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Fish Rap

by Jen Sanders

Now this is a story all about how you will learn fish in Nosy Cao,
I'd like to take a minute so sit for a bit, so I can tell you 'bout the Groupers and the Sweetlips.

At the bottom of the reef is where Groupers are raised, their playground; it's where they spend most of their days,
Chilling out and hunting for some fish for their tea, the kind that you find at the bottom of the sea.

We'll start with the biggest, the potato of course, it's been known to swim at humans and show no remorse,
It's grey with black blotches and has huge teeth, so you can't miss this one because he's a beast.

The next in line is the Lyre-Tail, which is by far the brightest grouper and has a yellow margined tail.
Now as the name suggests, the "White-Spotted Grouper": it's brown with white spots which is really super.

Blue margins on fins is how you see, the marbled grouper in time for tea.
But let's not forget the Coral Hind, it's orange with blue spots and has an inquisitive mind.

The Peacock is the smallest of the Groupers to know, with its brightly coloured fins it really is a show.

Now the Sweetlips really are a different story, they sleep in the day which is really boring. But they have big lips and long D fins, and they look really cool when they swim.

Of all the Sweetlips there's just four to know, so there's no excuse for letting them go.
We'll start with the White Barred as its easy for you, it's black with white stripes but has a white tummy too.

Next we have the Dusky one, all you need to think of is a setting sun.
It's mainly grey with a bit of pink, as Dusky is the name you don't need to think.

The last of the Sweetlips are the spotted types, there's the Black and the Gold but they're not that alike.
The Gold Spotted has a wide body, with, yes, you've guessed it, white spots to see.

We'll end now with the Black Spotted Sweetlips, the clue's in the name, but I'll give you a tip.
On its yellow fins it has black spots, as well as on it's body, which is white, IT ROCKS.

Thank you for listening to my rap, I hope it didn't make you need a nap!

Update from our Expedition Manager: The Joy of Fish!

From Ruth:

I have now been in Andavadoaka working for Blue Ventures for 7 months. I've been 'fish enabled' for about 5 of those months, and am out there doing fish point outs and tests with volunteers during their training period, and collecting data towards the end of the expedition.

In order to be science enabled I had to get 98% on my in-water and computer fish ID tests. With 150 fish to learn, it was quite daunting initially and took me quite a while before I was confident in the water to know what I was seeing. The most amazing thing about this is that 5 months on, I still get a thrill when I'm diving and I can identify the majority of the fish that I'm seeing on a dive. I love it when one of our 150 fish shows up on a dive if I haven't seen it for a while. I saw a scythe triggerfish today and greeted it like an old friend because it's been months since I saw one. I felt so happy that I saw it, and instantly knew what it was. I have Tristan (one of our field scientists) to thank for this, as his training was rigorous and, at times, relentless. But it was all worth it.

But being able to identify fish on site is not the most amazing thing about diving here. It's the fact that there's more fish out there that I don't know. Last week, I had a fantastic dive on one of our near shore sites and was so excited by the new fish that I'd never seen before, that I had to rush back, go to our fish ID books, and work out what they were. It was a great feeling to identify them, and know that in over 400 dives (not just here!), it's possible that I've never positively identified those fish before - possibly never even seen at least one of them before. Just in case you're interested, they were: a yellowsaddle goatfish, a blackedge thicklip wrasse and a sunset wrasse. I'm sure that no matter how many fish I learn, I'll never lose the thrill of coming back from a dive with a new fish to identify, look up and write into my log book.

Sexual health message spread through drama

It's a Saturday. Not that the days of the week bear much consequence to our working week here in Andavadoaka; but it is a Saturday, Saturday 10th May. An important meeting is to be held with all parties involved within the Velondriake, just south of here. As a result much preparatory work has been done in the build up to this meeting and most of the BV staff have set off in the early hours to attend.

As we wake, it is uncharacteristically cloudy, the sea is eerily still and hazy but there is an air of calm tranquility pervading CoCo Beach. New life has begun in the form of 3 kid goats just outside my hut. I watch in awe as they take their first milk. But my mind is somewhat distracted despite the beauty that surrounds me, as today is one of personal significance. For some, 6 months may seem like a long time to work in a community but with just 6 weeks left, I feel like my work has really only just begun. As well as being the medic for the expedition,I also have the privilege of running a family planning clinic in the village. From the outset I have found this a particularly rewarding part of my role; providing a well needed service in this beautiful part of the world. Despite the Catholic prevalence in the village, it is a well received service and clearly appreciated by the women who attend the clinic, who see the value of family spacing; and I may add, no objections have been made by the Catholic church.

However, what has struck me since my arrival is the limited use of condoms and the apparent lack of awareness of the gravity of STI's. For this reason, I have felt compelled to impact upon this knowledge deficit and impress upon those around me the importance of condom use in the prevention of STI's. Up until now I have tried a tentative approach to the subject with the occasional condom demonstration delivered at meetings. Even these events would cause me a sense of anxiety for fear of causing offence or not being well received; soon alleviated by the constant hilarity that the subject brings about. Knowing full well that a condom demonstration here and there would not suffice to bring about behavioural change, I knew the campaign would have to scale up at some point to be of any relevance and to have any appreciable impact.

I have always had in mind that a theatrical approach to delivering a message is a well established and effective means of conveying ideas and if i could somehow draw upon the skills of those around me and somehow create a piece of drama addressing the need to practice safe sex, then maybe just maybe, a wider audience would be addressed,with a greater impact. Um, timing is the key, and with one week left of this expedition and having been afflicted by minor illness for the first part of it, was i being slightly ambitious in thinking that now was the time to put this concept into action.

What with the constant niggley feeling that now is always the time, and with the constant sense of urgency and feeling that, if action is not taken soon in this beautiful country then, quite possibly it is in danger of replicating the devastating picture that faces many parts of Africa, I started to put pen to paper. I knew it was ambitious, i knew that Saturday was important and that there would be an absence in Malagasy staff who are always so supportive and fundamental in meetings or functions. I knew it was a tall order but i also knew that the volunteers on this expedition were more than capable of carrying it off; their dramatic skills had already been proven in a previous afternoon of fish demonstrations, they were willing and very able performers.

I presented a script to a rather reluctant Malagasy scholar. Fortunately he was immediately taken enough by it and he translated it pretty quickly and by Wednesday morning we had a definitive Vezo script. Being a Vezo himself, Taylor was able to translate the script in a readily understandable form for the village, misunderstandings avoided, humour conveyed and not lost in translation; a perfect outcome.

Despite the lack of time, despite the loss of my voice in the next days, Saturday 10th came round all too quickly. 4pm we had said to the village when we advertised our play but by 4.30, there were still only a few kids hanging around the sound system we had rigged up. Where was everybody? We sent some boys around the village to further advertise the show, and still 20 minutes later very few people had come. Dismayed and confused, i couldn't quite understand the poor turn out. Ordinarily, when BV has performed in any way it has been well met with large numbers attending; what had gone wrong? Where was everyone?

As it transpired, when Taylor toured the village, he discovered that the common belief was that there was a fee to be paid to our show. With that myth dismissed, the crowds arrived, at last we had an audience!

So this was it - all age groups present with varying members of the community and a whole lot of them. I had already discussed with myself the possibility that it would not be well received, the horrendous possibility of what would have happened if offence had been caused and not having the usual support of our Malagasy staff to smooth things out if required. It could go 2 ways and as I prayed that it would go as I intended, the show begun!

With the first bursts of laughter from the audience I relaxed and thankfully watched the crowds as they watched with curiosity and amusement at all of us make fools of ourselves. Thanks to the brilliance of Taylor who orchestrated our cues and narrated the story, we delivered a ground breaking repertoire. Without the goodwill of all the volunteers it would not have been possible.

So a huge thanks to all those involved and of course to all those in preceding expeditions who gallantly donned their t-shirts, with varying condom awareness messages embroidered on them. Collectively, BV staff and volunteers have helped to augment awareness; even if if this is only the tip of the iceberg, those involved have played a huge part in positively impacting upon this small community. The journey of awareness has only just begun but i feel so fortunate and honoured to have been a part of it. My heart has been warmed.

Becks (BV Expedition Medic)

Ode to Expedition 37

You arrived on the camion all tired and weary
the hours of bumping making your eyes look all bleary
we can't believe six weeks has passed
it really has gone so very fast
we hope you've had a blast and a ball
because the things you've done have been far from small

After your efforts, the beach was pristine
Compared to before it was a sight to be seen
Richard was here and Ruth was a bit stressed
But she needn't have worried, he was more than impressed.

Someone brought vao vao, it was up there with the best
A fisherman in Lamboara had found a turtle nest
To be made into an omelette was to be the hatchling's fate
but because of all you, they are now protected - which is "turtly" great!

Now onto Radoko's favourite subject, which as you all know
is condoms/kapoty and putting on a show!

So then there was the play
what a marvelous ground-breaking day
You and me together in true camaradarie
all last minute, but you showed great bravery
delivered in a brilliant impressive style
even with the recent absence of Eamonn and Kyle

Thanks to you all for this momentous event
To Radoko you will never know how much it all meant
A ceremony in the village, and everyone went down
Tokagasy at lunchtime when the pseudo-environment minister came to town

Now as well as all these events that happened the last few weeks
A few fishy tales will be remembered as one of the peaks
we all had a laugh - it was a bit of a farce
especially Debbie's great big white ****!
And Sam regaled us with a fantastic story
Which was in parts hilarious and in others a bit gory!
Tori & Vic sang us a great song
snapping the limelight, they could do no wrong.

Getting lots of science completed as well as having fun
you will be pleased to know that we got everything we needed done.

To Bevato some travelled in search of baobabs and mangroves
but we spent a great deal of time just
watching praying mantis and gekkos
Living on a prayer and summer of 69
At the tops of our voices, it all sounded fine?!
We mustn't forget those that have already gone
and of course Ruth teaching us a song about a "guy called Ron?!?"

With all those handsome guys and pretty girls so fair
It is only right that there should be romance in the air
so now you're heading off to Canada, Switzerland or Devon
But when you get back you will dream of Andava and expedition 37!!!!

By Charlie & Becks (Andava resident Poet Laureates)

"We Love Our Snappers!"

Another song to help identify different species of snapper...

"We Love Our Snappers!"

(To be sung to the tune of "Can't take my eyes off you")

When you are learning your fish,
Can't give your snappers a miss,
Continuous dorsal fin,
Often higher where they begin,
With slightly upturned snouts,
And downturned mouths
This makes them look quite sad,
But they’ve teeth that make them look bad

The Bluelined has four lines,
A yellow body that's streamlined,
But don't get too bemused,
The Bluestripe's easy to confuse,
Count the lines; Stripey's got six,
So don't get in a fix

Now we don't have far to go,
There are only seven to know,
Bluelined, Bluestriped, Black and it's juvenile Twinspot, one spot, black spot and big eye, Bluelined, Bluestriped, Black and Big Eye, Twin, One and Black Spoooooooot!

We know our snappers,
Because they're medium sized,
We know our snappers
They are nektonic guys

We know our snappers,
And their emarginate tails
We know our snappers,
With their continuous fin,

We know our snappers
They eat other fish,
They are oblong fishes with triangular heads...

Silver, reddish or yellow,
The One Spot's a lonely fellow,
Twin Spot has two light spots,
Located near to his top,
Browney yellow in colour,
He's a little bit duller,
As is his brother the black,
But the juvenile's all that,

Silver with yellow brown stripe,
The Big Eye is a nice type,
Of fish to have for tea,
As is the whole family,
The blackspot has just one spot,
And a yellowey bot,
He also has stripes,
And hunts in the night,
Bluelined, Bluestriped, Black and it's juvenile Twinspot, one spot, black spot and big eye Bluelined, Bluestriped, Black and Big Eye, Twin, One and Black Spoooooooot!

We love our snappers,
And if it's quite alright,
We'll eat our snappers,
For dinner every night,
We thank our snappers,
For be-ing just so yum-my!

By Tori Jordan and Vic Nott

Three weeks in

From Sam:

I finally arrived at the site at sundown on April 1st, easily the longest transition period I’ve had from one place to another. That said I really, really loved the trip through Madagascar. I had a great time bonding with the other 11 volunteers in my van while we drove, saw a national park (and lemurs!), kept driving, barely slept and had a nice half day hike through an even better national park (with more lemurs!) The landscape was really fantastic, a combination of the endless plains of the Serengeti as well as jutting rock formations that made for some really incredible views. My camera is more or less dead, but luckily I’m with a bunch of shutter bugs and I think I’ll be able to get a CD full of pictures at the end.

In the three weeks I’ve been at the site next to the village of Andavadoaka I have learned how to scuba dive, attaining my Open Water status and soon Open Water Advanced. On a painful note, I have had some issues with one of my teeth on occasion. The change in pressure when I go down too quickly makes air unable to escape from my top left molar, possibly due to issues with a filling I have there. It was very unpleasant and I honestly cannot recommend it, but luckily it’s only happened twice and I’m fine as long as I descend slowly. That said, if you think you have a cavity or have had fillings, do yourself a favour and get a check up with your dentist.

Memorizing all the fish and benthic is difficult but rewarding, and those who prepare beforehand are rewarded with precious free time. As an avid reader and someone who is composing a daily journal, every extra moment you can get is a godsend. I don’t often mind myself sweating from exhaustion, but I am kept very busy.

It is interesting spending back to back time at two conservation centers and picking up on the many similarities and crucial differences, many of which I believe are probably related to the donation I gave each site in order to volunteer. Here, the relationship with the community is incredibly positive, very much off the beaten track – Andavadoaka is the subject of a single paragraph in Lonely Planet – and the meals are fantastic (if not a bit repetitive. Bring Marmite, Nutella, and any other spices, sauces or drink mixes, they will be a great commodity and a powerful bargaining tool!)

One of the highlights here probably occurred a few days ago, when I spent two days on the small island of Nosy Mitata with a family there. I went spear fishing with them and had a very insightful look at how the locals live, as well as a reminder that neighbouring village Andavadoaka is by far the most highly populated village around. It’s population? 1,200.

Sometimes they caught animals that we're trying to protect, but preaching to them would have been wrong, even if I possessed the Malagasy vocabulary to do so. Rather, it let me really understand where Blue Ventures stands and what it is all about.

Three weeks down, three to go, and I have to say that it feels just right as the midway point. I am not panicking that the time has gone by in the blink of an eye (though in some ways it has), nor am I worried that three more weeks with my fellow volunteers and staff will be the end of me. Well I'm off, I need to enter today's data before going into Andavadoaka to witness a village ceremony.


From Kat:

21/04/08

Hello to all out there in the internet world,

It's been another good week at Coco beach and beyond. On Friday, five volunteers me(Kat), Debbie, Mike, Anita, Maikel and Taylor all went north on a pirogue with Vezo staff member Angelo to document our sea cucumber farm. The waves were high and the ride was very wet and salty but we made it safe and sound.

Upon arrival, the President (mayor) of the village greeted us politely and brought out mats for us to use for our stay instead of sleeping on the sand. Angelo had brought supplies for cooking and proceeded to start our dinner. As we were only lying about Anita and I jumped up to help Angelo with the cooking. I've missed cooking a bit as all the meals at Coco Beach are prepared for us. I began chopping onions in a bowl while standing and using a very dull knife. Luckily fingers were not added to the mix. We helped start the fire in the cooking hut and started on the fish. Anita took charge of the rice.

As Angelo felt Anita and I had control of everything he and Mike went to sit with the Nahodas (elder men) of the village and discuss our business for the evening. It's customary to always stop in and speak with the Nahodas and/or President of the village upon arrival and departure. They always need to give permission for our activities.

Back in the cooking hut Anita and I are slowly attempting to find our footing in this foreign kitchen. No pot handles so we use sticks to lift the lids. Always watching your flame so it doesn't get too hot or burn out. Cooking with salt that is not crushed up into tiny dissolvable particles. It's all a bit disorientating. The fish went fairly well. Unfortunately Anita's rice didn't go so well. She is used to letting water boil and adding the rice after boil then simmering the heat until done. The rice here needs to be added to cold water and brought to a rolling boil or else you get very hard rice in the center and mush on the outside. All the women of the village had a good laugh at the Vaza who can't cook and then we remade the rice. Dinner was quite tasty.

At 11pm when the tide had gone out and the moon "lit" our way we headed out the the cucumber pen. It a 10X10 meter pen way out from the beach only noted with four sticks marking each corner. We had quite a bit of difficulty walking out through the dips and valleys that were the sandy bottom but made it out.

Mike, Anita and I hopped into the pen and began snorkelling around picking up the cucumbers as we found them through the sea grass. Handing them off to Maikel, Debbie, Taylor and Angelo who were measuring and weighing all of them. Upon collecting about 70 of the cucumbers and noticing (and avoiding) the lionfish who had taken up residence in the pen Angelo announced the scale was no longer working. AHHHH! Madagascar troubles!!!! We all tried to solve the problem but to no avail. We had to return the cucumbers to their watery slumber and return to the beach for rest ourselves.

In the morning after gathering our things and wishing the President good healthy wishes we headed home. Hopefully we will try again later this week with better results.

Well wishes and happy lives to all
Kat, Expedition 37

The journey to Andavadoaka...

From Sam:

On Getting Here

After twenty three hours in the air (which itself was preceded by a night in the Guatemala City airport), it would not be hard to have other individuals irk me. But to my pleasure, the five other Blue Ventures volunteers I met up with at the airport were all exceedingly friendly. We arrived at our hotel around 1:30 in the morning and until 4 we were hanging out in the lobby, chatting and drinking cold THB.

In the morning we met five more members, and took off for a three day long trek through Madagascar to Andavadoaka. Even when we were driving rather than hiking through incredible landscapes to see lemurs and swim under lush waterfalls we all got along great and bonded quickly. The way I figured it, you’re bound to get along with others who have the guts to spend six weeks in Madagascar doing reef conservation work. The views out the window certainly didn’t hurt either.

In my short time on this planet I have been to my fair share of places, but Madagascar stood out to me for its jutting rock formations and red dirt houses that initially littered the sides. I have heard some call it ‘The Eighth Continent’ for its landscape, and I am inclined to agree.

When we arrived in Tulear on the west coast, we were all very tired, but there was more travelling to be done. A flatbed truck carried us plus the other volunteers and staff who we rendezvoused with down the coastline. While some will tell you that the bouncy nature of this ride makes it a mission to be feared, I found it to be great fun. Even so, when we finally arrived in Andavadoaka, framed by the golden glow of the sun lowering under the sea, I felt truly elated to be where I was.

All in all I left in a shuttle for the Guatemala City airport at 6:30PM on the 26th of March, and arrived at 5:45PM on April 1st. The journey required two airlines, three cars and four flights to be completed. But having now been here for a week and a half it was undoubtedly worth it (and then some).

And from Kat:

I’ve been here in Andavadoaka for just over a week. It’s been a whirlwind adventure so far with arriving in Tana exploring the city streets and meeting many of my volunteer pals there. Quite a few of us then proceeded on a taxi brousse trip for three days on our way to Tulear. Dave, our guide, was a wonderful help teaching us about the country as we drove and our stops in a couple parks to trek through the forests and see lemurs (as well as so many other animals and plants) was a fabulous way to introduce ourselves to Madagascar.

Along the way all the volunteers seem to bond well to each other in the relaxed if very cramped van that we travelled in. Once we made it on site at Andava I was so glad to have that time to meet everyone as the work begins quickly. I’ve been learning so much about the people of Andava and how BV has had an impact and continues to strive to create a more positive impact each day.

I haven’t had the opportunity to do scientific diving exercises as of yet since I’ve been learning to dive here onsite but can’t wait to get started on that soon. The training for diving has been tough; our confined water dives aren’t in a pool but in “calm water” shallows but both Richard and Al, our dive instructors, have been incredible and make you feel safe through all the training. We have only a couple more training dives left and then on to the open water dives!

So much happens here you can’t participate in it all. Yet that’s part of the joy of being here. Gathering before dinner to have Vao Vao and learning all that has happened in the day is exciting to say the least.

Expedition 36- veloma in verse!

So let's talk about expedition 36

You may at times have felt it a bit fixed
what with no viz, we've all been in a bit of a tizz
What with all the storms, we've all been a bit forlorn.

No diving today, that's what we say!
we have ridden the storms together, so no more talk of the weather
But let's talk about what you have done.
At moments you have completely shone
and for sure we will be sad to see you all gone
'cause your achievements have been very long.

We had a fantastic open day
when all the kids came out to play
the children got dunked and sucked on some air
they didn't see fishes but they didn't care.
Turtle racing was fun, and we put on a show
- even the president had a go.
Monsier Roger even joined in the fray
making Beck's heart leap with his condom display.

Your posters were super, smashing, great
A real asset to the collection to date
The pirogue race will surely be remembered by all
Great strength was shown, i think you'll agree we all had a ball.
Then onto the singing, our time in the spotlight
I hope we didn't give the villagers too much of a fright.

Technical problems and hitches galore
But Bic's presentation still wowed the floor
It was great, but we mustn't forget
Expedition 36... isn't over yet

Yet more bad weather, and more rain that fell
So off to Bevato, we all yell.
Up there we have mangroves and baobabs too,
but watch out for mosquitos when doing a poo!
Climbing up trees and traipsing through mud,
and even more mosquitos sucking your blood.

On our return, it's like a new place.
No wind and good viz, and now a smile on your face.
Now three and a half kilometre square of belts
in only four days - watch our scientist's hearts melt.

You have all been so great, so bask in your glory
when you regail to your friends expedition 36's story.
And especially remember when talking of Andavadok
Explain about the fashion of wearing one sock.
So never forget your Vazaha foty foty
and always remember mampiasa kapoty!!!

* Editors note: "mampiasa kapoty" means "to use condoms"

Charlie (Field Scientist) and Becks (Expedition Medic)

Blue Ventures Carbon Offset Review

Industry watchdog Which? commends Blue Ventures’ Carbon Offset

Blue Ventures’ innovative non-profit carbon offsetting programme has been highly rated by companies watchdog Which? in its new report on the UK carbon offsetting industry.

The report, which looks at the rapidly-growing carbon offsetting market and regulations governing the industry, compares 13 offset providers across UK, highlighting the often bewildering confusion that consumers face when chosing a carbon offsetting option. Blue Ventures Carbon Offset (BVCO) scored 5 out of 5 for the quality of project details and information provided, and 4 out of 5 for ease of use of its website.

BVCO provides offsetting solutions through the provision of fuel-efficient and solar stoves to poor rural communities in Madagascar and South Africa. In addition to the emissions reductions made, the stoves provide environmental, economic and health benefits to partner communities. Operated as an entirely non-profit venture to support conservation and community development projects in the developing world, BVCO also offers a carbon footprint consultancy service to help businesses and individuals reduce their personal carbon dioxide emissions.

Check out the report here

Blue Ventures Open Day March 2008

This week, Blue Ventures held an Open Day for the village. We had posters, made by the volunteers, about the inter-relationship between the mangroves, seagrass and reefs, what a marine protected area would mean for the fishing stocks (and what would happen if there weren't any protected areas), what the women's association did, and two possible futures for a Vezo family depending on whether or not they used contraception. There were also posters on alternative ways of making money and on the benefits of using a solar stove. For the children, there was a turtle racing game and a fishing game, where you had to cast your fishing rod into a marine reserve bucket and a non-reserve bucket.

The day kicked off with the biggest rainstorm i've ever seen. It was so heavy that Andavadoaka rock and split rock, our local landmarks in the sea were completely obscured in rain and cloud. We hastily rescued all the posters from the leaking classroom and prayed for some respite from the rain. This is Andavadoaka - one of the driest places in Madagascar - not Manchester. It's not supposed to rain this hard, for that long!

As the expedition manager, I had two main worries. One - that no one would come. Two - that everyone would come and we couldn't accommodate! Happily, my worries were unfounded. The sun broke through the clouds and shone for most of the day after the initial downpour and just the right amount of people came. Children were dunked in giant blue buckets so that they could experience breathing using scuba (and received a sweet for their bravery). Others played the two games, while plenty more were entertained by the volunteers, using them as portable climbing frames. Adults came too - and most seemed interested in the posters. Our Malagasy staff were on hand to elaborate on the themes, and ensure that the conservation message was spread. Gail, our resident camerawoman this expedition, showed a slideshow of her photos to the delight of everyone, and Gildas and the ex-village president showed a crowd of intrigued and giggling adults how to use a condom - with a broom to demonstrate. The condom message wasn't restricted to the demonstration or poster. Oh no. Nearly all of the volunteers, and most of the staff had got the women's association to embroider messages on the back of t-shirts promoting condom use.

We were already exhausted by lunchtime - especially anyone who'd been dealing with the children (or climbed on by them) but there was still more to come.

In the afternoon, we held a pirogue race. Each pirogue had three vezu and one fazahar (tourist). While it might have been just a race for us, for the villagers it was an extremely serious business. Not only was their pride at stake, but there was prize money too. It had been a bad week for fishing because of the weather so the prize money was all important. There were about 25 pirogues on the beach, and each was assigned a vazahar to sit in. Not wanting to be completely humiliated in the race, I chose wisely - or so I thought - chosing to go with Fila, known for his rowing prowess. I shook hands with my piroguers and stood waiting by the pirogue for things to get going. Nothing seemed to happen for ages and ages but then suddenly, a lot of shouting and we were off, my three fisherman running with the pirogue into the water. I lost one shoe. Then another, into the sea. And then I was neck deep in water, swimming (I'm short) and struggling to get into the pirogue. Suddenly, I felt two hands under my armpits and I was lifted up into the air, out of the water and onto the pirogue. I felt about five.

My own pride might have been dented, but I was not going to let it stop me from doing my bit and so I began to row as hard as I could. We rowed out to the motorboat marker, rowed round it and came back to the beach. All the other piroguers were also rowing as hard as they could, rowing for their lives, or at least for their pride and their supper. These are extremely are strong motivators. Unfortunately for my piroguers, we only came in second to last. My pride wasn't totally dented then. My arms, however, were pretty destroyed! It was such hard work!!! But then the shouting and gesticulating started. There had been a false start, and it wasn't fair and the villagers were up in arms. The race was null and void. We couldn't allow it to count and we had to do it all over again. The shouting and arguing continued for a while. Our Malagasy staff, diplomats that they are, calmed the situation down but ultimately, it appeared that there was nothing for it than to run the race again! It was hard enough the first time, but could I do it all again? "you don't have to row" said Justin. Just sit in it. And so I agreed.

The pirogues lined up on the beach once again, but this time a member of each pirogue stood further back on the beach in a line, waiting for the signal. When it was given, we were all off once again. My piroguers weren't taking any risks with me this time. They made me sit on the pirogue from the start. But there was no way that I could sit in it and not paddle. So my poor little arms got a second workout as I paddled for my life once more. "Make it count" I coached myself each time I put the paddle into the water. "Make it count". Maybe it did. I don't know. I kept the rhythm, and the boat kept moving forward, so perhaps I was doing something right. The second race seemed a lot further although perhaps it was just that my arms were aching with the effort of doing the whole thing twice. I don't know. I hadn't used those muscles for such a long time. We did better in the second race, but we didn't win. We didn't even come in the first ten. The winner of the first race had also won the second - so the best rowers evidently did win. My piroguers seemed happier with their placing in the second race. And I got my shoes back. So, as with most things here, it all turned out all right in the end.

The day finished with a bit of entertainment. By which, I mean the staff and volunteers sung a conservation song in Malagasy written by James, our boat driver. The village were suitably amused and impressed. Some even donated money into a hat for us! It was pretty funny and we sung to huge applause and only a little laughter. An English speaking competition then, and finally Bic's fin-fish presentation and a film about overfishing in Indonesia before heading back to Coco Beach for supper. Everyone agreed that it had been a fantastic day. Some staff suggested that we do it all again in a few months - maybe in as little as three. I tentatively agreed. I think my arms will just about have recovered by then!

Ruth Rosselson

Village Stays

BV has recently introduced the opportunity of 'village stays' for our volunteers. A report from Lucy Ferguson highlights the joys of life in a vezo community:

The home stay was hilarious! They picked me up after breakfast last Saturday and I set off on the pirogue with what later became known as my three body guards. They were three burly Malagasy boys who went pretty much everywhere with me for the following 48 hours.

The wind was strong on the way there and they sat me out on the outrigger of the pirogue for ballast - an hour later after my arms has turned white from holding on for grim death we arrived at my new home - Nosy Mitata (Nosy meaning island). There to greet me were the family, about 15 of them (which was a large proportion of the island when you consider in has a population of about 60), with grandparents, parents, and a gaggle of children and babies. Little did I realise how much entertainment I was going to provide for the following couple of days.

I was ushered into their hut, with a select audience (the rest of the family has to peer through the door of the window) and was presented with a cup of tea and a saucer. On cue I made my first mistake - I put the cup on the saucer. Vigorous laughter ensued and when when it finally subsided I was shown that the correct thing was to pour the boiling tea into the saucer and drink it from there as a means of cooling it. Not an easy task.

After tea I was kitted up with mask fins and spear and sent out in the pirogue with my three body guards to catch our tea. I personally didn't catch anything (in fact had I tried it was likely that me, one of the body guards or a coral would have sustained serious injury) but they caught quite a few, included parrot fish, trigger fish, stripped bristle teeth, black spotted sweetlips, etc. (If you hadn't guessed I am now fish enabled and collected data from my first fish belt last week).

After fishing we went back and I was sat in the hut with food. After about 30 minutes of waiting for the rest of the family to join me I realised that I was to be eating alone and tucked in. The meal times proceeded to be fairly strange - at dinner i was ushered into the hut once again but this time with Nahoda (the head of the household) and we ate alone together. I was very happy when the next day I actually graduated to eating with the entire family! The evening was passed with dancing and togagash (a lethal, and I think maybe illegal Malagasy home brew) and a considerable amount of laughing at my expense (I thought that it may have scarred me for life but a couple of epi-bar trips and my dancing confidence seems to have resumed to normal).

I was glad to returned to Andava but it was absolutely hilarious and well worth doing!

A day in the life of a BV volunteer

5.30am. I can hear the sound of a bell ringing some distance away. I open one eye and look at my watch. 5.30am. The sun is rising and it's time to wake up and get kitted up for the 1st dive of the day. While the men from the neighbouring village are preparing their pirogues and nets, I meet up with some of the members of expedition 36 in the bat cave to set up our scuba diving equipment.

6am. Time for a dive briefing. Now that we have passed all tests on the benthic stuff (coral, sponges, hydroids etc.) Charlie and Louis brief us on the fish point-out dive. there are more than 150 fish to learn and we are aiming to pass the fish tests by the end of this week so there's no time to waste. Fortunately, the weather is on our side - no rain and light wind both make for good visibility underwater. It's pretty hot in the afternoon though
(37 degrees C).

6.30am. Off we go with the boat on a flat and peacful sea towards near shore half moon - a close spot opposite our campsite. We all get geared, we carry out a buddy check and at 'telo' (three) we all fall backwards into the water with a temperature of around 29 degrees. We are going down to the sea floor for a 45 minute dive looking for all sorts of fish we need to learn, they are all more colouful than one to the other. This morning we have seen the Schwenk's sweeper, a black spotted sweetlips, jewel damsels, orange-spined unicorn fish, Madagascan butterfly fish, three-spot dascyllus, peacock grouper, skunk anenomefish, big eye snappers, bicolour parrotfish, semi-circle angelfish and bloodspot squirrel fish amongst others.

8.45am. We are back to the BV campsite. We put our equipment away after having rinsed it first. We then go back to our respective bungalows to have a shower and chill out a bit in the hammock. I take Allen's reef fish book with me to check the fish I was not sure about while underwater.

10.15 After a bit of a rest, I am now heading down to Nosy Cao (our classroom) to see what people are up to, including the Malagasy staff writing their reports on their respective research projects. It's good to discuss with them on their work as it provides and instant insight on how valuable the data we gather during our survey dives is for the setting up of a community-run marine protected area. This gives me even more motivation to practice the fish test on the computer with other members of the expedition.

13.15 Time to head up to the restaurant and fill up my bottle of water. Three litres of water is usually what I drink for a day because of the heat. On my way, I spot a Namaqua dove and also a dimorphic egret on the shoreline. Lunch and dinnertimes are always a good opportunity to catch up with other members of the expedition including the two Dutch researchers working on a seagrass research project.

14.30. I go for a well-deserved half hour nap in the shade.

15:00 We all gather in Nosy Cao to work on the organisation of an open day for the villagers of Andavadoaka. We are preparing various posters and animations translated by the Malagasy staff which explain's BV's fieldwork here and the benefits of establishing a marine protected area. This is a totally new concept for most of the fishemen here. They have always fished in this area without restrictions. However, when fish become scarce, they go fishing further north by travelling - sometimes for a few months. It is hoped that one of the benefits of the MPA for the local fishermen will be in providing good-sized fish most of the year in the proximity of the village and avoiding the promotion of bad fishing practices (dynamite and cyanide) or sailing long distances in order to yield a satisfactory number of fish.

18:00 Time for our duties - cleaning the classroom and diving room, data entry and gathering weather data.

19:00 We all meet up at the restaurant for 'vao vao' (news) when people and staff tell everybody else what happened today and what the schedule is for tomorrow.

19:30 Dinnertime! We all grab food - consisting of fish or meat with rice or pasta and vegetables. We have pineapple for dessert - a real treat.

20:30. Chill-out time when everyone chats about how they are going to change the world and we debate about anything. and everything. Others play cards or sing along to the guitar.

22:00 Bed time! It has been a long day full of interesting things. Now all I can think of is what fish I am going to be dreaming of tonight.


Guillame (volunteer)

Mapping Velondriake

Raj (from the BV head office) is currently conducting GIS field research in Andavadoaka to map the coral reefs of Velondriake – "the perfect excuse for getting out of the office".

The aim of the trip is to produce a habitat map of the Velondriake Marine Protected Area Network, for use by the Velondriake committee. Velondriake is a massive 800 square kilometre protected area in southwest Madagascar, run by local communities, and aided by international NGOs.

We will be zoning the Velondriake protected area into different types of habitats – such as coral and seagrass in marine areas, and mangroves in terrestrial areas, using a variety of equipment and survey techniques. This will primarily help the Velondriake committee to make decisions on which key areas to protect.

The Velondriake area has never before been surveyed in this way. Although the French completed a bathymetric (underwater) study in the 19th century, but with a much lower accuracy.

Fortunately the weather was been good, and have had a lot of calm days on which to collect the data. We eventually hope to extrapolate the results for our marine survey so that we can map areas all the way to Tulear – a distance of 250km.

We are very lucky to have the help of Dr Sam Purkis, from Nova University in the US, a world expert on GIS and reef mapping.

There is plenty of data still to collect, but below you can see a preview of the underwater terrain in the Andavadoaka region (the black is above sea-level), to give one a taster of what is possible with GIS!

Two Blogs this week!!

The first comes from volunteer, Monika Calitz:

Week one of Blue Ventures Expedition no. 36 was exciting – filled with activities and experiences.

After three days on the road through the wonderfully diverse landscape of Madagascar we arrive in Tulear. Another gruelling 12 hours by an ancient truck on a pair of tracks brings us to our destination, Coco Beach and the Blue Ventures Camp. The journey brings home how remote Andavadoaka is and how privileged we are to be here.

Cyclone Ivan has lashed the coast for the past 3 days. Activities are scheduled around the weather so instead of diving, we’ve been receiving science training, teaching English in the village, manufactured stencils for painting the new Blue Ventures Boat and partied in the village.

I have had three dives – on the first one I managed to spot some of the fish species I had learned: angels, surgeons and clown fish. I realize how studying the species is already enhancing my diving experience. Unfortunately, the diving since then has been getting worse as the storm has churned up the water badly.

This is a great opportunity, however, to get involved in one of the many other projects BV is doing here. On Tuesday, 4 of us are leaving with Lalao and Hanta to complete a survey of the mangroves south of Tulear.

The second blog comes from volunteers, Yin Chang and Tom Heimhuber:

English Teaching in Andava

Each Saturday at 3:00 pm we take the walk through the village to meet our class from the Catholic school. All the while we wonder if our preparation and lesson plan will be met with success or dismal failure and an eventual dispersal of our students.

This past week we planned to play supermarket, bringing candles, soap and empty boxes of items such as cookies and mosquito coils to “sell”. We were happy to meet our 6 students (an unusually small class) and anticipated a more controlled and attentive class compared to our class of stragglers last week who did not belong to the school.


We made introductions and settled down onto a shady area of the school yard. We reviewed numbers for money, a skill that required these 9-12 year olds to leap through 1-10 and into the thousands due to the size of Malagasy money and the price of items here. We read our labels for our items and informed them of their prices before giving them paper money to purchase our market items.

Meanwhile we slowly started to gain the interest of nearby groups who began to wander over to see what activities we were doing. Soon there was a frenzy to play at the market and we had to continuously ask the students to stand back.

Our class tripled, maybe quadrupled in size; however, we were impressed that the students were able to quickly give and request correct amounts for their items. It was a satisfying experience since we achieved our goals for the lesson and also managed to appropriate other students, surely a sign of an interesting class.


Then there was war! Impressed by the surprisingly good performance of most of our students we thought it would be a good idea to leave a pack of biscuits for them (they are called biscuits here; in our please-let-there-be-taste world a shop owner would not sell a single pack of them).

We thought that it would also be a good idea to hand out the single bits to one student after another and thus control the whole procedure. And we thought that maintaining a security distance of approx 3 meters to the rest of the students was a good idea. We were wrong. And we realised that as soon as we gave the first biscuit to the first student.

Within seconds we saw more children per cubic meter than we did ever before. Children everywhere, stapled above each other, screaming and grasping after the biscuits that were somewhere underneath them – and there were still more children heading towards us in high speed; from everywhere.

The only thing we could do was to save ourselves by rushing away and looking at the spectacle from a safe distance in shock and disbelief at the dust storm that became the students. It was crazy; we never saw anything similar before.

So we learned our lesson this afternoon, too; we will definitely think twice before believing that acts of generosity in our minds translate the same way in Madagascar where even paper candies are wanted with such ferocity.

Bid on eBay - support the School Scholarship Fund!

Please help raise money for the Andavadoaka School Scholarship Fund.

A past volunteer, Catherine Petronino (Expedition 15), is currently hosting 3 eBay auctions on behalf of students from the "College Sainte Famille" in Andavadoaka. 

The students are selling hand-embroidered items and the mony raised goes directly to the Scholarship Fund. Just £20 will  sponsor a child to attend school for a year.

Up for grabs are:

• 6 Hand Embroidered Round Napkins
  

•  Hand Embroidered Table Cloth & Napkins
  

• Hand Embroidered Drink Coasters
  

The auctions end this Friday the 7th of March, so get bidding!!