Develop outdoor skills, enhance leadership and communication, and gain environmental knowledge in stunning settings. The goal of our Gap Year expeditions is to help you develop the confidence, knowledge, and integrity essential for effective leadership. Whether you are learning how to safely tie in on belay, deciding as a group how to navigate through new terrain, or setting up a minimum-impact campsite for the evening, you’ll be honing and practicing skills for life.   

• Build Connections:  Find connections with your crewmates based on support and respect (and fun, too!), and in the thick of challenges, discover there is more in you than you know.  
• Value Strengths and Strengthen Values: Discover your strengths, embrace independence, and practice compassion as you support your crew. 
• Learn Outdoor Skills: Hone your technical abilities as you become a master at ropes courses or swiftwater rescue techniques and Wilderness First Aid. Numerous certificates are available depending on the course, and up to 18 college credit hours can be earned along the way. 
• Upgrade Your Outlook: Return home with an enriched and expanded view of yourself, the world, and what’s possible. 

Outward Bound is accredited with the American Gap Association and is the longest running program in this elite group dedicated to providing safe, meaningful and high-caliber educational experiences to students.

Traditional 30-foot sailboats encourage teamwork and leadership like no other classroom. On an open boat with no cabin and no engine, the group will live closely together using only wind and oars to power their way. As they rotate responsibilities during the expedition, students learn the crafts of maneuvering under sail, coastal navigation, rowing, and living aboard a small open boat. At night, students sleep on deck under a tarp and take turns at anchor watch under brilliant night skies.

During whitewater training students acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to paddle Class II, III, and possibly IV rapids. For two weeks the group follows the water around Costa Rica, paddling several rivers and setting out on day trips and multi-day expeditions. Depending on water levels, students paddle in inflatable kayaks or learn to guide a raft. During this section, students will complete their Whitewater Rescue Technician course certified by the International Water Sports Federation. 

The group embarks on a two-week sea kayaking expedition in the remote archipelago of Bocas Del Toro, Panama, consisting of 68 islands located near the Caribbean border with Costa Rica. This section begins on the island of Solarte, where the group spends up to two days planning and packing for the expedition as well as practicing paddling and rescues for kayak-based expedition travel. This section has a strong cultural immersion component with homestays in many of the villages of this tropical lagoon. The lagoon is home to several cultures including the indigenous Guaymi-Ngobe people.

Students will have another chance to step outside their comfort zone and explore a new environment as they earn PADI Scuba Diver Certification in the crystal-clear waters off Solarte Island in the Bocas del Toro region in Panama. This is a unique opportunity to learn about tropical ecology and coral reefs while participating in several dives to complete this certification. With Scuba gear securely in place, students transform into underwater explorers and experience the diversity of marine life firsthand.

Service projects are often incorporated into Outward Bound courses through coordination with local land managers, conservation groups, government agencies, or social service agencies. While in the wilderness, students are encouraged to practice service to the environment and their team by sharing responsibilities and following Recreate Responsibly ethics throughout the expedition.

The group spends a week on the Pacific Coast of Costa Rica, living on the beach and learning to surf. Surf training begins on the sand, learning about waves, surfboards, and how to stand on the board. From there students move out to smaller breaking waves to develop their balance and timing. As their skills progress, they eventually paddle out for some of the larger surf. Students with previous surfing experience may progress faster. In addition to surfing, the group volunteers at nature preserves or wildlife rescue centers along the coast.

Florida Keys

Home to numerous birds and abundant marine life, the region owes its productivity to the confluence of water flowing out of the Everglades into inner Florida Bay and the Gulf of Mexico. The backcountry of Florida Bay offers challenging shoal draft navigation and the opportunity to explore mangrove keys, tidal flats and coral patch reefs. These warm, shallow waters provide an exciting cruising area for Outward Bound’s sailing boats and some of the best training ground for developing advanced sailing skills. The Atlantic side offers excellent open-water sailing and snorkeling at the outer reefs. The course area extends to the Everglades, with beautiful sand beaches and a maze of rivers and bays to explore. These regions are the ancestral lands of the Seminole, Matecumbe, Cuchiyaga and Guarungumbe nations.

Costa Rica and Panama

The coastal and river environments of Costa Rica provide a perfect backdrop for expanding wilderness travel skills. This small tropical nation is fast becoming a renowned destination for whitewater rafting, surfing, rainforest trekking and eco-adventures in general. About the size of West Virginia, Costa Rica has a variety of climates including tropical dry forest, rainforest and cloud forest. Due to its mountainous landscape and tropical rainfall, Costa Rica boasts more whitewater rivers than any other country of its size. The warm tropical rivers cut through lush tropical rainforests and create an ideal rafting playground. From the rivers, the group will head to the beach for the surfing phase. The Pacific Ocean provides Costa Rica with exceptional surf conditions year-round for beginner to advanced surfers. On the surf expedition the group will camp, cook, hike and surf together. Part of each day during surf camp will be spent providing service in the local community. These regions are the ancestral lands of the Chorotega, Malécu, Rama, Bostos, Nicarao/Nahoa, Huetar, Tjer-di/Teribe Broram, Brunka, Bribri, Buglé and Ngäbé nations.

The final phase of the program is located in Panama where the group will learn two technical skills, scuba diving and sea kayak expeditioning. The Bocas del Torro archipelago is located near the Caribbean border with Costa Rica. The islands are home to a rich, heterogeneous culture including the indigenous Guaymi-Ngobe people who are direct descendants of the original inhabitants of these islands and the Afro-Caribbean Bastimentenos. The Guaymi communicate in both Spanish and their traditional language, of which there are only about 2,000 fluent speakers left in the world. Their dwellings are typically constructed on stilts over the water with grass-thatched roofs. Several small communities and outlying homesteads will host the group as the crew explores the region in expedition sea kayaks. The Guaymi-Ngobe community on the island of Solarte is the staging ground for the scuba element of the course. These regions are the ancestral lands of the Guna Yala, Guna of Wargandí, Emberá/Eperara/Épera, and Wounaan nations.