Underwater cleanup bag? Check. Scissors? Check. Do I know what I am doing? Uncheck.

Fresh out of my PADI Open Water Course I was super keen to put my new diving skills to the test. And what better way than to be involved in my first ever underwater cleanup. I was ready to show off what I could do but also pretty keen to do something worthwhile, a positive thing for our ocean.

Although I had a great experience and we hauled in a whole stack of trash, there were quite a few unknowns for me.

My buoyancy was a little off (ok quite a bit off really!), critter in discarded jar - should I take it? should I leave it? Collecting data. What should I record?