Diving in as a Seaful volunteer

My volunteer experience on Seaful’s Lundy trip with young carers.

When I first reached out to Lorna and Cal at Seaful about getting involved with the charity, my main motivation was to help more people fall in love with the oceans. I was lucky to not only grow up on the south coast of the UK, but to have parents who loved the sea. That meant my childhood was spent at the beach, rockpooling and snorkeling. But even when I was a teenager, I was aware that many of my school friends didn’t seem to go to the beach or get in the sea. 

Over the years, I’ve realised how many people don’t have strong ocean connections, even when they live within walking distance of the coast. That’s one of the things I want to help change. So, Seaful felt like a great fit when I was exploring ways in which I could better advocate for our oceans. 

After speaking to Lorna for the first time, I was excited about the prospect of volunteering with Seaful. When the opportunity to go to Lundy Island as water safety came up, I jumped at the chance. 

Setting off

I arrived in Ilfracombe early and the weather looked perfect. Calm seas and sunshine. As I gathered my gear and waited for everyone else to arrive, I wondered what the day would be like. Would the kids on the boat have a good time? Would they be chatty? Would they enjoy being in the sea?

We had a short briefing on the pier before we got on the boats. The girls seemed a little quiet as we climbed aboard and found our spots, but once we left the harbour and headed out into the open ocean on our way to Lundy, they all became animated. 

They were smiling, reaching over the side to feel the spray from the bow waves on their hands and beginning to open up.

One girl on our boat chatted to me for quite a while – and our conversation reaffirmed exactly why I was volunteering. When I asked what she was most looking forward to about the day, she told me she was happy to have a day to herself. At 14, she spends a lot of time looking after her two younger brothers, who are aged two and eight, because her parents work long hours. 

I couldn’t imagine having to do that at her age. This is why the work Seaful does is so important, because it gives young people like her not only an opportunity to connect to the ocean, but a chance to do something for themselves. 

Diving in

Once we arrived at Lundy, we got ready for our first snorkel of the day in a sheltered bay by the pier. A couple of the girls were very keen to get in, while others were a bit more unsure. One by one, they all dropped into the water though and after a bit of adjusting masks and getting used to snorkels, we made our way towards the edge of the island. 

We saw jellyfish amongst the waving seaweed and in the shallow water we found some shannies sunning themselves on a rock. It was wonderful to see the girls so excited by these bold little fish who were coming right up to their fingers. 

I could see their confidence growing as we swam and by the time we got back on the boat for lunch, there wasn’t a single person who didn’t have a huge smile on their face. 

When we reached our second site, we listened to the brief about how to behave around Lundy’s resident seals. We could see a few of them bobbing about in the water, watching us from a distance. All of us were very excited to get into the sea and hopefully see them a bit closer.

I loved seeing how excited all the girls were to get in the water this time around and the joyful shouts of “seal!” were lovely to hear as the seals popped up within just a couple of metres from us. One of the girls I was snorkeling with almost lost a fin. While I was refastening it for her, she shouted, “There’s a seal, right there, right behind you!” I didn’t get a chance to see it before it had dived back beneath the surface, but the smile on her face said it all. 

After about half an hour, I was starting to feel cold and a few of the group had already gone back to the boat. Steph and I were still in with three of the girls from our boat. “Are you cold? Do you want to head back soon?” I asked them, to which one replied, “I’m freezing but I don’t want to get out!” You can’t argue with that. 

We spent another ten or so minutes seeking out more jellyfish, looking at the seaweed and hoping for further glimpses of the seals before we too headed back to the boat. We had time for a short excursion to see the puffins before we made the journey back to Ilfracombe. 

There was a real sense of happiness and peace on the boat on the way back. Some of the girls snuggled into their Dryrobes and had a nap. Others were laughing hysterically as they were sprayed by the waves breaking around the boat as we motored home. I watched them with a huge smile on my face. These are the kinds of memories kids should have of the oceans. 

These are the opportunities that Seaful gives children and adults all over the UK and to me that’s priceless. If we truly want to protect our oceans, we need people to care about them. Sharing moments of joy and peace in and by the sea is such a powerful way to create these ocean connections and encourage more people to become ocean stewards. 

I certainly can’t wait to start running Vitamin Sea sessions for Seaful in my local area in Dorset and to continue being involved with such a wonderful charity. 

Written by Katherine Lewis – Volunteer

To support more of what Seaful does please head to our donate page or scan the QR code below.