No previous experience is needed. Dive courses are conducted in the first week of your expedition. You can also take additional PADI dive courses like Rescue and Divemaster whilst on the project. Please see our "costs & dates" page for more details on additional courses.

All volunteers joining our expedition's as a non-diver or a qualified diver, must bring the follow diving equipment: BCD, Regulator set, mask, wetsuit, fins, dive boots, a dive computer, reef hook, torch and delayed SMB.  Dont worry if you do not have these items or you do not wish to carry them around, while on further travels, as it is possible for you to rent your BCD, Regulator, Wetsuit, Fins, Mask & Dive Computer from us (we do not have reef hooks, torches or delayed SMBs for rent). Please see our "costs & dates" page for further details, or contact one of our helpful trip advisers.

All volunteers will be provided with a tank, weights and weight belt as part of your expedition fee. 

YES - This is extremely important, you will not be allowed on the expedition with out adequate insurance that covers you for diving up to 30 meters and for the duration of your stay. We strongly recommend you use Divers Alert Network (DAN) for your insurance as they are by far the best and most reasonably priced. Please visit www.diversalertnetwork.org for further details.

Raja Ampat has over 80% of the world's hard corals and is one of the most bio-diverse areas in the world due to currents from different oceans flowing into the region. This means that at times there may be small, mild currents on some of the dives. However, you will be fully trained on how to dive in currents and will not be expected to go out on surveys until you are totally confident and have good buoyancy skills. Experienced divers may wish to bring a reef hook, and delayed SMB (though these are also provided on site).

We have some of the best boat drivers in the area. They were born in the local villages and know the curents on dive sites very well. Their local knowledge (some of which has been passed down from generation to generation), is second to none. We also use tide apps on smart phones to determine when it is best to dive a site, to avoid strong currents ie: rising, slack or falling tides.  

At Barefoot Conservation safety is our top priority. We have all state of the art medical equipment for remote diving; including oxygen, first aid kits, AED and when possible a Medical Officer on site. The local government installed a new Decompression Chamber in the capital's (Waisai) hospital in 2013. This means the nearest Decompression Chamber to our basecamp is only a 45 minute fast boat ride away.

We require all divers to be qualified to a PADI Advanced Open Water level or equivalent from another organisation. Please see this "comparison table" if your qualification is from another organisation. If you are joining an expedition as a non-diver, your expedition fee includes us training you up to PADI Advanced Open Water and Emergency First Response (EFR - First Aid). 

You will typically do 2 dives a day (when possible). Both dives may be done in the morning after breakfast, or both in the afternoon after lunch. This leaves the morning/afternoon available for you to be involved in the community projects and have some downtime. Mon-Fri is reserved for survey dives, while Saturday is for fun dives (recreational), with Sunday being a no dive day (for safety reasons).

We try and do a night dive every 1-2 weeks, this also depends on the tides.

There may be times when it is not possible to do 2 dives a day for example due to extreme weather conditions, equipment issues, village ceremonies, national holidays and other events outside of our control. As we are guests on the island and the local community, we always respect the local communities customs and cultures. We also always put your safety as our top priority, at all times and we will never take unnecessary risks that may jeopardize your health and safety by diving in bad weather/sea conditions!

Please note we make no guarantee of a certain amount of dives per week, and volunteers should be aware they are not joining a dive resort and/or purchasing a dive package.

Yes. There will be opportunities for you to do the PADI Rescue Diver and Dive Master courses while on the project.

If you are starting the expedition as a non-diver and wish to complete the dive master course we recommend you allow yourself at least a 8-12 week expedition to enjoy the full benefits and experience offered by the PADI dive master course.

Please see our "costs & dates" page or contact us today for more details. 

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