A few Divemasters and Instructors from Sunshine Divers and Ban's Diving Resort took part in the Marine Debri Specialty Course held on the 4th March 2015 by Course Directors Michael Richardson and Natalie Hunt.  The initial portion of the course included meeting at 9am for knowledge development and learning further about What is Marine Debri?

"Marine debris is any persistent, manufactured or processed solid material discarded, disposed of or abandoned in the marine and coastal environment. Marine debris consists of items that have been made or used by people and deliberately discarded into the sea or rivers or on beaches;brought indirectly to the sea with rivers, sewage, storm water or winds; or accidentally lost, including material lost at sea in bad weather. United Nations Environment Program"

Instructors Dan McGladdey, Greg Zalusky, Emily Hong, Andrea Vallentino, and fun divers Michele Fargues, and Yves Fargues all became certified Marine Debri Specialty Divers and PADI Marine Debri Speciatly Intstructors.

The afternoon involved visiting Hin Wong Bay and Lighthouse Bay dive sites, where the underwater clean up was conducted by 25 participants.  Six groups of four were buddied up and briefed on which areas of the bay to clean, what to collect and how long to spend on each dive. 

On the first dive site : Hin Wong Bay, 90 kgs of debri was collected with the majority of items retrieved were plastic water bottles and caps, along with fishing nets and rope. Interesting items found on the dive were flip flops, underwear and a childrens teddy bear. 

The Second dive site: Light House Bay, 45 kgs of debri was collected and once again the majority of trash removed was plastic water bottles and fishing nets. Interesting items found included a teapot, lipstick and unusual clothing.

We would like to thank all participants for your involvement in the underwater clean up held today, " Curtis Martenson, Anthony Lloyd, Kyle Coulombe, Mads Nygaard, Christopher, Marcus, Steffen, James Hillary, Christopher Aspberg, Dominik Maier, Yves Fargues, Michele Fargues, Lianne Scarpellini, Dan McGladdey, Greg Zalusky, Mortiz Laub, Jan Pocta, Vemmy Venbrukx, Bart Konings, Molly Kronemeyer, Claire Bourgne, Emily Hong, Natalie Hunt,  Michael Richardson and Vertity Coeling."

Please keep in touch - Next Clean up will be held this coming April. Date and Dive Sites to be decided.