of music and performances and thousands and thousands of candles. Saturday also saw the arrival of a new expedition member, Joe.

It was Jamie’s birthday on Sunday so she headed off to Dos Ojos with Liz and Vicky to do a cenote dive. The cenote is stunning. It’s so pretty with stalactites and stalagmites and crystal clear water.

On Monday there were more problems with the boat engine so there was no diving again. One group of volunteers went to a cenote to do some training dives and another group went to Akumal, a beautiful beach just up the coast. Akumal has a resident population of turtles, which sounded pretty appealing to Jenny in particular, who after almost 5 weeks still hadn’t seen a turtle! Thankfully she saw plenty of turtles that day and even got some lovely pics too!

For the rest of the week, even though there were still problems with the boat engine, we managed to find a boat to act as a rescue boat so we got one dive each. Hooray! It felt so good to finally get back in the water again.

On Tuesdays and Thursdays a group goes to Punta Allen to teach English to the kids there. Laura, Aaron, Mel and Jessie prepared a lesson and made worksheets and drove all the way down there only to find that there were no kids. Nevermind. They went back on Thursday instead, so all was well.

Fingers crossed, once again, for better diving conditions next week!

Week 5 in Pez Maya, cenote diving, turtle sightings and Mexican Festivities!

Death came late to Mahahual this year

Day of the Dead, the Mexican celebration known all around the world for its traditions and folklore, was celebrated like every year here in Mahahual, only this time, it came a couple of days late. The official date is November 2nd, but this year the day landed on a Monday, so it was a perfect opportunity to make it a long weekend. Schools, banks and government offices were closed in observation of this pagan/religious festivity. The 3rd November everyone went back to their normal schedule, but the day was not observed in the primary school due to the docking of a crew ship. The same happened the 4th. It was until November 5th that all the classrooms got ready to receive the living and the departed for a very special occasion.

The Municipality decided to organize a shrine competition between grades. Many local celebrities were invited to attend and serve as judges for each of the shrines, being graded on content and originality. Punta Gruesa's Programme Coordinator was one of the judges. The affair consisted in the judging committee going around each classroom to look at the shrines; each one with the objects that were relevant. The obvious ones: Day of the dead bread, hot chocolate, water, tamales special for that day (mukbupollo), flowers (usually zempaxuchil), toys (for the children who have past away), skulls made out of sugar and chocolate, fruits and sweets from this region, a cross and a walkway. Each classroom gave an explanation of each item along with what they represented. Common themes that people found interesting, and are good facts to know about the shrines and this day:

• The families of the deceased prepare a meal to go to the cemetery and eat the food there. The deceased’s favorite meal is prepared.

• Food is left by the grave. It is said that dead people cannot eat the food, but can savor it through their different smells. If the living go back the next day and try to eat the food that was left, they will find that the flavor is gone.
  

• The shrines should have a path, in representation of a path that is made with candles to guide the spirits in the right direction.

• The Day of the Dead shrine has changed throughout history. The blending in of other cultures has happened, mainly with indigenous and Spanish beliefs. Halloween is an American celebration which is trying to invade the Mexican market, so the making of the shrines in the public schools (and some private ones) are ways to keep the embedded traditions alive and well.
  

The votes were casted in and, as expected the older students from 5th and 6th grade came in 1st place. We actually voted for the 2nd grade to win, but in the end it didn’t really matter, because everyone was a winner, including the dead walking amongst us, if it only happens once a year, and this time, a couple of days late.

Death came late to Mahahual this year

New jaguar and puma project in El Eden, Yucatan Peninsula

Hi guys
We are very excited to announce the start of a new project in Mexico - and one very close to our marine sites of Pez Maya and Pta Gruesa.
The project is going to be based at the Reserve of El Eden, located very close (in km) to Cancun, but a long trip away from civilazation.
The place is amazing, beautiful Yucatan low and high forest, with cenotes and an incredible biodiversity.
Jaguars, once common in the region, are quickly disappearing from the Yucatan Peninsula. Deforestation, land partitioning, poaching and illegal trade has converted this species in one of the most threatened of this part of the world. The Reserva Ecologica El Eden was established in 1993 with the objective of conserving key ecosystems for the conservation of Jaguar and Puma. This reserve would have been developed without the reserve, due to its proximity to Cancun. The work carried out during your stay will help increase our knowledge on Jaguar and Puma and their eco-systems and allow for management plans to be developed and implemented within this reserve and in other areas.

So what will our new intrepid volunteers do?
You will be placing and checking camera traps for cats (Jaguar, Pumas and Ocelots) & potential prey; Wildlife tracking; learning how to identify Jaguar, Puma, Ocelot, Deer, and Pecari faeces; Hike through wetlands and forests; trek to unspoiled cenotes (sink hole) for a swim; observe crocodiles and learn their behaviour patterns; Enjoy magnificent sunrise and sunsets above the forest canopy from our 16 foot high cabanas and 30 foot high observation tower; live and learn in one of the most pristine forests of the Yucatan Peninsula.

Does this sound exciting enough? If you are interested is spending 2 to 4 weeks out here, just click here where you will find all the info!

Happy jaguar spotting!

New jaguar and puma project in El Eden, Yucatan Peninsula

Hurrican IDA update

Hi guys,

Just wanted to give you a quick update on Hurricane IDA out here. I am please to report that in the end, all our preparations and monitoring was for nothing! IDA came and left without much notice. In fact, the days prior to IDA's arrival were very windy and stormy, but last night and today, we have had a pretty quiet time.
The center of the hurricane is now over the Peninsula, but we are still monitoring the situation in case we get the rear end of the depression. And of course, we keep in touch with local authorities to find out the latest updates and recommendations.
Both bases suffered no damage, but it will take a few days for the sea to calm down before we can head out the reef to see if the hurricane did any noticeable damage to the reef ecosystem.
Here's a satelite image of IDA at 1430 our time. As you can see the center of IDA went past Cozumel, Playa del Carmen and Cancun!

Hurrican IDA update

Chose your restaurant...and your fish wisely

For some time we have been reporting on this blog different ways to make a difference once you are home, or before you are coming out to Mexico.
As you know, fish stocks are being depleted at an alarming rate and we are not doing much to help this disturbing fact. If you remember, a while back we published a link to the Monterey Bay aquarium where you could see if a specific fish was at risk, moderate risk or ok to eat.
Today we would like to share with you this new website that not only provide similar info to the one mentioned above, but takes it one step further and will inform you on restaurants that follow good practices, chefs who use sustainably fished products and allows to send back info and review

We hope you like this initiative and that you use it to choose dinning options. For the moment it's only available for the UK and US market, but hopefully other countries will join in...I know we could use with this info in Mexico...

Chose your restaurant...and your fish wisely

ILCP visit GVI Mexico: Nat Geo and BBC wildlife photographers on base!

For the past 3 weeks, we have had the pleasure of being visited by two world reknown photographers: Pete Oxford and Thomas Peschak.
Both are members of the ILCP (International League of Conservation Photographers), an organization of some of the best photographers. The ILCP is a project-driven organization.

"Our mission is to translate conservation science into compelling visual messages targeted to specific audiences. We work with leading scientists, policy makers, government leaders and conservation groups to produce the highest-quality documentary images of both the beauty and wonder of the natural world and the challenges facing it.
The unique set of skills, talent and years of field experience spent documenting delicate and complex environmental subjects as well as a real commitment to conserve the landscapes, people and wildlife in the places where they work, is what sets the photographers of the ILCP apart. From poaching to global warming, from habitat loss to cultural erosion, from sustainability to biological corridors, the work of conservation photographers covers the entire range of threats to biodiversity and is indeed a critical component in the conservation toolbox."

In July 2009, the International League of Conservation Photographers (iLCP) began their 7th Rapid Assessment Visual Expedition (RAVE) to the Yucatan Peninsula

The Yucatan RAVE will focus on documenting the threats posed by deforestation, tourism, and forest fires on existing protected areas, important unprotected areas (i.e. corridors) and specific flagship species (i.e. Jaguar) throughout the Yucatan. The themes and threats of the RAVE include: Underground Wilderness, Impact of Tourism & Tourism Infrastructure Development, Coastal Environment, Freshwater, Mesoamerican Tropical Forests, Mayan Sites, Saltwater Intrusion, Ecological Impacts from Hurricanes, Habitat Fragmentation, Tourism Development, Mangrove Destruction, Coastal Island Development, and Biodiversity loss. To address those themes and threats the following geographic areas and species will be the primary focus of the Yucatan RAVE: Cenotes, Caves, Mangroves, Calakmul Biosphere Reserve, Sian Ka'an Biosphere Reserve, Calakmul-Sian Ka’an Corridor, Rio Lagunas, Holbox, Celestun, Chetumal, Sierra Caral, Amphibians, Jaguar, Manatees, Flamingos, Monkeys, Crocodiles, Whale Sharks, and Bats.

We are very happy to have both Pete and Thomas on Pez Maya and Pta Gruesa, and an amazing experience to share some time, and some shots, with them!

ILCP visit GVI Mexico: Nat Geo and BBC wildlife photographers on base!

Week 4 at Pez Maya: incredible underwater spots, manatee glimpse and some weather problems!

Week 4 at Pez Maya started off really, really well but then kind of ground to a halt due to bad weather and a whole host of other problems.

On Friday we all did two dives. One lucky group had a totally amazing dive and spotted all sorts of exciting creatures. On the boat on the way to the dive site they saw a green turtle and a hawksbill turtle surfacing to breathe. They were doing a coral spot, practicing coral ID, and during the dive saw two southern stingrays, a golden tailed moray eel and a 2m nurse shark!!! It was just chilling out under a ledge and everyone got a really good look at it. It was amazing! Another group saw a nurse shark that day too (at the same site, so possibly the same one) and another group saw a lion fish. Lionfish are beautiful animals with big frilly fins but they are bad news. They are not native to the Caribbean and have no natural predators here so their numbers are growing unchecked. Apparently they started appearing after a hurricane destroyed an aquarium a few years ago. They are extremely venomous so there isn’t a great deal we can do about them but we record sightings and pass the information on to one of our local partners to monitor their spread.

On Saturday we did our usual beach clean and kitchen clean on base and also participated in a beach clean further down the coast. The beach at Pez Maya is generally fairly clean because we clean and survey it each week, but this new beach doesn’t get cleaned regularly and was an absolute tip. There was a vast amount of rubbish and it was quite possibly the longest beach in the world (well it seemed that way at the time), but we got there in the end. It’s so sad to see such a beautiful beach in such a sorry state. It was a beautiful sunny day and the sand and sea and palm trees were looking perfect and then there was all this rubbish all over the place. Anyway, we cleaned it and surveyed the rubbish that we found and then returned to base for our Saturday fun dives. The aim here is to dive Monday to Friday doing one or two dives each day for either dive training, coral or fish training or actual surveys and then each Saturday we do a dive purely for fun. It was quite exciting to be let loose on the reef unsupervised to explore!

Sunday is our day off so we took full advantage and went adventuring. A group of us (Peter, Jessie, Jenny, Faried, Deepak, Erin & Laura) went to Dos Ojos, a cenote near Tulum. In this part of Mexico there are huge river systems underground. Occasionally parts of these systems break the surface in the form of cenotes. These vary hugely in appearance from ponds surrounded by mangroves right through to breathtaking cave systems like those at Dos Ojos. The water there was so clear that it looked like there was nothing there at all. You could see for miles and the caverns were full of amazing rock formations. It was so pretty!

Meanwhile Jo, Tia and Katie went out “deep sea fishing” with folk from Boca Paila, the fishing lodge up the road. That was the plan anyway. What actually happened was that they spent the day fishing and not catching very much in the lagoon. They weren’t impressed but they did catch a brief glimpse of a manatee so it wasn’t all bad!

From here the week took a bit of a dive. On Monday we suffered from some key-related car troubles so we could only do one dive each. We couldn’t dive on Tuesday either because the sea was too rough to push the boats out. On Wednesday things were looking up. We pushed the boats out and the first wave set off to do their dives, but by the time they returned the wind had picked up so the rest of the day’s diving was canceled. On Wednesday we couldn’t dive due to the fact that the boat key broke off in the ignition (not had much luck with keys this week really) and by the time that was fixed the wind had picked up anyway. Thursday was too windy for diving too so all in all it hasn’t been a great week for diving, but fingers crossed the weather will improve for the week ahead.

Despite the lack of diving we have been kept busy. Chris, Faried, Aaron and Jenny planned and taught the first English lesson in Punta Allen on Thursday. There were about 30 kids and they learned how to introduce themselves, how to say what time it is and learned a wee bit about verbs to. Once their brains were all tired out they had a game of football and sang some songs after which the kids all launched themselves at Aaron and climbed on him! Another group paid a visit to the Sian Ka’an Biosphere Reserve Visitor Centre this week to learn more about the reserve in which the base is situated. They saw some of the animals native to the area and managed to fit in a kayaking session too.

Back on base everyone has now passed their fish and coral tests and we’re working our way through the extra information we need to carry out the surveys. Those who are interested are working their way through the rescue diver theory and a few folk went to a cenote on Thursday to carry out some of the Rescue Diver practical skills.

It certainly hasn’t been an ideal weather week but hopefully we’ll spend a bit more time in the water next week. Still, plenty of things to do on base! Fingers crossed!

Week 4 at Pez Maya: incredible underwater spots, manatee glimpse and some weather problems!

Marine turtle Festival 2009

It was with great excitement that all the Expedition Member’s here at Punta Gruesa departed from base on Friday morning bound for Tulum and the annual Turtle Festival, a celebration of the end of the turtle nesting season.

After a long bus journey we arrived into Tulum with the midday heat. After spending 2 weeks cut off from the outside world, it took a while to settle into the routines of cosmopolitan life. Once at our hotel; which felt like a five star hotel to us because it was a tiled floor rather than a sand one, there was electricity and most importantly, hot running water and air con; we unpacked and went out for a lunch of meat and cold beverages.

First up on the agenda was an afternoon of festivities at the local culture center with activities including turtle tag, coloring in and a main stage with music, puppetry and interpretive dance, all turtle themed. All the children seem to have a great time, enjoying all of GVI’s games and activities.

Saturday morning started bright and early making our way down to Playa Pescadores for a beach clean. Once the beach was spotless we waited for the local children to turn up for a kite making workshop and turtle sand sculpture competition, which bought out the child in all of us.

The evening however was the main event. We arrived and were distributed around the arena to do our designated jobs. Those Spanish speakers among us worked together with the children who were to release the turtles, some looked after some Mexico City soap stars, others prepared the performance area while the rest of us acted as crowd control to protect the baby turtles as many parents were keen to get their children onto the beach to play with them.

The evening was filled with lights, fire, dancers, musicians and of course turtles.One of which was a giant lit up turtle which paraded along the beach and disappeared into the distance. The atmosphere from the crowd was one of happiness and excitement. All in all the whole event went well and a good time was had by all.

Marine turtle Festival 2009

Week 3 at Pez Maya - Turtle festival, beach cleans and Open water completed

Week three has been a busy week at Pez Maya! We left base on Friday afternoon after diving in the morning and arrived in Tulum ready for Turtle festival. Turtlefest has been running for seven years now and is a celebration of the end of the turtle nesting season. The aim is to promote environmental awareness and educate the public in all things turtle-related. On the Friday we had lots of games and activities for people to join in with. We had colouring in, quizzes, face-painting, games and Trashy Turtle showed the kids how to recycle their rubbish!

On the Saturday we went to Pescadores to do a beach clean and take part in a sand sculpture competition. One of our teams even won second prize for a sculpture showing how people can help to try and protect baby turtles by helping them to find their way safely to the sea. In the afternoon we made our way to Xcacel to help out at the performance that evening. There were some beautiful costumes and lots of dancing to tell the story of how the four elements, earth, wind, fire and water, help to ensure the turtles safety in the face of dangers such as poachers, dogs and seabirds. It was an impressive performance including an appearance by a HUGE brightly coloured illuminated turtle sculpture who laid some eggs and it very fittingly culminated in the release of some baby turtles.

After that most of the group spent their day off in Tulum but a few volunteers went on to Akumal to help out on the final day of Turtlefest. All went well. They saw lots of turtles (quite big ones too and very close up), ate some tasty food and Jo was even lucky enough to see a spotted eagle ray!

After a successful weekend the week did not start off terribly well back on base as strong wind and waves prevented us from diving on Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday. Rubbish! On the plus side it did keep the mosquitoes at bay for a while. We didn’t get much of a chance to relax though as we got straight into our Emergency First Response training. A few people went to see the Sian Ka’an Biosphere Reserve Visitor Centre to learn more about the reserve in which the base is situated. We had our introduction to TEFL lecture so those who are interested will start to plan lessons soon for the kids in Punta Allen, a local fishing village, and for the staff on the army base too. On top of all that the people who run Cave Heaven came one evening to tell us about the amazing underground rivers and cave systems in the area. The plan is to do a cenote dive sometime in the next couple of weeks so we’re all pretty excited about that.

As far as animal sightings go this week has been reasonably quiet because we only went diving on Friday morning and Thursday due to Turtlefest and the poor weather. We did manage to spot a 1.5m boa constrictor right beside our huts though and Nelson saw a crocodile from the bridge overlooking the lagoon.

And finally, congratulations to Vicky for passing her PADI open water. That is now the whole group open water qualified. Hooray!

Week 3 at Pez Maya - Turtle festival, beach cleans and Open water completed

STARBUCKS AND AMIGOS DE SIAN KAA’AN JOIN FORCES!

Amigos de Sian Ka’an, our local partners in Mexico, joined forces with Starbucks Coffee Company in order to raise funds for the environmental conservation programs that they are running in Quintana Roo.

From October and during 2months in all Starbucks Coffees in the Yucatan Peninsula you will be able to participate in this campaign in which if you donate 10 USD you get a bookmark from this designer http://www.flickr.com/photos/14094904@N04/

It is a really nice bookmark and a very clever Fund raise campaign as it involves a private company interested in helping the environment conservation reinforcing the donation, artistic and reading culture which is not raised frequently.

As our local partners we know how important it is this Campaign in order to continue with the programs they are carrying on. As such we will for sure participate in this campaign and we invite everybody to partipate in it too!

STARBUCKS AND AMIGOS DE SIAN KAA’AN JOIN FORCES!

GVI ex volunteers in 101 best travel & adventure pages

Do you remember Cheryl and Lisa, the American girls that participated with us last year in Pez Maya as part of their World tour named “What bounderies” and who wrote a book about their experiencies? Well now they have been selected by this webpage http://abroadening.com/161 as one of the 101 Most Awesome Adventure & Travel Twitterers You Should Be Following. To ease your search in the web page it is number 56. Congratulations Cheryl and Lisa and keep going with this dream!

You can follow them and read all abour their experience in Pez Maya and all other adventures here http://twitter.com/What_Boundaries!

GVI ex volunteers in 101 best travel & adventure pages

Pez Maya, Weeks1 & 2

Weeks 1 & 2

Welcome to Pez Maya’s October 2009 phase. We’re coming to the end of our first two action-packed weeks so it’s time for an update.

We met each other for the first time at the Hotel Colorado in Playa del Carmen and from there ventured down the bumpy track into the Sian Ka’an Biosphere Reserve. The base itself is quite basic but I think we’ve made ourselves at home quite nicely. It’s an early start each morning. Up at 6am (!) to do our duties around base then it’s “BOAT PUSH!” and then we’re ready for the day ahead!

There are 20 expedition members this phase. Some were already qualified divers whereas some had never dived before. It’s been an incredibly busy fortnight with people working through their PADI open water and advanced open water SCUBA diving qualifications.

The ultimate aim of the 10 weeks is to collect data on the fish and coral species present in the reserve to pass on to GVI’s partner organisations, so on top of all the dive training we’ve had to learn how to identify all the species of fish and coral found in the area. A tricky task! This week we have also been working with some researchers from CICY who have been collecting water samples in the area to analyse isotopes. This gives an idea of where all the fresh water originates from.

It’s not all hard work though. We’ve found plenty of time for swimming and snorkelling in the beautiful turquoise sea, lazing in hammocks under the palm trees and responsibly sipping (almost) ice cold beer in the evenings (jealous yet?). Last weekend we had our first party night which coincided rather nicely with Sarah’s birthday. We saw some fantastic costumes including one hut dressed as pirates, one hut dressed as the staff and the staff dressed as Snow White and the seven dwarves (I think Greg secretly quite enjoyed wearing a dress).

We’ve seen plenty of wildlife already. The base itself is home to geckos and loads of iguanas. On our very first night we helped some tiny green turtles out of their nest and watched them start their journey out to sea. We’ve spotted several hawksbill turtles, a loggerhead turtle, a dolphin, two nurse sharks, a crocodile, a boa constrictor, moray eels and lots of sting rays. I’ll perhaps refrain from mentioning the other, less welcome wildlife that bites/stings/generally annoys everyone.

The past week we’ve been planning and organising games and activities for Turtlefest which takes place this weekend in Tulum. It’s a weekend to celebrate the end of the turtle nesting season and to raise awareness of turtle conservation. We’re all very excited about it because naturally we all LOVE turtles but I think it might also possibly have something to do with the thought of air con, showers and meat!

We’ll let you know how we get on with that next week…

Pez Maya, Weeks1 & 2

Our first week in Punta Gruesa……

Our first week in paradise has flown by, and despite the weather preventing us from diving, the spirits have been high here in Punta Gruesa and lots of learning has taken place. We’ve all been kept busy learning our fish and corals with 14 passing their tests so far – a big well done to them!! Training has begun in earnest with the whole group beginning their Emergency First Response certification. Advanced Open Water training has also started with everyone studying hard to achieve their certificate.

An Introduction to TEFL class took place as well as poster making to advertise our classes in the neighbouring fishing village of Mahahual. Our classes there will commence on the 22nd of October – we are all hoping to make great teachers and help the local community.

There has been a lot of time for snorkeling in the lagoon outside base, with lots of exciting incidental sightings including rays, barracudas, a baby turtle … and last but not least a juvenile lionfish! The lionfish was found by Kimberley and Nick, and was captured by our brave staff heroes Chris and Brian who then (humanely!) removed it from our ecosystem.

After five days of mingling with new faces and getting to know one another party night came and was a huge success. With a few sore heads in the morning most of us made our way to Mahahual for some ‘cheese and meat’ which has been greatly missed by a lot of us and hugely apreciated after a week of pasta, rice and a bit more rice.

With a storm rolling in on Saturday staff came up with the ingenious plan of taking us to Lagoon Azul to do our refresher dives – this involved more ‘cheese eating’ and hot showers for the few lucky ones that went, and a few wind blown faces left on camp who also encountered a sandstorm.

We woke on Sunday to a perfect sunrise and flat seas, and to the delight of everyone meant we could finally get to dive on base. Whilst writing this blog an exciting news flash came in and dolphins have been seen on the dive site this morning by the early birds. Not long until our trip to Tulum for the turtle festival on Friday which we are all excited about participating in.

Our first week in Punta Gruesa……