Congratulations to Beth and Steve  Watson, Damien and Rob Jacobs, Hanno Jansen, Amit Kakar, Matt Hubball, Felicity Lee and Ross McLeod who have all successfully completed their “Project AWARE – Dive Against Debris Diver” Specialty certification and earned themselves a fancy limited edition 50 years PADI – Project AWARE certification card…(see picture)

These folks are certainly not letting their dives go to waste – and are now able to organize and conduct the ‘Dive Against Debris’ survey so it counts towards future policy development and implementation, while being very conscious of their buoyancy and applying good judgment on what to collect underwater and what to leave. We had especially great discussions about the impacts of plastics in the food chain and how debris can be avoided in the first place. Students apparently even had fun during the knowledge reviews – here is an example Q&A: Question: “List and describe criteria you should use when deciding whether to remove objects from underwater.” Student’s answer: “Is it debris or something I can sell on eBay, like pirate treasure”… B) Great recycling thought !

Have a look at the video of their graduation dive…

https://www.facebook.com/1720696354808939/videos/1733266430218598/