Marine Life & Conservation
The Dive Bus – an innovative driving and diving force on Curaçao!
In 2004, with close to a thousand boat dives under their weight belts, PADI Instructors, Mark and Suzy Pinnell had their first ever shore diving experience in Bonaire which changed their perspective of diving forever.
“Having always worked on and dived from boats, we couldn’t believe the total freedom of shore diving. No schedules, no waiting for other divers or cutting our dives short with a half tank of air left. We could totally come and go as we pleased,” says Mark. “We had no idea how much that experience was to influence our lives.”
Their next stop was Curaçao, the “C” in the ABC Islands, a 10-minute flight from Bonaire. At that time, Curaçao was better known as a boat diving destination, so the couple naturally jumped onboard and checked out some great boat diving sites being offered such as such as Watamula, Mushroom Forest and Eastpoint.
As much as they enjoyed these wonderful sites, one afternoon while they were enjoying a post-dive beer on a small locals’ beach, at the edge of a sheltered fishermen’s bay, they had a major realization:
“The drop-off looked really close by,” recalls Suzy. “Much closer than most of the dives we’d made in Bonaire. So, we checked it out as our first shore diving in Curacao. It was amazing, but seriously unloved. Plentiful, amazing corals and sponges and a thousand fish, somehow thriving amongst years of trash, fishing line, lost anchors, tires – and someone’s discarded porn CD collection!”
After that, they shore-dived as much of Curacao as they could, and it was quickly apparent that the absence of shore diving in Curacao wasn’t due to a lack of amazing shore diving opportunities. They were blown away with the easier shore entries, shorter swim outs to the reefs from the shore and how similar the abundance, quality and variety of marine life was to Bonaire.
Long story short, Mark and Suzy’s tiny little dive operation, The Dive Bus Curacao, hit the road in early 2005, with a unique and simple concept: “Seriously fun shore-diving adventures”. They focused on quality, fun shore diving, in small, friendly relaxed groups, with a strong focus on taking care of Curacao’s reefs.
That first, beautiful, unloved Curacao reef became The Dive Bus house reef, taken care of on countless clean up dives, and by working with the local fishing community for sustainable management of the marine environment. These values became the heart of The Dive Bus Eco Policy, a cornerstone of their operation, mandating respecting, protection and giving back to the local community.
When they opened their first dive shop – the tiny little “Dive Bus Hut” on that same beach, word spread, divers came flocking in, Mark appeared as a Project AWARE Clean Up “poster boy” in major dive magazines, PADI welcomed The Dive Bus as an official dive center and several fun years flew by.
In 2010, Mark and Suzy relocated The Dive Bus to its current, much larger location just across the street from their beloved house reef. The Dive Bus became a PADI 5 Star Dive Center and added a dive retail shop, with drive-up equipment rinsing, drying and storage facilities, tank pick up and drop off and a second Dive Bus.
“We did our best to ensure that divers had easy access to anything and everything they needed to get the most of their shore diving adventures – including a cold beer or 2 while their gear drip-dries,” laughs Suzy.
As the dive center expanded, so did their commitment to minimize their environmental impact. The Dive Bus became a PADI Green Star Dive Center, Curacao’s first 100% Project AWARE operator and the first to Adopt a Dive Site through the Project AWARE initiative. In recognition of these efforts and making it easy for divers to join in and make a difference, Mark was appointed as a PADI Ambassadiver in 2016.
“Diving may not be most people’s first idea of a career,” said Mark, “But it certainly turned out to be mine, and I wouldn’t change it even if I could. My mission is to keep on living the dream, encouraging people to fall in love with diving, on magnificent reefs that we all help keep beautiful.”
Earlier this year, Bonaire was voted best shore diving destination in the 2017 Readers Choice Awards with previously little-known Curacao 2nd best. The whole Dive Bus Crew were thrilled and Mark and Suzy decided to take another lesson from Bonaire and put Curacao in first place next time around.
In partnership with a major international car rental company, they’re excited to introduce their new Dive Bus DRIVE and DIVE Packages, saving divers time and money by booking their rental car and diving in one place.
“So many of our divers rent cars whilst they’re here in Curacao that it makes sense to take care of that at the same time as their diving – and save time and money,” said Suzy. “They can choose off-the-shelf guided or independent DRIVE and DIVE Packages or custom-build their own to suit their needs, budget and timescales. Either way, the more days they drive, dive or both, the more money they save. We think they’re going to love it!”
Long-time Canadian Dive Bussers, Jamey and Lori certainly love it:
“As frequent divers in both Bonaire and Curacao, it’s great that The Dive Bus is now offering DRIVE and DIVE Packages for those wanting to spend several days or more exploring the great reef diving accessible from shore in Curacao. We like the independent dive packages that The Dive Bus have always offered, and adding a rental car is a great idea as it saves us a bunch of time and admin during the booking process. As we know from indie diving in both Curacao and Bonaire, the drive and dive concept is really convenient. Just drive to a beach at your leisure and prepare for your shore diving adventures in your own time. While both islands offer great shore diving with similar reefs, for us we think Curacao offers greater choice for apres-dive, in terms of sightseeing and a wider variety of restaurants and night life. A DRIVE and DIVE Package like this enhances the whole Curacao vacation experience, especially whilst diving with The Dive Bus which, in our opinion, is the best dive operator on the island.”
Dive in to your next Caribbean adventure with the first and only, The Dive Bus Curaçao! A truly unique experience where passion for scuba diving adventures is combined a deep connection with sustainable ocean management and conservation. Find out more, contact The Dive Bus Curaçao.
The Ocean Cleanup, the global non-profit project, has removed a verified all-time total of ten million kilograms (22 million lbs.) of trash from oceans and rivers around the world – approximately the same weight as the Eiffel Tower.
To complete its mission of ridding the oceans of plastic, The Ocean Cleanup uses a dual strategy: cleaning up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP) to remove the plastic already afloat in the oceans, while stopping the flow of plastic from the world’s most polluting rivers.
Through cleaning operations in the GPGP and in rivers in eight countries, the cumulative total of trash removed has now surpassed ten million kilograms. This milestone demonstrates the acceleration of The Ocean Cleanup’s impact, while underlining the astonishing scale of the plastic pollution problem and the need for continued support and action.
While encouraging for the mission, this milestone is only a staging point: millions more tons of plastic still pollute our oceans and The Ocean Cleanup intends to continue learning, improving and innovating to solve this global catastrophe.
This announcement comes as governments from around the world meet to continue negotiations to develop a new legally binding instrument to end plastic pollution at INC4 in Ottawa, Canada. Representatives of The Ocean Cleanup will be in attendance and the organization will be urging decision-makers to collaborate towards a comprehensive and ambitious global treaty which addresses plastic at all stages of its life cycle and in all marine environments worldwide, including in areas beyond national jurisdiction.
It is encouraging to see that the need for remediation is reflected in the various options for potential treaty provisions. It is essential that the final treaty contains clear targets for the remediation of legacy plastic pollution, and reduction of riverine plastic emissions.
Tackling plastic pollution requires innovative and impactful solutions. The treaty should therefore incentivize the innovation ecosystem by fostering innovations that make maximal use of data, technology and scientific knowledge – such as those designed and deployed by The Ocean Cleanup.
‘After many tough years of trial and error, it’s amazing to see our work is starting to pay off – and I am proud of the team who has brought us to this point.’ said Boyan Slat, Founder and CEO of The Ocean Cleanup. ‘While we still have a long way to go, our recent successes fill us with renewed confidence that the oceans can be cleaned.’
The Ocean Cleanup was founded in 2013 and captured its first plastic in 2019, with the first confirmed catch in the GPGP coming soon after the deployment of Interceptor 001 in Jakarta, Indonesia. After surpassing one million kilograms of trash removed in early 2022, the non-profit project has since progressed to the third iteration of its GPGP cleaning solution, known as System 03, and a network of Interceptors currently covering rivers in eight countries, with more deployments set for 2024.
About The Ocean Cleanup
The Ocean Cleanup is an international non-profit organization that develops and scales technologies to rid the world’s oceans of plastic. They aim to achieve this goal through a dual strategy: stemming the inflow via rivers and cleaning up the legacy plastic that has already accumulated in the ocean. For the latter, The Ocean Cleanup develops large-scale systems to efficiently concentrate the plastic for periodic removal. This plastic is tracked and traced through DNV’s chain of custody model to certify claims of origin when recycling it into new products. To curb the tide via rivers, The Ocean Cleanup has developed Interceptor™ solutions to halt and extract riverine plastic before it reaches the ocean. Founded in 2013 by Boyan Slat, The Ocean Cleanup now employs a broadly multi-disciplined team of approximately 140. The foundation is headquartered in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
For more information, visit: theoceancleanup.com and follow @theoceancleanup on social media.
Marine Life & Conservation
Steve Backshall to headline Shark Trust’s flagship event: For the Love of Sharks
Join a host of amazing, shark loving, speakers including Steve Backshall and the Shark Trust team for an evening celebrating shark conservation at the Royal Geographical Society in London this November.
Date: 29th November 2024
Time: 6-10pm
Location: Royal Geographical Society, London
Tickets: https://www.sharktrust.org/Event/flos24
The event will be a celebration of all things shark. Those lucky enough to get hold of tickets will hear from engaging guest speakers with a passion for sharks.
The line-up includes (*subject to change if unforeseen circumstances arise)
Steve Backshall: One of television’s busiest presenters, BAFTA award-winning wildlife expert Steve has been passionate about the wild world ever since he was young.
Steve’s impressive TV career has taken him all around the world, investigating a wide array of species and environments. Steve has filmed over 100 hours of children’s wildlife programmes with the BAFTA award winning Deadly 60 franchise and recently, with Sky Nature, for his new series ‘Whale with Steve Backshall’. He has been a patron for the Shark Trust for 10 years.
Simon Rogerson: is a photojournalist specialising in natural history, diving and the sea.
He is editor of SCUBA magazine, the official journal of the British Sub-Aqua Club. Simon started his career as a crime reporter but gravitated towards his ‘less depressing’ interest in underwater exploration, joining the staff of DIVE magazine in 1999. In 2005 he was named ‘Editor of the Year’ in the PPA’s Independent Publishing Awards. Simon also works as a freelance writer, contributing frequently to the Sunday Times and Telegraph, in addition to BBC Wildlife, Esquire, and a host of international diving magazines. He is the author of a book, Dive Red Sea, published by Ultimate Sports. Now based in Berkshire, Simon has been a Patron of the Shark Trust for 20 years.
More speakers to be announced soon. Head to the Shark Trust website to learn more.
The evening will also allow guests the final chance to see the Oceanic 31, shark art exhibition. Some of the artwork will be auctioned/raffled at the event, while the rest will be auctioned online to raise money for the Shark Trust Oceanic Programme.
For the Love of Sharks is an evening with something for everyone who is interested and fascinated by sharks. Join the Shark Trust, their Patrons, Trustees and Staff, along with a host of supporters for this celebration of shark conservation.
For more information or to buy a ticket: https://www.sharktrust.org/Event/flos24
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