Volunteer FAQ

Volunteering

Who can volunteer?
Anybody can volunteer with us as long as you are prepared to work hard and play hard.  The program does involve late nights and early mornings (turtle watch shifts are 8pm til 4am then 3am til 8am) and your sleep pattern will be disrupted.  Volunteers will be working in both the sea and the forest.

When can i volunteer?
The volunteer program starts on alternate mondays - starting Monday 5th April 2010 through to Sunday 10th October 2010. 

What the min/max time i can volunteer for?
You can volunteer anything from 1 week to 5 months

Where will i be staying?
You will be staying in a twin share fan room with en-suite bathroom.  But please bare in mind the resort is amongst nature and some of natures creatures may go into your room including spiders, rats, squirrels and snakes.

What food will be provided?
You will be given three meals a day.  Breakfast is served between 07:30am to 10:00am you can have cornflakes, egg on toast but the chocolate pancakes are often the favourite amongst the volunteers.  For lunch you will be served at 12:30 and given either a sandwich or noodles.  For dinner, served at 19:30, the volunteers are served 3 dishes (chicken, with either 1 veg and an omelette or 2 veg dishes) with a bowl of rice.  After your main meal you are given cut fruit.

I want to volunteer, what next?
You need to become an Ecoteer member costing GBP 20 (visit www.ecoteer.com ) and fill in our application form sending it to info@bubblesdc.com .  Please go to our volunteer application section .

How do i pay at the project?
We prefer volunteers to pay using mastercard (3% surcharge on all credit card transactions) or cash. As a last resort volunteers can also pay using direct into our bank account.

How is the volunteer fee broken down?

How much money should i bring?
We recommend you budget for RM50 per week if you dont want to dive.  The extra money is for buying snacks like icereams, fizzy drinks and a top favourite chocolate and coconut milkshakes.  If you want to dive then you need to add this to your budget.  There is no worry about money on the island as we run a tab system so their is no need to continually pay for your extra snacks.

What do i bring?
Please refer to our Know Before You Go brochure.

What is the TnT Club?
In 2010 we will start the Turtles need Trees Club which volunteers help run at the local primary school.  Two sessions focus on one topic out of 6 which are designed to demonstrate to the children the connections between the land and sea and why turtles need trees!  The club is run on alternate Thursday afternoons from 2 til 5pm with 50 8-10 year old children expected to be present each session.  The program is great for the children to increase their confidence in English language as well as to learn about the island ecosystem.  The club involves an activity book which needs to be completed after each session to encourage learning outside of the club and a pen pal scheme with two primary schools – one in the UK the other Australia. 

What reef surveys do we do?
The reef survey elements of the program will involve learning about the reef ecosystem, coral bleaching, fish ID and conclude with an actual coral watch snorkel survey. Without the surveys we would not be able to gauge the status of the coral reef, let alone develop a conservation program to protect it. These reports help advise the Marine Parks, local universities and Queensland University who have developed the Coral watch survey.
Please visit      www.coralwatch.org
                       

What is Rubbish Reused?
From past beach cleans we have seen over 80% of the rubbish consists of cigarette butts, plastic bags, polystyrene or plastic bottles.  In 2010 Ecoteer is starting an initiative called Rubbish Reused where some of the rubbish collected is turned into sellable products by the volunteers.  For example plastic bags can be turned into crocheted sea creatures (see right), polystyrene can be used to stuff pillows and toy turtles.  The idea is to hone these skills at Bubbles and then teach them to interested villagers whom can earn money by selling them.  If improving the environment creates or saves money then the masses will do it and substantial change could happen.  The crafts will be sold to guests with all money being donated to the Perhentian village fund.  This is your chance to feel what it is like to be a Womble and be creative with stuff what the everyday folk leave behind!

What is the Perhentian Village Fund?
The Perhentian Village Fund is a fund which the villagers can use for community projects.  10% of the fee from foreign volunteers is donated to the fund.

Where do we go and how do we get there?
The Perhentian Islands are on the north east coast of Peninsular Malaysia near the border with Thailand.  Please see our location webpage.  Volunteers meet in Kuala Besut where you are picked up at a local shop owned by our boatmans wife.  The shop is very easy to find, as you walk towards the jetty to the Perhentian Islands in Kuala Besut you will walk past restaurants and shops.  Our shop is on the left hand side (as you face the jetty) and is the only one with a yellow canopy.  The shop also has a sandwich board style sign saying Bubbles Dive Resort.  Go inside the shop and say you are volunteering with Bubbles.  The meeting time is midday as the boat leaves at the earliest at 12:30. 

Please refer to our Know Before You Go brochure.

Can i speak to past volunteers?
Yes of course, we have a facebook group which all volunteers past, present and future plus the tourists are all encouraged to join.  Visit our facebook group now!

  

How much free time do i have?
The mornings are free for volunteers doing turtle watch the evening before.  The volunteers off the night before will help to tidy the resort by doing beach clean and raking a section of the beach (reduces the red ant population which kill turtle hatchlings) and the rest of the resort, this will normally be finished by 9.30am.  The rest of the morning is free for everyone and volunteers often go diving (if they have qualified), sleep, snorkel or read a book in hammock.   You will also be given 1 day off per week if you stay for 2 or more weeks.  Volunteers will usually have Sunday off but this is changable.

What can i do in my free time?
Most volunteers either go on leisure dives, read a book i a hammock or sleep.  For your days off volunteers often venture over to long beach which is the backpacker/party beach of the Perhentians.  The boat costs RM35 each way and usually accommodation can e found for RM40 per person.  Long beach has some really nice restaurants and gives the volunteers a chance to unwind and party long into the night - as our resort can be very quiet at night and alcohol is very limited (RM10 per can).

What is Ecoteer?
Ecoteer are a UK registered non-profit organisation, and have recently been registered in Malaysia, whom provide access to hundreds of volunteer projects worldwide cheap to its members. They allow the volunteers to contact the projects directly elimintaing the need for middlemen organisations reducing the cost significantly.  The project has been run by the founder of Ecoteer since 2008 but under a different organisation.  Daniel has since decided to run the project under Ecoteer and is the project site of the first Ecoteer managed conservation project.  To find out more please go to www.ecoteer.com

What is HOPE?
Help Our PEnyu (HOPE) will be the first independent non-profit organisation focused on sea turtle conservation in Malaysia and has the sole aim of restoring sea turtle populations throughout Malaysia by empowering the people by following the National Plan Of Action for the conservation of marine turtles of Malaysia.  Ecoteer are setting up HOPE to take on the project in Perhentian whilst seeking to expand to other project sites throughout Terengganu and the rest of Malaysia.

Aim
To double the nesting population of sea turtles in the State of Terengganu, Malaysia by 2060, using the nesting numbers estimated in 2010.

Objectives

• Empowerment;
• Action;
• Research;

Visit www.helpourpenyu.com for more information (online from January 2010)

Where can i visit / travel onto after the project?
Thailand is only 1 hour away with Koh Phangan (home of the infamous full moon party) being easily reached by train.  In Malaysia we are very close to Taman Negara which is Malaysia's premier rainforest based national park with the longest canopy walkway in Malaysia and still has populations of wild Malayan Tigers, Sumatran Rhino's and Hornbills.  KL, Malacca and Singapore are the favoured cities you can visit.

Further afield you could visit the island of Borneo, experience the Killing fields in Cambodia or even search for river dolphins in Laos.

We plan to have a travel tip board at the project on the volunteer balcony so past volunteers can give you advice about onward travels.

If you would like to volunteer abroad cheaply again we highly recommend our partners  www.ecoteer.com

 

Can i learn to dive?
Yes if you stay for 2 or more weeks - in the first week volunteers are expected to concentrate on the project. Dive courses are not included in the original price.  If you do not know how to dive you would need to take the Open water dive course which lasts for 4 days and costs RM1050.  Once you have the Open water course you can take the advanced course which compromises of 5 dives (navigation and deep (upto 30m) are compuslory the you can take any three from photography, wreck, Peak Performance buoancy, night, fish ID, naturalist or multi-level) this course normally lasts for 3 days and costs RM950.  After the advanced course you can take the Rescue diver course which last for 4 days and costs RM950.  For the rescue you do need to bring a valid indate first aid certificate if you dont have one then you can a course at bubbles costing RM350.

For more information about diving please visit our diving section of the website

Marine Turtles

How many turtles nest each night?

In June and July we have turtles nesting every night.  The season starts in April and in 2009 we had 17 turtles nest though this is a high number.  The nesting season finishes end of August but turtles do occassionally nest in September and October.

Please visit our marine turtle conservation section.

When do the eggs hatch?

Marine turtle eggs take 2 months to incubate.  The hatchling season starts in June through to October.

Please visit our marine turtle conservation section.

Other than turtles, what wildlife is there on the island?

The Perhentian Islands has an abundance of wildlife above and below the water.  On the coral reefs you can see Black tip reef sharks, leopard sharks, lionfish, clownfish and hundreds of different types of reef fish.  Above the water you can see white bellied sea eagles, sunbirds, long tail macques, dusky Langur, flying lemurs, 4m pythons, monitor lizards and large forest crabs.

Other than nightly turtle watch, What other conservation issues will i get involved in?

Marine turtle egg poaching is the main issue you will face but also how tourists affect turtles and the coral reefs.  The other main issue which you will become involved in is rubbish disposal and how it affects the marine environment.

Please visit our conservation section to learn more about conservation issues

You can also visit our conservation awareness blog to get tips on how you can help nature.

 

If you have anyother questions regarding volunteering or any suggestions for extra questions in this section please email info@bubblesdc.com we will be more than happy to answer any of your questions and will be delighted to hear your feedback.

 

To find out more about volunteering go to one of the following pages

Brochures

Find out more about the volunteer program

Hear from the volunteers themselves

Apply for a place

This site is designed and managed by Peisee Hwang. Any comment or suggestion please write to peisee@bubblesdc.com

For other volunteer project abroad we highly recommend our proud partners