I’ve always loved the ocean and any activity on or near it so when I had the opportunity to learn how to scuba dive I was stoked. I spent my childhood on the East coast in Nova Scotia and spent most of my teens until now on the West coast on Vancouver Island so I’ve never been far from the water.
For my free inquiry, I am interested in looking more into the sport of scuba diving, as it is a newer passion of mine that I would like to dive deeper into. I have my open water certification and plan on doing my advanced as soon as I can as well. I did my open water through Big Blue Diving on Koh Tao in Thailand while I was there in 2017. It was the most amazing experience I’ve ever had and it opened my eyes to a whole new world. One of the best things about Koh Tao and Big Blue in particular was their conservation efforts. Thailand struggles with recycling and for the most part in all my travels, there isn’t really any systems in place and the waste is quite concerning, especially with so many tourists. Big Blue on the other hand has a recycling system, drinkable water stations for tourists to fill up their own water bottles and recently banned single-use plastics. They certify divers under the pretext that the ocean ecosystems are important but fragile and they need to be protected. They ban anyone who so much as purposely touches or damages plants, fish and animals and they often host dives to clean garbage out of the water and for those with experience they restore coral reefs and create conservation areas for particularly fragile habitats or species.
What I want to look into most are not only diving techniques and the science behind scuba to become a better diver, but research the most ethical ways to enjoy scuba diving while helping the ocean conservation efforts. I want to look at different projects in place around the world for ocean clean ups via diving and any restorative projects.
I hope to return to Koh Tao to continue with my certifications and perhaps take part in some of their restorative efforts at some point, but for now while in school I just want to learn as much as I can for ground work.
Stay tuned on my underwater research adventures!!
