We took part in an International Underwater Clean Up event a few weekends ago. Several scuba diving companies in the area participated by taking volunteers out to popular dive sites to collect garbage while diving. We spent two days (one night) on a live aboard boat out at Racha Yai island off the eastern coast of Phuket. We did six dives in which we collected lots of garbage underwater. The garbage mostly consisted of fishing line, rope, cans, bottles, plastic bags, batteries, and random pieces of plastic and metal. While diving around the coral reef, we carried net bags and knives with us to collect and store garbage. In addition to those six dives, we did a night dive for fun. The underwater “night life” was very cool. We watched a large moray eel hunt, stun, and eat a fish. Plus, we saw stingrays, pufferfish, cuttlefish, and much more. The trip was a great experience. We both really enjoyed sleeping on the boat, cleaning up the reef, meeting interesting people, hanging out on the boat for two days, etc. We both had the same thought, “I could do this more often!” (We just bought our own scuba equipment this week, so we’re getting closer to making that a reality!)
