Family Maldives Volunteering with Sea Turtles

I would highly recommend a stay at the Maldives family programme for an authentic taste of the Maldives. We spent a week there as part of a family volunteering project with the Sea Turtle Centre nearby. The rooms were basic, but spotlessly clean and had everything we needed. As a single parent travelling with one grown up and three younger children, to have Elsa with me was literally invaluable. She offered local knowledge of things and was a friendly, safe second pair of hands when taking the children snorkelling. I really couldn’t have done this without her. There were lovely afternoon and evening activities also such as snorkelling on uninhabited islands, games night, movie night under the stars and painting on the beach which really enriched the experience for us as a family. My teenage children weren’t enamoured with a lot of the duties at the turtle centre, but picked and chose what they wanted to do and I made peace with that. They really enjoyed doing their PADI Open Water Dive course in the afternoons. The younger two got more stuck in, but duties were light and optional and staff tried to involve us in the more fun tasks, such as weighing and feeding. The staff at the centre and guesthouse were consistently friendly and warm and the quality of the food provided was excellent throughout. We are full to the brim with good memories. Thank you!

We would like to say a massive thank you to Iara, Erin and all the team for making us feel so welcome and part of the family for the week we visited in April 25.

It was an incredible experience to get so close to and help the amazing turtles and see first hand what a difference the volunteers make to their rehabilitation and daily lives. Our two children, Evan 13 and Emily 10 especially enjoyed getting involved with weighing out their food and feeding times, chasing and catching crabs by torch lights on the Sunday evening for Monday morning crab breakfast and snorkelling to harvest sea grass for Hope!

We all just enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere, chatting to the other volunteers and making jewellery from the discarded fishing lines. We would 100% recommend this amazing experience for other families with children of all ages and have learnt so much about marine life and sea turtles form our visit, it’s an experience which our children will always remember.

We loved our trip to The Maldives.

The accommodation was great and the communal breakfast, lunch and dinners were local, tasty and a great way to spend time with like-minded people. I liked how this experience offered an alternative to typical ‘resort’ holidays. It was wonderful to really experience the island, meet its people and help out at the turtle sanctuary. Needless to say the beaches and clear sea were spectacular but, with the team’s help, we were lucky to experience incredible snorkelling moments, including encounters with turtles and nursing sharks. The team was very accommodating and happy to go out their way to make sure we had the best time.

All in all, a once in a lifetime holiday with great people, filled with laughs, sunsets and snorkels I know I’ll never forget.

Our welcome was immediately warm and inclusive. We flew by seaplane (an amazing though loud experience!) from Male to a resort island, where we were met by Nargiz, our liaison. We transferred to a speedboat and journeyed to our home for the next 10 days.

On arrival we were met by the staff at the guesthouse, who greeted us with refreshing coconuts and beautiful palm and floral wreaths. We were shown to our room which was spacious, clean and cool. The team and volunteers were swift to introduce themselves and spent time eating with us and chatting about the work and the centre. We were made to feel at ease and very welcome.

The core team (Teg, Erin, Iara, and Bennath) had created a unique educational programme for our families, as this was the largest group of families with young children they’d had volunteer. There were engaging educational presentations provided with much enthusiasm by the team members which were incredibly detailed and informative – coral, sea grass and sharks/rays being just a few of the topics. The volunteering outreach programme provided by the project is a testament to their commitment to environmental education and community engagement. The hope is that by empowering individuals, families and volunteer groups with the relevant knowledge and skills, a generation of environmentally conscious world citizens are created, dedicated in part to safeguarding Maldives’ precious marine life and resources.

It was a privilege to be a part of this team for the short time we had –both inspirational and aspirational as evidenced by the cementing of my daughter’s intention to become a marine biologist and continue the invaluable work done by the project, its fantastic team and the dedicated volunteers. It seems that Taylor Swift has been knocked off the idol pedestal and justifiably replaced with the amazing project team! Our grateful thanks again to you all – you have opened our eyes and our hearts to the possibility of humanity’s future redemption in generations to come.

We had the most amazing time volunteering at the family sea turtle programme in the Maldives! The team was incredibly welcoming, knowledgeable, and passionate about marine conservation. We worked closely with rescued sea turtles, helped with their rehabilitation, and learned so much about coral restoration and sustainability efforts. It was a truly hands-on experience that left us inspired and deeply appreciative of the work they do. Highly recommend this to anyone who wants to make a difference while experiencing the beauty of the Maldives!