Yesterday, on Valentine’s day, Scuba Junkie staff were lucky to get involved in two things we love best – marine conservation and local community programmes. Green Semporna invited us to go to Pulau Denawan to meet the local community, talk about environmental issues on the island and participate in a beach clean. Rina and Adzmin, the organisers from Green Semporna, had ensured the day was an amazing success. The Panglima (village chief), important village elders and teachers attended the event, as well as numerous other adults and children. Green Semporna had also brought 20 volunteers comprising of students from SMK Abdullah I, SMK Abdullah II and UMS among others to help on the day. Before the clean up, Adzmin gave an engaging and informative presentation to everyone about marine ecosystems, how important they are and the threats they face, such as overfishing, dynamite fishing and marine debris. Enthused by his talk, everyone then trooped out to collect rubbish around the village. We collected over 35 large bags full of rubbish, to be taken back to Semporna on the Scuba Junkie boats. It was hot work collecting the rubbish – so before we went back to Semporna we stopped to cool off and snorkel. Scuba Junkie staff Dave, Nas and Cat gave a workshop on responsible snorkelling, and then everyone jumped in to enjoy the beautiful corals and marine life on that island. We’d like to give a massive thanks to Green Semporna for inviting us to participate on the day - as well as to our captains, Afzal and Mal, for getting stuck in too!