November & December 2019: I am fully aware that when I "adopted" the Holyrood Marina dive site that I agreed to dive it at least once a month during which I would complete a survey. I will let you in on a little secret, diving in Newfoundland is not like diving in warm blue water. If you have the right gear, and I do, you can easily dive year round here. But alas, the warm waters of the Caribbean called out to me. I have the gear to dive there too!! I spent November and December on the island of Utila. Looking forward to 2020

19 October 2019: Talk about cutting it close!!! Today is day two of the OW/Drysuit Diver course open water dives for Jess A-G and Phillip G. The weather yesterday was fantastic, water temps were comfortable and the vis was great. Today we are contending with heavy rain that is on and off. The air temp is warmer than yesterday, water temps are the same and the vis is near as good. Over their first four dives Jess and Phillip have seen a huge lobster, conners, crabs, jellyfish, cod, starfish, sea urchins, sand dollars, lumpfish, skate and lots of kelp. Not telling them yet that they have completed their OW certification dives. One more dive to do for their drysuit cert, one more skill to do and I need to keep them motivated because they have seen most everything this dive site has to see! Jess, in-particular, is excited to do a Dive Against Debris. So too is Phillip, just think he is playing it cool. But then I know they are both excited because once we are at it they are debris collectors extraordinaire. And they do a great job at it while practicing buoyancy skills and maintaining the nice proximity of a more skilled buddy team. We call the turn when their collection bag is full. So full in fact that if it has seams it ripped at the seams. We move most of their debris into my larger bag. They get a little lesson on using a lift bag! What a great dive. What a great haul. What great certified divers to dive with. Yes they passed. What about cutting it close? Today is Friday. On Monday they head out for their honeymoon! Cutting it close? Yes, but not like they are getting married on Saturday or anything like that. They got married four years ago! Cutting it close because they want to dive on their honeymoon! They have fully earned that right. Thanks guys for a great course and thank you for capping it off with a great Dive Against Debris.

13 October 2019: What an outstanding autumn day in Holyrood. What an outstanding day for diving. What an outstanding day for Jim W to finish up his drysuit diver course. What an outstanding day to integrate a little Dive Against Debris into Jim's second checkout dive. He has been knocking his drysuit diver skills out of the park. Jim is happy and I am happy. He is near as good as Marcy W, the family's senior drysuit diver, but alas only near! He is however a skilled collector of debris. We called our turn early as Jim had loaded his collection bag to the max. Another highly successful assault on debris found at his adopted dive site, albeit an abbreviated one, is in the books. Thanks Jim for a great day, congrats on your drysuit certification and thank you for effort in our Dive Against Debris.

7 October 2019: This Diver Against Debris was executed by course candidates (Jody J, Zach C, Chandler D & Robert D) from OW-2019-009 during the tour portion of their open water dive four. We were joined by DM Jenn W and DMT Dwain N. Dive Against Debris surveys have been integrated into various courses delivered at this Adopted Dive Site. The student divers constantly remark about the "fun" they experience hunting for debris. Not to be out done their recognition of the importance of the mission. Our collective efforts are having a positive impact at this site. Both in terms of removing debris and recognition of our efforts from the marina members and passing general public. Hopefully our efforts are contagious!

22 September 2019: Thanks to those hardy soles who were not deterred by yesterday's nasty weather and the rescheduling of this dive against debris. A big shout out to Marcus S for rallying the available troops. Thanks to Kaitlin C for rounding up a couple bags of debris with me. A salute to Ty S, Johnny O and Jennifer W for bagging a whack of debris found on the beach and amongst the rocks of the breakwater. Their finds are not totalled here but they were significant. They easily win for the largest single piece of debris removed!! And finally, thank you to Ty for the BBQ, JW for the cookies and Magoo for the zucchini bread. Can I thank myself for baking? I just did. The sour weather yesterday smacked our dive roster in a very big way. Most hands were simply just not available for today but I trust they joined us in spirit. Pics to follow.

12 September 2019: Thanks to Megan M, Mark C, Alain L, Brandy B, and Solene G who joined me for a little Dive Against Debris at the adopted site, ADS584 Holyrood Marina. Despite less than stellar visibility we did well in accomplishing our mission goals for the day, including certifying four new drysuit divers and one other refreshing skills now that the kids are back in school. Congratulations. Multi taskers to the extreme!! One team laid down a find for the next group to venture into the waters at Holyrood Marina. That team collected such a bag of debris that it became too heavy to transport to the shore. The neat package is ready for pickup. I just might use that as an object to be searched for on an upcoming S&R adventure dive.

4 September 2019: Holyrood Marina is an Adopted Dive site. Today DB, PO and I did a dive against debris. We are hardy drysuit divers well versed in diving in the cold waters of the North Atlantic. But come on! We did not plan for -1 degree C at 35 feet on September 4. The average water temps are closer to 12 degrees C this time of year. The cold drove me out of there water. Poor glove selection!! Regardless we still made a good haul of debris. Left some behind for some future dives. Way to go guys, we did giver till we shivered.

25 August 2019: Have mesh bag will "dive against debris." A strong north wind and waves kept us, (Paul O, Don B and Magoo) out of more traditional dive sites. Did a jump in Brigus to practice/demonstrate some sidemount skills and collect a bit of debris.

19 August 2019; Holyrood Marina is an adopted site. Today open water diver course candidates Andrew S and Damien F were introduced to Project AWARE and participated in a Dive Against Debris during the tour portion of OW dive three. The reason our survey was so short was because we filled out collection bag rather quickly.

14 August 2019; Benjamin L is a 12 YO diver who certified in Mexico this past April. He has four logged dives. His family is presently visiting Newfoundland. Ben thought a jump in the "cool" waters of Conception Bay was in order. He booked a DLD with Ocean Quest Adventures. Given his experience and depth restrictions he was unable to dive the Bell Island Shipwrecks. We kind of ruined his plans. Not one to disappoint a keen new diver we offered a "treasure hunt." Dive one: getting use to the cold water kit and shaking the rust out. Dive two: Project AWARE Dive Against Debris. Ben was a trooper! Two piece 7MM wetsuit. Did I say Ben was tough? The water temp at depth was 1 degree C or almost 34 degrees F. He bagged most of the debris. Some of the "stubby" beverage containers were deposited at this site decades ago. A little cold, a little treasure and a little history. It was a pleasure diving with Ben and introducing this young man to Project AWARE Dive Against Debris.

11 August 2019: This dive agains debris was conducted in conjunction with Project AWARE training. The participants will be earning Project AWARE certifications. Team motivation was high!!