Curaçao's West End Dive Ops Support Kids Snorkeling Program
Sunset Divers, Easy Divers and Ocean Encounters West have joined forces on Curaçao to donate snorkeling gear to Kids for Coral Banda Abou, an innovative program that teaches local school children to appreciate the marine environment.
- Sunset Divers
- Ocean Encounters
- Easy Divers
- Reef Care Curaçao
- Lee's Reef Project
- Curaçao Tourist Board
During Curaçao's second annual Dive Festival, Kids for Coral Banda Abou organizer Harold Welvaart gratefully accepted the donation of 35 snorkel sets from Lynn Bean of Sunset Divers, Nolo Ambrosi of Ocean Encounters and Anne-Marie Vermeer of Easy Divers.
Kids for Coral was organized by Reef Care Curaçao in 1993 and expanded in 2004 with the help Lee's Reef Project intern Arda Riedijk. The organization's goal is to reach children in 70 of the island's elementary schools, but volunteers can effectively support only five schools at a time. In order to jumpstart the program on the island's West End, Welvaart, director of Annie Kouneraad School, sought the help of local dive operators who readily agreed to assist.
"When we teach our children of Banda Abou to snorkel, they will at first like the reef, then they will love the reef and at last they will care for, and protect, the reef," Welvaart says.
The children who participate in Kids for Coral Banda Abou are hosted free of charge by a dedicated group of volunteers at several beaches on the island. Sunset Waters Beach Resort facilitates the last lesson of each course by providing their beach and lagoon on Santa Martha Bay for the final day, and by serving drinks and snacks.
Links
Sunset Divers, Easy Divers and Ocean Encounters West have joined forces on Curaçao to donate snorkeling gear to Kids for Coral Banda Abou, an innovative program that teaches local school children to appreciate the marine environment.
During Curaçao's second annual Dive Festival, Kids for Coral Banda Abou organizer Harold Welvaart gratefully accepted the donation of 35 snorkel sets from Lynn Bean of Sunset Divers, Nolo Ambrosi of Ocean Encounters and Anne-Marie Vermeer of Easy Divers.
Kids for Coral was organized by Reef Care Curaçao in 1993 and expanded in 2004 with the help Lee's Reef Project intern Arda Riedijk. The organization's goal is to reach children in 70 of the island's elementary schools, but volunteers can effectively support only five schools at a time. In order to jumpstart the program on the island's West End, Welvaart, director of Annie Kouneraad School, sought the help of local dive operators who readily agreed to assist.
"When we teach our children of Banda Abou to snorkel, they will at first like the reef, then they will love the reef and at last they will care for, and protect, the reef," Welvaart says.
The children who participate in Kids for Coral Banda Abou are hosted free of charge by a dedicated group of volunteers at several beaches on the island. Sunset Waters Beach Resort facilitates the last lesson of each course by providing their beach and lagoon on Santa Martha Bay for the final day, and by serving drinks and snacks.
Links
