After a successful #AWAREImpact field trip in Indonesia and Thailand, I’m excited to take Project AWARE’s next conservation adventure to the Caribbean.

Over the next month, I will be meeting and working closely with dedicated AWARE supporters and the dive community to understand and address the conservation challenges they are facing locally almost a year after Hurricane Irma and Maria bore down on the Caribbean, leaving behind disruption and changing the lives of many who live there.

Traveling to Barbados, Curacao, Bonaire, Bahamas and the Florida Keys, I am eager to learn from these passionate conservation leaders and share their stories with the world.

As a Key Largo resident, when Hurricane Irma hit the region in September 2017, I was one of the many evacuees. Like many others, I used the forced time away to connect with friends and dive buddies about gathering needed supplies for those in need and to lay out plans for organizing ocean and land debris cleanups. Working together with like-minded individuals and groups, the dive community mobilized to organize marine debris removal efforts and create positive action, but debris, sewage and run-off continue to flow into the sea long after hurricanes pass.

I’m excited to reconnect with the dive community in the Caribbean to conduct Marine Debris seminars and discuss the potential long-term effects of hurricanes on the community and local marine environment. Hopefully, these actions will encourage people and local dive leaders to take their Dive Against Debris® actions to the next level through Adopt a Dive Site™.

Throughout July, I will be working closely with the Caribbean dive community to conduct marine debris seminars, organize Dive Against Debris® surveys and document our findings on Instagram, Facebook, and through my Project AWARE MyOcean blog.

AWARE on the Road:

To register your spot at our seminars in the Caribbean, click on the links below to sign up to one of the talks.

4th July at 5pm - Hilton Barbados Resort, Bridgetown, Barbados

9th July at 7pm - Location TBC, Curacao

16th July at 7pm - Buddy Dive Resort, Bonaire

20th July at 7pm - Stuart’s Cove, Nassau, Bahamas

We're also collaborating with Barbados Blue during Dive Fest Barbados and Stuart’s Cove during PADI Women’s Dive Day plus The Dive Bus in Curacao and Buddy Dive Resort in Bonaire to organize Dive Against Debris® Survey dives. If you'd like to discover more about marine debris survey protocols and reporting data first hand then book your spot on the boat directly with them.

Find @projectaware on Instagram to follow this work and see how divers are taking action for a clean and healthy ocean.