Good luck!

My 2 month internship has come to an end and I am now writing from Sydney after finishing some university assessments, now thinking about our pink dolphins and finless porpoises, my colleagues at the HKDCS, my family, my dog and the state of the remaining environment in Hong Kong. Working at HKDCS was a joyous and thrilling experience. Finally meeting the wild pink HK dolphins and porpoises, as well as the HKDCS colleagues that I have known for a while only via Facebook since the Blue-fin tuna and other captivity protest events was the highlight. In both cases, it was not at all a disappointment. They were all very friendly, intelligent, helpful and caring souls hehehe J

At times, the job was challenging, such as waking up early to catch the 730am bus to Tai O in Tung Chung for field work (Future interns must remember to sleep early!), getting your eyes and brain accustomed to looking through the binoculars while the boat flings you around during windy days around Lamma Island (If you feel sick, don’t be afraid to let the colleagues know!), trying to stay awake under the effects of drowsy motion-sickness pills (for some, this pill is a gift and is an easier and less harsh way of allowing your body to adapt to hours on a moving boat), persuading parents to buy nature books for their nature-knowledge starved kids at the book stall (wonderful and rare to see that some parents actually take the time out to go on nature walks. They identify species and cross-check from their photographs what they’ve seen during the walks from our nature books with their children- very sweet!), explaining to people that captivity kills, is cruel and is not a good way of conserving species ( (._.) ), as well as deciding which student has their arm raised the highest hence deserving the mic to answer a question during our monthly school visits (this was a very difficult task! :P). 

But please don’t be put off by this long list of challenges! Seeing wild dolphins and porpoises swimming freely, porpoising, spy-hopping and splashing about as well as being on the HKDCS team and knowing that I am working with them to safe-guard the environment for the species and our future generations was all worth it. I guarantee that any future intern who will work with the HKDCS team will enjoy their experience and gain plenty of invaluable knowledge and skills!

Here’s my good luck to the next intern! J