Statia Conservation Volunteer Project, St. Eustatius, Caribbean

Project Costs

The cost for 8-12 weeks is £180.  Your volunteer programme costs are covered, including drinking water, materials for trail projects, all training and supervision by staff, pick up and drop off from the airport in Statia,  WorkingAbroad Projects backup and placement support. For those volunteers assisting with the work at the marine park in addition to the trail work, the programme will provide dive gear and tanks for this. Your food and lodging is not included, so aim to bring at least 350 USD per month to budget for your food and for lodging, we can advise on places you can rent and costs depending on what type of lodging you are after. Airfare to St. Eustatius, travel/medical insurance and personal expenses are also not included within this price.  It is mandatory for you to take out travel and medical insurance for the duration of the project.  If you are a US or Dutch National, you won’t have to get a work permit, but any other nationality will have to, which costs 248 USD to process and involves a lot of paperwork. So currently priority is given only to US and Dutch nationals.

Payment Terms

To join this project as a conservation volunteer in the Caribbean, you will need to fill out the online application form along with your application payment of £180 (included in the total costs listed above). If for some reason, your application is not accepted, we will reimburse this payment fully.  Once you have been accepted into the programme, you will receive a Volunteer Information Package with all detailed information on your project, information on amenities on St. Eustatius, suggested items to bring and lots more. As part of this application process, you will need to provide your CV, cover letter, and 2 references, the programme will then be in touch to schedule an online interview. We will also assist with advising you on booking your lodging for the duration of your stay.

Project Dates

Please note we can be flexible with dates, the dates listed below are just a guideline, you can join the project starting on any Monday throughout the year, as long as you are able to come for 8 or 12 weeks, the maximum duration of your stay depends on your nationality (Dutch or Americans can stay up to 3 months, other nationalities you will need a work permit). In some circumstances we are also able to accept volunteers for a shorter time period depending on availability, so please email info@workingabroad.com for further questions about dates.

National Park Volunteers will help out in all aspects of our work. If you do not have the necessary dive certification, you will still be able to come on the boat as captain or help with other tasks within the marine park.

We are ideally looking for PADI Advanced Open Water (or higher) divers with the required DAN insurance, who can assist the marine park on some mornings. It is, however, important to note ALL volunteers should expect to spend time working across our parks and that having the required dive certification does not mean you will be in the water every day. “Turtle volunteer only” is only during the turtle season (July-December). The main task of the volunteer is to assist in the turtle patrols, in the peak of the season (August-October) not only morning but also night patrols are to be expected. During the other months of the season, morning or afternoon patrols happen on a daily basis, but working with us on other projects/tasks should still be expected as part of the job.

There is a maximum of ten volunteers on the island at any one time. Please note that you should arrive at the airport on the weekend before your project starts (preferably on Sunday), with orientation happening on the following Monday morning.

As volunteers, you will be supervised on all of the projects by staff either in the botanical garden, on the trail, in the marine park or in the office. You will also receive orientation and proper training at the beginning of the project.