AWARE Week is an environmental initiative set up by PADI and 2021 saw the fourth year of its celebration. The goal is to encourage and inspire the global dive community to organise or take part in local conservation activities such as beach and ocean clean ups, education activities and reviewing sustainable practices. The Euro Divers Team in the Maldives kicked off the week on 18th September by taking part in Clean Up the World, a global environmental event that sees an estimated 35 million people across the planet join together to clean up their local area.
The Maldives is known for its pristine beaches and reefs but even these need some help to remain that was as ocean currents can bring debris that has the potential to ham marine life and sea birds. Our team organised a beach clean up where they were joined by guests in collecting rubbish, and a lagoon and house reef dive to clean up underwater too. Of course, the clean ups are ongoing, whenever anything is spotted on the reefs or beaches that doesn’t belong there it is quickly removed to preserve the beautiful environment that we are so lucky to live and work amidst.
During PADI AWARE Week our guests were also able to take part in a quiz and enjoy presentations about sustainability – a subject very close to our hearts.
Events such as these have a huge impact, they may be small when you look at them individually but when the world comes together local action can have a huge global impact!
If you haven’t been able to join us for our AWARE Week events, you can still contribute to the cause at any time you visit by completing one of the fun and educational environmentally focussed courses during your next trip. Choose between the PADI AWARE Specialist, Dive Against Debris, Shark Conservation, Coral Reef Conservation, Fish ID and Peak Performance Buoyancy – they all go a long way in helping to increase awareness of the fragile marine environment.
Everything started with my Open Water Course at Koh Tao, Thailand. I’m hooked with the first breath I took underwater – this magical and peaceful world with all these different colors and creatures made me forget about everything else. It felt like an addiction.
This time made me realize that I don’t want to keep diving only as a hobby. I wanted to become a Diving Instructor and make diving my profession.
I was working as an entertainer in one of the resorts in South Male atoll. The first time I tried diving I absolutely fell in love with it, so every day off I would go diving.
I was lucky enough to meet people from Euro-Divers who helped me complete my instructor course and employment later on.
That trip changed everything. Since 2014, I visited more than 50 countries in three continents.
2019, 2020, 2021 – still in Maldives, enjoying what I love the most.
Im sonnigen Süden (Ägypten) lernte ich im Urlaub die unglaubliche Unterwasserwelt bei einem Schnuppertauchgang kennen und lieben.
Anfangs arbeitete ich im Tauchcenter im Büro, mir wurde jedoch schnell klar, dass ich die Gäste nicht nur über Wasser sondern auch unter Wasser begleiten wollte. Somit machte ich die Divemaster Ausbildung.
I studied Hotel management and ended up working for several years in different Hotels/Resorts around Italians seaside where I spend my days off diving and achieving the Dive Master rating.
I choose to stay in Oman because of its unspoiled dive site, beaches and many undiscovered dive places! We do not have mass tourism here and the country itself is spectacular besides being the safest place to live in.
Bored and burnt out of the stressful life in Holland, I quit my job as Manager Back Office & Finance and I went to Curacao for holiday. On this tropical island I took my first breaths under water with Instructor Marc, who is still my buddy in life.
Diving keeps me grounded, relaxed and connected with Mother Nature (myself). It supports me to let go, to put things into perspective and it helps me to stay focused and balanced in my position as a manager.
But diving was not at all my purpose of the journey, in fact I was not even a diver yet, I became a diver after I got passionate in freediving in Egypt in 2012 while freediving with dolphin in the wild, eager to become a snorkeling guide, I did my life guard licence and then my PADI open water!
I love freediving but scuba diving is an all other story for me, learning scuba diving make you discover part of yourself you didn’t know, you learn to control things that you would have never imagined possible, I regularly see many of my students discovering how calm they can be underwater when in life they tend to be hyperactive and then in the other hand I see calm or introverted persons becoming excited and move like a torpedo underwater 🙂 so diving might not be for everyone but it is definitely to discover!
I decided after my hospitality studies to enter this fascinating new world. I have started my career in Club Med as Guest Service and had the opportunity to travel some of the famous destinations for diving or snorkeling.
I am the perfect example of someone who was scared of diving, the only advice I could give is to believe in yourself.
But since I was young, I knew I wanted to travel the world, to go on adventures, have fun and meet people from everywhere. Unfortunately, those jobs didn’t give me the opportunity to do it so after 5 years I decided to move to Thailand.
Scuba Diving is a sport of passion.
During this time, I wanted to try something new, so I started scuba diving and I will never forget my first underwater experience. I felt nervous at first but at the same time a lot of excitement.
Some people might think that diving is a difficult sport, but there are many ways to enjoy safe diving for any age or gender.
