Join the movement and help restore the reefs in Bali
Give back to the reefs by spending a few days or weeks helping with maintaining and expanding our coral restoration sites.
Volunteer vs. Educational Internship
Are you looking for a meaningful volunteer experience or a professional internship in marine conservation? At Ocean Gardener, we offer a unique path for divers to give back to the ocean.
Indonesian regulations require volunteers to have a special volunteer visa. However, visitors to Bali are allowed to take Educational Internship programs. The impact is the same. Our program is designed for passionate individuals who want to move beyond recreational diving and gain hands-on experience in reef rehabilitation.
By joining our internship, you can get hands-on experience in coral restoration and take direct action in saving and restoring the vital reefs of Indonesia.
The Internship Program
Our internship is an immersive, hands-on experience that runs year-round. It is designed to provide you with the scientific knowledge and practical skills needed to successfully restore coral ecosystems.
- Locations: Amed or Nusa Penida (Subject to availability).
- Start Dates: New intakes begin every Monday.
- The Prerequisite: All interns must first complete our “Intro to Coral Restoration” course. This 3-day certification ensures you have the foundational knowledge and technique to work safely on our nursery sites.
Post-Certification Placement
Once certified, you can opt to stay for as long as you wish. As an intern, your typical day involves morning dives (subject to change depending on staffing, weather, and logistics) focused on reef maintenance, nursery cleaning, and coral transplantation. Typically, there is 1 restoration dive per day.
Fees And Costs
For the duration of your internship, you will be responsible for the rental of your own equipment. accomodations and transportation. We can help arrange this with the local dive shops and guest houses near our facility.
We charge a nominal fee for the duration of your stay to cover staff, facility use, and all restoration materials (epoxy, cement, reef stars, etc.). As a token of our appreciation for your dedication, the daily rate decreases for longer stays.
We appreciate everybody coming to help. We are a small NGO that relies on donor funds to operate and we must make sure our limited funds go towards our planting and research projects.
| Duration | Fee (IDR) |
|---|---|
| Daily Rate | 800,000 |
| Weekly Rate | 3,800,000 |
| Monthly Rate | 13,000,000 |
Specialized Dives: Occasionally, we conduct coral spawning monitoring or scientific survey dives. Interns can join these for an additional IDR 300,000 per dive.
What will you do during your volunteer time?
You will continue expanding your knowledge as you work on practical coral restoration tasks like:
- Expansion of the coral restoration site through coral planting, substrate stabilization, or any of the techniques we utilize.
- Combing the restoration site and coral nursery for coral predators (Crown of Thorns starfish and Drupella snails) and removing them.
- Cleaning coral ropes and the nursery of algae and soft corals to prevent them from being overgrown.
Requirements
To ensure the safety of our interns and the health of the coral, all applicants must meet the following:
- Age: Minimum 18 years old.
- Certification: PADI/SSI Open Water Diver (or equivalent).
- Experience: Minimum of 20 logged dives.
- Skills: Excellent buoyancy control is mandatory. You will be handling delicate organisms; steady hands and fins are a must!
- Recent activity: A Refresher Course is required if you have not dived in over one year.
Don’t worry if you don’t have these yet! You are still encouraged to apply—we can help you obtain the necessary certifications and training before you begin.