Expeditions

When you arrive at SORCE you will be given a tour of the facility and shown to your room. Depending on the time of your arrival we will then go through the SORCE induction and safety lectures to make sure you know exactly what to expect. Since Monday is the change over day of the week there may be multiple new students arriving, as well as the departures of those at the end of their expedition. Other than on your day of arrival, Mondays are free days for you to do with as you wish. There are a number of recreation activities available on site either for hire or for complementary use, such as kayaking, snorkeling, basketball, volleyball, badminton, yoga, outdoor gym use, hammock use, games corner, library and more. Alternatively, if you would like to explore Lombok we can help you to arrange external activities, such as island tours, beach visits, motorbike hire and hiking trips. The only restriction we have is that you do not scuba dive on a Monday because this is our decompression day and is important for anyone who is scuba diving daily over an extended period.

In your first few days you will have a number of introductory lectures and workshops to undertake as well as dive site introductions and buoyancy dives. These elements of the expedition are essential for ensuring that you acquire the knowledge and basic skills to begin participating with projects. Your training and skills development will continue throughout your expedition, however the initial weeks provide a crucial foundation that all of our students require. Your first few days are also the time when we will incorporate your PADI Open Water or PADI Advanced Open Water courses if you require them. Additionally when arriving on the island you will be rostered onto a nightly patrol schedule in order to stop turtle poaching in the area (nesting season only).

Each morning you will find breakfast available from 7am. Simply enter the Den and let the kitchen know that you have arrived so that they can freshly prepare and serve your meal. At the entrance to the Den you will find large blackboard which details the activity schedule for the day along with the names of the participants involved . You can use this board to see what your activities are allowing you to fully prepare and organise yourself ahead of the days events.

We typically operate on a 2-3 dives per day basis, however, this may vary depending on the projects you are assigned to, and according to weather and tide restraints.  Typically we aim to conduct dives at 8am, 10.30 am and 3pm with terrestrial and snorkel based activities schedules in the surface intervals. However this is subject to alteration depending on a daily assessment of conditions and project requirements so it’s important to check the schedule board each day. Students are welcome to take part in fun dives on house reef with a buddy and during their spare time providing all participants have the correct qualifications and the permission of a member of staff.

Lunch and dinner are served in the Den at 1pm and 6pm respectively. At times students may be off-site for various conservation or research activities over the lunch time period and in these instances a packed lunch is provided. We also use dinner times as an opportunity to make announcements and give updates.

Evenings are free for you to do as you like, whether you want to relax in your room, or socialise in the Den with our other students, the choice is yours. We also have a number of evening events for those who are interested in joining in. These include bonfire nights, movie nights, documentary and guest lecture evenings and games tournaments. We also have a party night every week on a Sunday night as a part of our Sunday Funday. Sunday Funday is a day off from conservation and research activities in which you have the opportunity to visit some of our favourite reefs for fun dives. The evening is then filled with a party atmosphere and great food as we rotate between pizza night, BBQ night, Sunday Roast night and Burger Night. Our staff and students have also been known to take it upon themselves to plan fun activities for these evenings such as a murder mystery party, an ocean themed pub quiz contest, and even our very own version of taskmaster.

At SORCE we know better than anyone the importance and value of citizen science and student participation. Each of us were once students on expeditions programs not too dissimilar to the ones we run at SORCE. Through them we developed our own skills, experience and passions, fueling an unbreakable dedication to the protection of the natural world around us.

Our expedition days were the start of something incredible. Though we didn’t know it at the time, they set us off on a journey with the tools and ambitions we needed to build something great – something that would enable us to make a long term and positive impact on the environments we love so deeply.

Our time building field experience on expeditions ultimately led to the creation of SORCE and now we want you to be part of it. It’s our turn to give you the opportunities and lessons that we were once lucky enough to receive ourselves.  Let us help you to learn new skills, find new perspectives, and tackle new challenges. Taking part in an expedition with SORCE is your chance to rectify some of the damage mankind has done to the environment we rely on so heavily for our own survival.

We truly believe that everyone can make a difference to the natural world, so join us at SORCE and let us help you to make yours.