On September 24, 2011, with beautiful Pacific Northwest skies, thirty-eight people performed an underwater cleanup at the Leschi Sailboat Moorage (South Side) on Lake Washington, Seattle, Washington under the auspices of the Seattle Parks and Recreation Department and organized by the Northwest Diving Institute. The cleanup effort comprised seven dive teams and one shore team encompassing an underwater area of approximately 100,000 ft2. The cleanup was preceded the evening before with a dive briefing at Underwater Sports - Seattle.

A total of 2,350 pounds (1069 kilos) of debris was collected from depths up to 45 feet deep over a two-hour period. Items collected included 25 tires, 445 bottles, 248 cans, 56 batteries, 300 lbs. of building materials and 82 bags of garbage. All debris was sorted, weighed and marked for disposal by the Parks department.

We’d like to thank the following volunteers for making this effort possible: Gary Anderson, Darin, Gary Beam and Nick Beam, Bruce Bury, Kimber Chard, Kyle Finnegan, Adam Furler, Brian George, Liam Hampton, Steven Hornsby, Dustin Howie, Steve Ivey, Dan Keffler, Misty Knight, Yvonne and Steve Lawrence, ChrystalLindborg, LeAnne  Livingston, Gaby Lout, Gerie  Masilotti, Genevieve   Mayer, Travis Michael, Elliot Morriss, Tom Neatherlin, Chuck Neudorf, Darrell Newberry, Randy Polhamus, Eric Pratt, Justin Rasco, Rob Rawlings, Wes Rice, Jason and Shanna  Sawatzki, Alex Schumer, and Kay and Kim Stevens.

In addition, we’d also like to thank Underwater Sports for their generous support and hosting of the dive teams and meetings, and providing free mask straps and air to the participants. Our appreciation also goes to Danny Keffler (Shore Leader and Grill Master) for graciously providing the post-cleanup Bar-B-Que, and to Starbuck’s Coffee for providing coffee on the morning of the cleanup.