News
Dive Resort in Thailand hits 150,000th PADI Certification Milestone
PADI Asia Pacific Executives were joined in Thailand last month by Drew Richardson, President and Chief Executive Officer of PADI Worldwide, to celebrate an incredible milestone in the diving industry.
Ban’s Diving Resort in Koh Tao, Thailand, had accomplished the milestone of reaching 150,000 PADI certifications, a truly remarkable achievement. PADI Asia Pacific Executives, Henrik Nimb (Vice President, Marketing, Education & Business Development), Danny Dwyer (Senior Director, Marketing & Business Development and Sales & Field Services), Tim Hunt (Manager, Field Services), and Giovanni Cacchione (Regional Manager, East Thailand) presented Ban’s Diving Resort with an award for ‘Achieving 150,000 PADI Certifications’.
During the event Ban’s Diving Resort were also presented with an award for their ‘Outstanding Contribution to Diver Education in 2014’ which recognises the ongoing quality of diver training, initiatives and achievements. Present for the event were the owners of Ban’s Diving Resort, K. Rumleuk Assavachin and K. Wannaluk Sukphol, PADI Course Director K. Saran Kittiwannalul, Ban’s Diving Resort staff members as well as many of their loyal divers from across the world.
Since Ban’s Diving Resort began their dive operation on Koh Tao in 1993, they have developed an international reputation for quality, professionalism, and service. From humble beginnings in their dive shop at Sairee Beach, Koh Tao, they have continuously updated their premises and today have one of the most sophisticated and modern dive centres in the world. As well as providing facilities for PADI diver and instructor training, daily dive trips, dive equipment – their dive centre includes luxury accommodation, a beach front restaurant, spa and hair salon, 24 hour mini mart and a bar.
Ban’s Diving Resort have been the recipients of several PADI awards over the last two decades. Recent awards include recognition for “Outstanding Contribution to Diver Acquisition and Retention”, “Outstanding Contribution to Instructor Development on Koh Tao”, “Outstanding Business Award” and the latest award for “Outstanding Contribution to Diver Education”.
Henrik Nimb said, “The success of Ban’s Diving Resort is unprecedented and firmly imbedded in quality diver training, consideration and respect for a healthy marine environment, state-of-the-art customer service and a fantastic team.”
Congratualtions to Ban’s Diving Resort for achieving a landmark 150,000 PADI certifications – a momentous occasion in the dive industry.
Source: www.padi.com
CCMI brings the ocean directly to classrooms around the world through live-stream lessons from underwater
In 2018, the Central Caribbean Marine Institute (CCMI) launched Reefs Go Live, their innovative, flagship education programme that live-streams directly from underwater on the coral reefs in Little Cayman to students in classrooms around the world in real time. For the 2022 season, the four episodes of Reefs Go Live reached more than 107,000 viewers in 22 countries. CCMI’s Reefs Go Live team hopes to expand their reach with four new episodes and supplemental teaching resources to help integrate the material into classroom lessons.
Science Communications & Development Manager for CCMI, Beth Chafin, is excited to be part of another year of Reefs Go Live:
“Knowing we have an audience that spans the world, our team is energised as we plan and implement our Reefs Go Live season for 2023! We feel that creating a connection to the ocean and sharing the beautiful coral reefs of Little Cayman with others, both locally and abroad, is one of the most important ways to increase support for critical, timely issues such as marine protection and sustainability. At CCMI, we are fortunate to have these stunning reefs at our doorstep; not everyone is so lucky to be this connected to coral reefs, but healthy coral reefs are vitally important to everyone on earth. Bringing the ocean into classrooms and homes through Reefs Go Live allows us to share the work we do at the Little Cayman Research Centre, facilitate real-time interactions between viewers around the world and our experts in the field, and inspire the diverse audience to take positive action for the future of coral reefs.”
The first episode of 2023 will take place on Friday, 31st March at 10 am Cayman time (UTC -5h). The episode, ‘Finding Hope on our Reefs’, will feature what CCMI’s long-term monitoring of Little Cayman’s reefs shows us. The data from the annual surveys reveals important trends in reef health over time that reflect global threats and the benefits of strong local protection. Reefs Go Live hosts will explain why this annual monitoring is important and what the results tell us about the future of our coral reefs that we all depend upon. Viewers of each episode will be able to ask questions of the diver and participate in polls through the online platform to make Reefs Go Live an interactive experience.
Additional episodes for this year will run at 10 am (UTC -5h) on the following dates:
Thursday, 11th May: Adaptation on Coral Reefs
Wednesday, 24th May: Reef Resiliency & Restoration
Thursday, 8th June: World Ocean Day – 25 Years of Coral Reef Research
Registration for Reefs Go Live is free and is only required once to receive access to all episodes: https://donate.reefresearch.org/rgl2023.
Reefs Go Live provides an opportunity for students from all over the world to engage with the stunning ocean environment in its most natural format. As coral reefs around the world face unprecedented pressure, generating increased engagement with these precious ecosystems creates an opportunity to promote marine sustainability in a positive and fun way.
Reefs Go Live utilises streaming technology with underwater video and audio equipment to enable real time broadcasting from Little Cayman’s stunning coral reefs. Little Cayman, a Mission Blue Hope Spot, hosts one of the healthiest reef ecosystems in the Caribbean, which overall remains healthy and shows resiliency to climate change impacts. The broadcasts and education materials draw connections from CCMI’s current research conducted in Little Cayman to the national science curriculum and key ocean literacy principles, making CCMI’s work relevant and accessible to students and viewers of all ages, and emphasizing the relationship that we all have to coral reefs, no matter where we are.
Reefs Go Live is a free education programme that is made possible by the generosity of The Edmund F. and Virginia B. Ball Foundation. To register for the broadcasts and teaching resources, please visit: https://reefresearch.org/what-we-do/education/reefs-go-live/
North West-based Dive Centre, Palaemon Divers, has been shortlisted for Leisure and Tourism Start Up of the Year with Start Up Awards 2023.
Palaemon Divers is delighted to be named a finalist in the Awards which celebrate Start Up Businesses and what they have brought to the economy within three years of their launch.
Palaemon Divers was started by Leanne Clowes in the midst of COVID lockdowns. Leanne walked out of her well paid corporate sales job with no savings after a redundancy in a previous role and spending the majority of the year before COVID to follow the dream! After the redundancy and COVID, life struck just a little differently and the pull to become a full-time dive instructor became impossible to ignore!
So with that… notice was handed in, no savings, nothing physical to start being a full time dive instructor other than personal kit at the time – oh and the fact, Leanne was actually an Assistant Instructor at the time and hadn’t attended the instruction exam at that point as there had been none going on through COVID obviously!
However, the first Instructor Exam that was happening out of COVID was booked onto – no pressure at all with no full time job, no money as a back up, mortgage and bills to pay…
Leanne started freelancing as an instructor in the North West using various outdoor locations for training, and the business snowballed and quickly gained its first physical dive centre in January 2022 along with finding their own private in-water training facility at Princes Dock in Liverpool. Since then, 100s of new people from Liverpool and further afield have been introduced to the amazing sport of scuba, and experienced the abundant life under the surface of the dock itself.
In a time of no travel to outside your area or abroad, Palaemon Divers found something new and exciting to introduce the city of Liverpool to those who spend five days a week in the office looking down at the dock and not really being able to appreciate what the dock actually means to Liverpool!
It became apparent during 2022, that although Liverpool was fantastic, more growth was on the cards which came in the form of a second location, Palaemon Divers – Warrington. The second dive centre is an ex micro brewery in Warrington with a central location close to the M6, M62 and M56, spread over two floors which includes a classroom, workshop, compressor and a floor dedicated to retail.
The efforts in building this business have not gone unnoticed with the shortlist for Startup Awards, and also another shortlist which will be announced in the next month.
For more, email or visit:
WIN a c-monsta Wetsuit Hanger!!!
For this week’s competition, we’ve teamed up with c-monsta to give away one of their wetsuit hangers as a prize!...
WIN a Sharkskin Performance 40L Duffle Bag!!!
For this week’s competition, we’ve teamed up with our good friends at Liquid Sports to give away a Sharkskin Performance 40L Duffle Bag as...
Win a Vasili Lights Fish Lantern!
For this week’s competition, we’ve teamed up with Vasili Lights to give away one of their beautiful Fish Lanterns! Inspired...
WIN a Beuchat Maxlux S Mask and Spy Snorkel!!!
For this week’s competition, we’ve teamed up with our good friends at Beuchat to give away Maxlux S Mask and Spy Snorkel!...
-
News1 month agoUltimate Raja Ampat – The Last Paradise (Part 3 of 3)
-
News2 months agoNew book by diver aims to inspire teens to protect sharks and the ocean
-
News1 week agoDiving with… Ben Williams and Kay Van Leuven, Sunchaser Scuba, British Virgin Islands
-
Dive Training Blogs4 weeks agoDivers making the Oceans more diverse
-
News2 months agoTake Better Underwater Pictures and Make a Difference
-
News1 month agoUltimate Raja Ampat – The Last Paradise (Part 1 of 3)
-
Gear News2 months agoMares launch new Sirius dive computer
-
News2 months agoDeptherapy to complete mission with groundbreaking IDP