Family Conserva-cation!
If you are thinking about bringing your family to Dominica - do not hesitate!
We just wrapped up 3 days with an enthusiastic family of 5. As soon as they arrived the 3 certified members of the family were ready to hop in the water with our Divemaster Nickroy for their first 2 dives, while the youngest of the family was excited to start breathing underwater in her PADI Junior Open Water Scuba Certification Course! She was a true mermaid - mastering her confined water skills with ease we were able to move on to her first reef dive that afternoon. While they were all in the water we gave Mom bags and gloves and she got to work combing the beach for rubbish - especially recyclable plastics.
The second day the guys took off to our Secret Underwater Cleanup Location to do a dedicated Dive Against Debris and they did a great job bringing up about 40 lbs of rubbish! We recorded their findings and reported to Project AWARE (see their findings here) Their second dive they learned to lionfish hunt and successfully caught dinner for their family and did their part to rid the reef of the invasive species. It was a big day of learning as our Junior Open Water Student took her written test, did her waterskills assessment and her second Open Water Dive.
Their final day with us at SALT our Jr diver was joined by her father and brothers for her final two certification dives. The guys watched as she achieved neutral buoyancy using oral inflation and hovered like a pro, she removed and replaced her mask with confidence, and then we all took off to enjoy the inner walls of Toucari’s Tube Reef and Back Wall. The second dive of the day we all swam out to Secret Garden where they experienced bubbles coming through the rocky reef, colorful sponges and corals, big plumes and huge schools of creole wrasse and extra large barracudas! We even collected some trash along the sand on our underwater swim back to shore. Our Jr Open Water Diver was certified with flying colors and now she will have a lifetime of family diving ahead of her!
At the end of the day we collected all the plastics we had found underwater and on the beach so they could bring them to the Recycle Rebuild Workshop in Portsmouth. They got to see firsthand where trash is turned into treasure. They dropped off plastics learned how they are sorted, cleaned, shredded and turned into coasters, earrings and keychains.
Dominica is a place like no other - come here with your family and have a vacation like no other, Dive with SALT and rethink your relationship with the sea!
