News
Curaçao Women of Ocean Conservation
Making Women’s Dive Day 2019 and Every Day Count for Ocean Protection
This Women’s Dive Day, July 20th, the Dutch Caribbean island of Curaçao is celebrating women who are leading community actions, fins on and fins off, for a clean and healthy ocean. The ladies from The Dive Bus Curacao, Ocean Encounters Diving and Atlantis Diving to share with us what they are doing and why they do it.
Suzy Pinnell, Co-Owner of The Dive Bus
“Keeping Curacao’s reefs trash free and healthy has been a priority since the start of The Dive Bus,” says Suzy Pinnell, one of the founders of Curacao’s first dive center to adopt the Project AWARE 100%AWARE and Adopt a Dive Site initiatives, and become a PADI Green Star dive center.
“Ocean protection and conservation is something that Mark and I both care about. As divers, we have a responsibility to take care of our reefs and oceans. And as dive shop owners, we’re in the privileged position of being able to influence divers to do the same and make a difference.”
“Over time, we’ve integrated simple conservation-related actions and habits into daily dive shop life, with minimal effort and maximum fun!”
“It’s really important to us that our Crew believe in and support what we’re doing too, so they’re genuinely motivated to influence our divers to do the same. They come up with plenty of their own ideas of their own, and are the reason why the Project AWARE Dive Against Debris Specialty is consistently our top-selling Specialty. They do a great job, we’re super-proud of them!”
KarenMaike Van Asperen Vervenne, Manager at Ocean Encounters Diving
At Ocean Encounters Diving, they not only endorse safe diving practices but have an expectation of environmental conservation during all dives. This is underlined by the companies pledge to sustainability.
KarenMaike says, “I love explaining to our guests the importance of coral conservation here on Curaçao and teaching the Coral Restoration Diver specialty every chance I get. I consider myself a passionate caretaker of our underwater environment. I have come to realize that this is our responsibility to educate and continually increase awareness so future generations can appreciate the incredible world we have, just below the waterline.”
KarenMaike went on to say, “Some of my favorite dive memories are the ones I made with my fellow women divers, both in and out of the water” and that she appreciates PADI’s commitment to highlight the amazing women that are a part of the global Dive Industry.
Nanda de Loos, Manager at Atlantis Diving
At Atlantis Diving, conservation is a cornerstone for everything they do. They believe in being “Eco-Active” to instill a sense of pride for our environment through initiatives such as their monthly Reef Dive Day, regular Lionfish educational awareness activities, upcycling old wetsuits and being a proud partner of the Coral Restoration Foundation Curaçao.
Nanda says, “Due to our overall environmental commitment and our need to have top quality scuba and snorkeling equipment, this is the reason why we have chosen only to use Scubapro as our preferred supplier. Scubapro CARES underlines this commitment to our industry and to the protection of the world’s oceans that provide us all with so much of our enjoyment, exploration and adventure.”
Nanda went on to say, “It’s important to highlight the role that women play in the diving world, because without us, it’s just not as much fun! Besides that, I think women have a strong voice in conservation and I truly believe that it is absolutely important to enable more women to be involved in sustainable tourism and ocean conservation because the future depends on the choices we make today.”
According to Jack Fishman from Project AWARE, “Scuba divers have a deep connection to the ocean and a desire to want to protect it. We love to mix the passion for ocean adventure with conservation and the community of Curaçao are true leaders in the fight to protect what we love. Together dive centres on the island have united to protect their local dive sites because they realise that conservation cannot be done in isolation – it takes the collaborative efforts of all to really make change.”
Find out more at www.divecuracao.info.
News
Dive Worldwide Announces Bite-Back as its Charity of the Year
Over the next 12 months, specialist scuba holiday company Dive Worldwide will be supporting Bite-Back Shark & Marine Conservation with donations collected from client bookings to any one of its stunning dive destinations around the world. The independently-owned operator expects to raise £3000 for the UK charity.
Manager at Dive Worldwide, Phil North, said: “We’re especially excited to work with Bite-Back and support its intelligent, creative and results-driven campaigns to end the UK trade in shark products and prompt a change in attitudes to the ocean’s most maligned inhabitant.”
Bite-Back is running campaigns to hold the media to account on the way it reports shark news along with a brand new nationwide education programme. Last year the charity was credited for spearheading a UK ban on the import and export of shark fins.
Campaign director at Bite-Back, Graham Buckingham, said: “We’re enormously grateful to Dive Worldwide for choosing to support Bite-Back. The company’s commitment to conservation helps set it apart from other tour operators and we’re certain its clients admire and respect that policy. For us, the affiliation is huge and helps us look to the future with confidence we can deliver against key conservation programmes.”
To launch the fundraising initiative, Phil North presented Graham Buckingham with a cheque for £1,000.
Visit Dive Worldwide to discover its diverse range of international scuba adventures and visit Bite-Back to learn more about the charity’s campaigns.
MORE INFORMATION
Call Graham Buckingham on 07810 454 266 or email graham@bite-back.com
Gear News
Scubapro Free Octopus Promotion 2024
Free Octopus with every purchase of a SCUBAPRO regulator system
Just in time for the spring season, divers can save money with the FREE OCTOPUS SPRING PROMOTION! Until July 31st SCUBAPRO offers an Octopus for free
with every purchase of a regulator system!
Get a free S270 OCTOPUS with purchase of these combinations:
MK25 EVO or MK19 EVO with A700
MK25 EVO or MK19 EVO with S620Ti
MK25 EVO or MK19 EVO with D420
MK25 EVO Din mit S620Ti-X
Get a free R105 OCTOPUS with purchase of the following combinations:
MK25 EVO or MK19 EVO with G260
MK25 EVO or MK17 EVO with S600
SCUBAPRO offers a 30-year first owner warranty on all regulators, with a revision period of two years or 100 dives. All SCUBAPRO regulators are of course certified according to the new European test standard EN250-2014.
Available at participating SCUBAPRO dealers. Promotion may not be available in all regions. Find an authorized SCUBAPRO Dealer at scubapro.com.
More information available on www.scubapro.com.
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