 TUBBATAHA LIVEABOARD: 23 - 29 Apr 2012
Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, rises from the volcanic depths of the Sulu Sea in the western Philippines. Colorful reef fish crowd corals growing in the shallows while sharks, turtles and pelagics haunt the steep drop offs to the open sea. Contact us about Tubbataha Liveaboards.
BIG SHARK SHOUT OUT
Find out why April is the Big Shark Shout Out by visiting projectaware.org.
SHOUT: sign the petition and get your shark protection voice heard.
TALK: join our shark film events this month and discuss the issues.
SHARE: picture yourself with sharks and share with your friends.
LEARN: achieve the Project AWARE Shark Conservation Specialty.
WIN: enter the PADI & AWARE "I Heart Sharks" prize photo contest.
CALYPSO IN ACTION! Visit our blog. Read about the release of Ni and Hao, two nurse sharks freed from a restaurant fish tank in March 2012, and our success in changing opinions. Find out about Calypso Diving fundraising of $2000 for Project AWARE Shark Protection projects.
 INTERNATIONAL CLEANUP DAY 2010 International Cleanup Day on 25 September 2010, held annually by Project AWARE and the Ocean Conservancy, saw tens of thousands of people all around the globe tackle the impacts of marine debris. Scuba divers used their unique skills to remove underwater debris and gather data to inform conservation.
The Boracay Association of Scuba Schools (BASS) encourages dive centers to participate in regular cleanup events, with the International Cleanup Day being the pinnacle event of the year. At Calypso Diving, both staff and guests submerged to keep the house reef in tip-top condition. These underwater cleanups are really important because removing the debris from the water and logging the data with AWARE is vital to the future health of the oceans. Also, when people see the spectacle of divers regularly heading down to the water to take action, it gets people talking about the environment and encourages them to spring into action too. Don’t wait until the next International Cleanup Day: do something today and every day to keep our planet and underwater world healthy!
 PADI Specialty of the Year
PADI have announced that the Specialty of the Year for 2010 is Enriched Air Diver. Diving with enriched air (Nitrox) extends your no-decompression limit for more time underwater. It’s no surprise that this is PADI’s most popular specialty. The course takes less than a day, or join PADI eLearning to start learning online. Get Nitrox certified and you too can spend more time below the water!
 PALAU LIVEABOARD: 27 Feb - 6 Mar 2011
Palau, west Micronesia, just a short hop east of the Philippines, is a rich pristine marine environment famous for its drop-offs, currents and pelagic activity. Few places on earth can boast the diving opportunities offered around these lush mushroom-shaped islands. We boarded Aggressor II for a world-class dive vacation! Read the full story about the fabulous Palau trip (pdf). Eat, sleep, dive: awesome! We'll definitely be planning more liveaboards soon!
 EARTH HOUR
The aim of Earth Hour is to empower individuals to commit to the challenge of solving the climate change crisis. By switching off all the lights for one hour on the evening of 27 March, Calypso Diving along with other businesses and communities, sent out a strong message to the world leaders to effect a positive change. By participating in this simple act, we focus on the urgent need to address climate change, and shows that it is possible for everyone to make a difference. Thanks to all who participated in the Earth Hour and to our guests for enjoying their evening purely by candle-light!
 NATGEO ISLAND SWEEP
28 March 2010 was the NatGeo Island Sweep, a full day program that grabbed the island’s attention. NatGeo Island Sweep is an environmental and awareness campaign that aims to educate, engage, and empower locals and tourists to clean and preserve islands. The campaign also seeks to inform everyone of the importance and benefits of environmental action in the community. This day featured a photo exhibition and community message board to raise environmental awareness, a showcase of recycled
products, and the highlight was an underwater clean-up and a sweep of the island’s shoreline. It was fabulous to see hundreds of volunteers joining in to help keep Boracay in top condition.
Calypso Diving Resort, the island’s only PADI National Geographic Dive Center, hosted an underwater cleanup with certified divers, and the NatGeo team also joined us underwater. We were pleased to see little trash in the water, a testament to the regular cleanups by diving centers. With the help of coordinators from the Ocean Conservancy: International Coastal Cleanup (ICC) and World Wildlife Foundation, data was collected from the clean up and submitted to the ICC for research.
The event was captured on video, so look out for footage on the NatGeo Channel soon!
www.nationalgeographic.com
Download PDF of this Article with images (418k)
 DIVE FOR EARTH DAY 2010
2010 is the International Year of Biodiversity and April 22 the 40th Anniversary of Earth Day. To celebrate, Calypso Diving organized a full day of Dive for Earth Day events in conjunction with Project AWARE.
AWARE KIDS
The morning was dedicated to fun, educational activities for kids. The children, aged 9 to 12 years from Boracay’s Island International School (www.islandinternationalschool.com), have already learned about aquatic ecosystems. At Calypso they watched video footage and joined in discussions about diversity, symbiosis and coral reef conservation, as well as playing fish ID games, entering the Ocean Art competition, and practicing skin diving in the pool supervised by PADI Professionals.
CLEANUP ACTIVITIES
In the afternoon we geared up for the underwater beach cleanup. Calypso provided tanks, gear and surface supervision to certified diver teams. Many divers and staff joined in to keep the house reef in tip-top condition. Regular cleanups take place on this reef, so the amount of trash was quite small - which was great! The teams helped to sort and log the trash for the research of Project AWARE.
FUND-RAISER RAFFLE
Project AWARE (www.projectaware.org) is a registered nonprofit organization dedicated to conserving underwater environments through education, advocacy and action. The evening events included sunset drinks and Project AWARE fund-raiser raffle, kindly sponsored by Asia Divers, Mares, San Miguel Beer and Coca-Cola. We gathered to talk about the day’s events over a drink, and discover if our tickets would win us a cap, t-shirt or photo print.
It was fantastic to see volunteers, schools and companies getting involved to help conservation. The day was lots of fun and also made everyone think about what action they can take to help protect our underwater environments. Thanks for taking part and keep up the good work!
Download PDF of this Article with images (410k)
 MARCH FROGFISH MANIA!
The sightings of Frogfish are sky-high at this time of year. After some unusual species were seen, we went out on a mission to see how many we could photograph in one day. In 2 dives alone we recorded 5 different frogfish. 2 more (different species!) were seen in the following 2 days on our house reef alone! This really is the time of year to spot these fascinating critters. Join in the frogfish mania with your sightings and photos...
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