This past Saturday, August 15th, Nudi Wear teamed up with our friends at Aaron’s Dive Shop for another underwater cleanup. Nudi Wear and Aaron’s Dive Shop have partnered several times over the last few years for successful beach and ocean cleanups. We always have a good turn out and a lot of fun too! After our July cleanup and Women’s Dive Day celebration was affected by Hurricane Darby, we planned to team up with Aaron’s Dive Shop to make the event extra fun! SCUBA divers, freedivers, and beachcombers showed up to Point Panic at 8:30am ready to assist with the cleanup. Point Panic is located at the ocean entrance of the Kewalo Basin Harbor, just outside of Waikiki. We have been cleaning this dive site monthly for over two and a half years and there is always a surplus of trash to be found. Before divers headed for the water, a briefing was provided on the dive site and safety precautions.
After the briefing, divers headed for the water. A few volunteers helped clean up the surrounding park and were ready to assist the divers out of the water once they returned with bags of trash. Dive conditions were typical for Point Panic, meaning visibility was about 12-15 feet. Divers saw nudibranchs, pufferfish, upside down jellyfish, and even a frog fish! They also saw lots of trash that needed to be removed from the reef and sand.
The divers exited the water with bags overflowing with trash and some items too large to fit. The trash was then sorted through and separated into piles for easier counting. A few crabs were found hitching a ride in the tangles of fishing line. They were carefully returned back to the ocean. Once sorted, the type and weight of trash was documented for valuable ocean conservation research. The total weight of trash removed from this dive was an impressive 258 pounds!
Some of the more unusual items found include a bluetooth speaker, a “No Fishing, No Swimming” sign, a large PVC pipe, a metal bucket, a boat window, and a water pitcher. We also found a lot of the usual aluminum cans, glass bottles, plastic bottles, pieces of clothing, and mounds of fishing gear.
While the trash was being sorted, weighed, and accounted for, brats and hot dogs were being cooked on the grill. It was nice to take some time on a surface interval and catch up with friends and make new dive buddies too. After a relaxing break, some of the divers headed back out for a fun dive. They saw turtles, nudibranchs, eels, and more. Unfortunately, they found some more trash too. Even though it was supposed to be a fun dive, this group of divers has a tendency to make every dive a cleanup dive. A large crab trap and about 20 pounds of trash, including a phone and cord from a payphone were removed during the dive.
A great time was had by all and the ocean was left a little cleaner. Mahalo to Aaron’s Dive Shop for partnering with us again and to all the volunteers who showed up! We hope you can join us for our next cleanup dive at Point Panic on September 10th!
