Blue Corner Marine Research

Engaging in this week-long workshop I discovered a new passion of mine - coral restoration! I had been diving for just a year and as a terrestrial biologist was interested in the marine biology and conservation needs of the ocean environment. I did this workshop in conjunction with their internship and found it to be a highly engaging experience with purpose. This workshop not only teaches students about restoration, but you are directly contributing to the 6+year restoration projects that Blue Corner has been working on around the island. If you are not able to do the month-long internship or additional course work this workshop provides a wonderful learning (and super fun) opportunity to engage in marine conservation as a traveler. Blue Corner itself is professional, thriving dive shop that offers recreational SCUBA, freediving, DM, and IDC's - providing the perfect opportunity to dabble in both scientific diving and recreational/professional diving!

This program has everything you want in an internship – well-written and engaging conservation coursework, passionate staff, world-class diving, a lively local and expat community, gorgeous location, and an extremely affordable lifestyle! THE PROGRAM: The internship teaches students about various marine conservation topics from megafauna to coral restoration, providing snapshots and an in-depth local look into each topic. I was consistently engaged without being overwhelmed and found my new passion and career trajectory in coral restoration! The internship also ties nicely into a DM program - extending your dive knowledge into scientific diving and practical application of underwater conservation efforts. It’s a great opportunity for those wanting to expand from recreational diving to scientific diving and to have a deeper understanding and relationship with the marine environment. THE STAFF: The program manager and main educator, Andrew Taylor, is an extremely passionate, enthusiastic, and hilarious human - him and the other staff biologists always worked hard to provide an engaging and fun learning environment. THE PLACE: In addition to the internship itself, there is a lot going on at Blue Corner - recreational diving, free diving, IDCs, and a DM program - so there are plenty of new and interesting people to meet. And Nusa Lembongan is a stunning island surrounded by world-class dive site plus quick access to Bali, Nusa Ceningan, and Nusa Penida. You are able to easily immerse yourself in Indonesian culture while also having some expat comforts. I would 1000% recommend this program to any beginning scientific divers, conservation enthusiasts, or travelers in general!

I did the 3 week program in Nusa Lembongan island at Blue Corner Dive. Stayed in their dormitory at the beach so was social with other students doing conservation and diving programs. In the 3 weeks we dived almost every day with marine biologists learning all about coral reef species and ecosystems. The main focus was on coral restoration as they established one of the largest restoration sites in the region so we spent many dives transplanting corals and doing underwater monitoring of the reefs.