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| The Author, Dean Philpot (D.Philpot) |
As the author I begin this entry by giving you an little insight into myself...
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At a young age I became infatuated by nature, always staring out windows in the car and bugging my parents to take me to a zoo or outside and, once I decided becoming a veterinarian was not an option for me, I felt that there was a lot more to the world than England. Once I started reading some books and proceeded to learn to scuba dive at college, I discovered that I have an innate passion for tropical environments, the habitats, and the nature within.
At this point I decided on studying Marine & Freshwater Biology at university, which led me to narrow down where I wanted to go in life. The answer always was to work and or live in the tropics, or more specifically working alongside coral reefs standalone or within a park.
Prior to completing my thesis and my undergraduate study I decided that a specific postgraduate program would be required to further my career goals. This insight let me to discover a masters program that incorporates important areas I currently do not understand such as economics or policy management, but would yield me skills highly important for managing and working with tropical coral reef environments. I applied to the masters program, however it was mutually agreed that I should find some more tropical work experience first. Through a bit of research and luck I approached Lattitude Global Volunteering in 2011, a small but friendly youth development charity who, after discussing marine-based opportunities toward my career aspirations, went above and beyond before presenting me with a new and distinctly unique position within Costa Rica.
At this time I passed my details second hand over to the in-situ scientists, who then rang my mobile cell phone from a Costa Rican mountaintop and got the ball rolling on what would turn out to be a fantastic opportunity. From what they had told me it sounded like a fantastic place to be and my excitement grew constantly knowing I was the first UK volunteer to do this. By my 24th birthday in October 2011, I had purchased my flights to head out to Costa Rica for 7 months. It still felt too good to be true, but I knew if this opportunity came through then these 31 weeks or 215 days would never be forgotten.