Happy World Oceans Day – Combine Your Passion For Diving With Protecting The Underwater World

Happy World Oceans Day! As divers we are lucky enough to see a world that most people never get to experience. We love our seas and oceans, not just because they are a vital ecosystem that makes life on this planet possible, but also because they’re our playground and, let’s be honest, our favorite place to spend a random Tuesday.

As a PADI Eco Center, protecting the blue spaces we love is at the heart of everything we do. We know that taking action can sometimes feel overwhelming, but we believe doing the right thing shouldn’t feel like a chore. That’s why we’ve put together some easy, impactful activities you can join to help protect our underwater world while having an absolute blast. Because when saving the ocean is fun, making a difference becomes second nature.

PADI Dive Against Debris

Let’s start with an official PADI specialty! This activity is split up into two parts. In the morning you’ll take part in a beach cleanup to prevent trash from entering the ocean and in the afternoon you’ll go on a dive to collect trash that has already ended up in the water. Picking up trash might not sound like the most interesting activity, but it feels incredibly satisfying to do your part in keeping one of your favorite dive sites pristine and full of life and looking for trash can feel a bit like a treasure hunt.

During this specialty you’ll learn all about how trash ends up in the ocean, as well as how to sort, record and report it through the official AWARE Conservation Action Portal.

Afterwards, you’ll know how much of a difference you can make with some small actions, and you’ll be motivated to make every dive count!

Marine Biology Activities

At Dive2gether, we make conservation an experience instead of a task. That’s why our field station came up with three different activities in which you’ll join our experienced in-house marine biologists on research and conservation dives.

In the activity “Secrets of the sand” you’ll learn where sand actually comes from, how to identify the benthic animals living both on and within the sand and how to use sampling tubes underwater. After your two dives, we’ll take your samples back to the dive school where you get to examine the microscopic life between the sand grains under one of our microscopes.

“Hidden in plain sight” is another activity that will shift your perception of the underwater world forever. In this activity, one of our marine biologists will teach you all about sessile animals which could easily be mistaken for plants. During two dives from our boat, you’ll broaden your understanding of marine biodiversity while seeing these incredible creatures from up close. On the way back to the harbor, you’ll collect plankton samples which you’ll examine in our lab to discover the alien-like larvae of the same animals you encountered during your dives.

If you want to see immediate progress, you’ll love our seagrass planting activity “Rainforest of the Mediterranean Sea”! Not only will you learn to identify the marine life hiding in our seagrass meadows, you’ll also play an active role in our seagrass reforestation project. You will join one of our marine biologists in making health assessments and you even get to plant your own seagrass fragment in one of our special geo-mats! Afterwards you get to have a peak through a microscope to see the epibionts that are so important for our seagrass meadows. Joining this activity means actively contributing to important research, as well as the future health of the Mediterranean Sea’s most important habitat.

AWARE Fish ID

During this PADI specialty, one of our qualified, in-house marine biologists will teach you all about the fantastic fish of the Mediterranean Sea. You will understand the different taxonomic families of fish and their key features, as well as how their form relates to their life history and function within the ecosystem. After a theory lesson, you’ll complete two dives with an expert marine biologist dive guide to meet some of these amazing creatures face to face in the crystal-clear visibility of the Eastern Mediterranean Basin and test your new ID skills!

During this specialty you’ll collect fish identification data for submission to the REEF Fish Survey Project, which has been founded in 1993 and since then has generated one of the largest marine life databases in the world.

If you can’t wait to hop into the blue after reading about all the fun ways in which you can take environmental action, just click here to sign up for your favorite activity!