"The ocean embraced me when the woman I loved let me go"

  That is not a famous quote (that I know of), but it is what I tell myself every time I dip into the sea.

    Hello to anyone reading this. My name is William, and this is my first blog post since joining AWARE and the Adopt a Divesite initiative. My site (which is not really a divesite at all) is located on the northern end of Chilpo beach in Pohang, South Korea.

  I began scuba training for the first time just 2 short years ago. I had been snorkeling all around Korea for several years prior, but after the end of my engagement, I decided the timing was right to take the next step.

  After I earned my OW license, I wanted to do some beach diving alone just to practice some very basic things without having to wrangle another person to join me in the practice pool, or otherwise pay a large sum of money for a guided tour. I did so at Chilpo Beach and found myself dragging large things ashore for little more reason than not looking at it during practice dives.

   As I began my AOW course, I began to learn more about all the other various specialties offered by PADI. Many interested me, but the AWARE specialty was one that seemed the easiest on my wallet and would put me on a path to continuing beyond  something more than just a specialty to check off a box. I thought to myself " Hey, this is something I can do, that wont cost me a lot of money..and let me practice buoyancy/removing scuba unit...etc". Little did I know it would snowball into what it has become.

   I adopted Chilpo Beach via the Adopt a Divesite initiative back in April of this year. At that time, the only other reported surveys were 14 pieces far to the north, and 87 down on the island of Jeju that appeared on the world map. I envisioned a grand event where I would gather 20-30 volunteers to dive, snorkel, beach clean and get something spectacular done. That didn't happen!

  I tried so hard to gather volunteers. I planned for months...translating everything from English to Korean, making novice promo youtube videos in Korean hoping to attract attention, posting the event in as many local and foreigner-related facebook groups as I could without spamming..and so much more. Come event day in June, I was alone!

  I just went on and cleaned alone, and its been the same ever since. Each weekend when conditions allowed, I drove down to Pohang to do DAD surveys and report the data. My hope, was IF I could continue to do this alone and get the numbers up higher and higher for my divesite, it would help to recruit other volunteers.

  Whether I am able to get over volunteers to join me on 2017 remains to be seen. I am proud to say I have removed over 1,200 pieces of debris ( including my survey yesterday that isn't on the world map yet) totally and completely alone. I can only imagine how much more could be removed from this divesite in that same period if I were more skilled at growing interest and support from others to actually come out and help.

  This time of year many people are making resolutions. My resolution for 2017 is to be more successful in gathering volunteers for ADS 126 surveys,and become MUCH better in efforts to instill enthusiasm and care for the ocean in those around me.

Happy New Year all~