Broadreach

I loved the Fiji Shark Studies trip as it was a good 'trial' for what I want to do as a career. The trip was amazing starting with the things we learned about sharks, the culture, and the science. My Fiji Shark Studies trip remains one of my favorite trips of all time as I was diving with Bull Sharks almost daily while having two amazing instructors M.G. and Saskia teach us an abundance of diving and shark science!

I had an amazing time on the Middle School Bahamas Broadreach Adventure! I have never experienced anything like it. My counselors were so kind, and made me feel right at home. The community that I and the other campers built was incredible. We learned so much about the animals, as well as the culture in the Bahamas. I am so grateful that I was able to go on this trip.

I've been to many camps before, but this one went above and beyond! It changed my life for 3 weeks completely: from complex school and research to easy-going diving and sailing, from tight schedules to relaxed life on a boat. It refreshed me and gave me the charge to go to the next year of school. I've also found many amazing friends, so next time I'll be in their area I'll come visit! Thanks Broadreach)

Prior to going on my Broadreach trip I was a little nervous going into it, not knowing what I was getting myself into and meeting bunch of “strangers.” Little did I know all the instructors and everyone else were so welcoming and kind spirited, I immediately felt a sense of relief and knew I was gonna have the best time. Learning to scuba dive was my favorite part, I always felt so safe and it was just such an exciting and fun thing to do. Also, living on a boat and learning to sail showed me a new side of myself and the world. It taught me to be so great full for the normal Luxuries like unlimited water and internet but also taught me that you don’t need fancy things to live your best life. Exploring all the islands was so cool, I was immersed so many new cultures I had never experienced, and I loved hiking and exploring. The bond I formed with the people around me, is a bond I will never forget, and by the end of the trip I didn’t wanna leave and was ready to come back as soon as I could.

This trip was really fun, but also a bit stressful. For starters, the living situation was rough. It was too hot to sleep in the cabins, so we had to sleep outside, but it rained every night, and it was difficult for all of us to fit under the covered area. My boat had seven people on it, but some had 12, which must have been really cramped! I loved learning to dive and meeting new people, but I felt a little bit unsupported sometimes. For instance, I got this rash (probably due to the fact that you're only allowed 10 seconds of fresh water to shower with), and I wasn't sure who to go to. I guess I could have gone to my counselors, but I would have rather spoken to someone from the support boat. It was kind of frustrating because, even though they were supposed to be there to support us, we never really had a chance to talk to them. I kind of just wanted to call my mom and ask her what to do. I know that all of our counselors and staff were adults and professionals, but I would have felt more comfortable talking to my mom and having her contact support boat for me. We weren't allowed to wash out hands, we could only use hand sanitizer, and we almost ran out before the trip was over. We washed our dishes in the ocean (although we rinsed them off at the end), and if someone used the bathroom while we were doing dishes, we had to wait for a while. Maybe I'm just not cut out for boat life, but I did have a pretty good time.

This voyage was insane! I had so much fun and new friends that I think I got more memories there than in all of my previous camps. If you will ever go on that trip, get some candy to share with your teammates and counselors (if you do that they might even take you on the unplanned night dive :). I had a lot of fun!!!

Kalvins trip to Curacao this summer was his second Broadreach trip. As a parent, I can say that this program is top-notch and you are giving your child a world of opprotunities by sending them on a Broadreach adventure. Both years my son has come back with so much personal growth. He matures mentally, intellectually, and physically on these trips. As a 14 year old, he was intimidated by the college coursework this summer but excelled at it largely inpart to good instruction. I am thankful for the opprotunities that Broadreach provides, he is already booked to go to Yucatan next summer!

I had an amazing experience for 12 night aboard our boat seeing the Carribbean and snorkeling on all the islands. The food was great overall and I had fun cooking and preparing meals with friends and counselors. I loved sleeping outside on the boat and seeing the amazing stars and night skies. I loved being able to disconnect and just be with peers and the amazing counselors. I learned to sail and want to learn more next summer. Our hikes and our adventures on land were great! I highly recommend this trip and hope to return to Broadreach again soon!

I had a great time in the Bahamas on my trip! We got to go to the local conservation center and learn about all the animals there and how to suture which was one of my favorite parts! Overall it was a great trip and I would recommend it!

When I first decided to go on the adventure of a lifetime, I was terrified but excited at the same time! By the second day the terror went away and I was only left with good friends, lots of learning, and extraordinary adventures. We became close like family by the time we accomplished all our hard worked towards goals, and the experienced gained forever. I would recommend this for everyone, they made it very accommodating and adapted to everyone’s individual situation!

I had so much fun over the course of my three week trip! My instructors were great and I still talk to people from my trip because we got to be so close. We were able to get lots of dives in a got really amazing cultural emergence when we went onto islands.

This trip was amazing!! I loved it so much that I did it twice! Seeing all of the amazing life and islands was insane. Being able to learn how to dive in such a cool place was one of my favorite experiences ever.

This was not the adventure of a lifetime. That’s what I have to keep telling myself, because to acknowledge that I’ll never experience anything like my Broadreach trip again would send me into a bottomless pit of depression. I had found this program 3 years prior and immediately started saving up and dreaming about the trip. I was incredibly fortunate to receive a generous scholarship from broadreach that helped greatly with the costs. My only concern going into the program was that it would be impossible to live up to the expectations I had built over the 1,075 day wait. Somehow, it still exceeded them. Waking up on the island was a dream come true, and never in my life have I been more present in the moment. Learning to SCUBA Dive was such an unbelievable experience: I still picture all the amazing animals I saw underwater and am counting the days until I can dive again. The people there were also absolutely amazing, and we still talk nearly every day. I never felt judged by my peers, and Broadreach makes it so easy to bond and make lifetime friends. The instructors were all great and I found the classes fascinating. We were able to learn so much in such a short time, but it is all very manageable and low-stress. Getting to work with local conservation efforts was very rewarding, and I still can’t fully believe that I’m certified as a coral restoration diver now. If I weren’t aging out, I would absolutely do another trip. To anyone who is even slightly considering broadreach: go for it. You will not regret it.

The trip that i completed could not have gone smoother due to the INCREDIBLE instructors that i had. We bonded instantly and i knew i found my family forever! It is organized so nicely and everyone is so welcoming. I well be doing broadreach until i can become an instructor

Broadreach showed me what it’s really like to live outside of America in a completely different country. I learned so many life skills as well as learning about sharks. Since broadreach I realized I truly want to be a marine biologist. I wasn’t sure if that was really what I wanted until I was able to be hands on and living the life of a shark biologist for a month.

On my Broadreach trip I learned that there's more to life than just the small town I live in. I meant great people with countless incredible stories that if you just listen you gain so much and so much that you would have never gotten if you didn't pay attention. I trusted them and it was an incredible experience to share that not a lot of people can say they've done the same. I think with this trip I just bonded with everyone so well and I'm just so grateful for the people that I had. Looking into my future I gained an outlook that there is more out there and that I should never to limit myself. I learned that taking this trip if i had never risked it I would never have gained this much, this helped me reflex on never having regrets. Another thing about my trip was it made my days a lot more meaningful, and more eventful in my life. It made me appreciate every day for what it is. and the importance of time and how quickly it truly does move

This trip was truly everything I had hoped it was and so much more, and although it may sound cheesy, this trip truly did change my life forever. This trip taught me, someone who has always thought they would become a veterinarian, that really working as a veterinarian is very different than just in the pictures. This trip provides in-depth experiences working as, and with, veterinarians in an every day setting. Even after realizing that being a veterinarian wasn’t for me, I still enjoyed every moment of this trip from beginning to end. The activities when working with animals was hands on every step of the way. Even lectures were super engaging and fun. We worked with animals in so many different kinds of environments, which is really what helped guide me into what category I wanted to work in. For example; when working with horses, we were split into groups to practice veterinary care, and go on a fantastic horseback ride through the Costa Rican wilderness. We were also able to learn basic behavior about the horse, and then in turn how to use horse behavior when communicating with the horse. The community that I had on my trip was truly like no other I had ever experienced, everyone got along and by the third day everyone was like family. I was extremely nervous going on this trip, especially going by myself, but I will tell you that participating in this trip will be one of the best experiences of your entire life. Not only is this trip educational, but it also involves a ton of fun! And the best part is you have your best friends to do it with you every step of the way. If you have any interest in veterinary work, or even if you don’t, I would highly recommend going on this trip. You will never forget it.

It was such a great experience and the perfect balance of academics and activities. We got to learn so much about Curacao and experience so many new and unique opportunities. We were able to learn about culture and things happening on the island. The activities were great and I learned a lot

The whole trip was so amazing, I loved every second! My favorite part was definitely learning to scuba dive and seeing all of the turtles. It was a little disappointing that we were unable to go to Saba because of a storm but we still had a lot of fun. In replacement for the Saba land day we went to st.Martin and all got Shawarma for lunch. We went scuba diving at least once a day and saw stingray, starfish, urchins, Sandollars, small fish, and even a shark! My favorite dive was one of our last, during this dive we didn’t wear our fins and we were blowing ring bubbles and doing back flips. Overall I though this trip was an amazing experience and I would definitely recommend!

the turtle conservation project was great, i went at the end of the turtle season so very very layed back we had a lot of down time which was good in some ways but did get a little slow at times. my host family was amazing and the other volenteers were so fun! just be sure to bring lots of entertainment besides a phone! the turtle work can also be a little stinky at times so be prepaired for that. but overall totally worth it!!