Saturday 6 December 2014

Proud to be: Eco-Warriors!



Over the past few months Scuba Junkie has continued to show it’s commitment to protecting the environment. 

Steve talking about waste management
Not so long ago we had a group come over from the Falu Frgynasium School in Sweden who were interested in the environmental aspects of Scuba Junkie. Over the course of 4 days they excelled themselves by getting involved in beach cleans, ecological discussions with our Environmental Officers Dave McCann and Cat Cassidy as well as dipping their toes into the world of Scuba Diving with a DSD experience.  They were also lucky enough to spend a day snorkelling at the stunning island of Sipadan. Our knowledgeable staff spent several days educating them on how to run an environmentally responsible resort.  One of the Resort Managers, Steve Ashby, gave them a hugely informative talk on how we treat our waste and how we run our Turtle Hatchery. 

Discover Scuba Diving!



Chen Sue Yee gave a talk on Environmental Impacts
Scuba Junkie is proud to have been listed as one of Green Fins top 10 members! Green Fins is an organisation that assesses dive centres on their environmental impact. We welcomed Chen Sue Yee, a representative of the company who came to visit us in the middle of October. It is not only our dive practices that she looked at, but also our own recycling, waste management and waste treatment centre. Green Fins hope to raise awareness on protecting our coral reefs and to encourage dive centres, snorkelling companies, governments and local communities  to operate in a way that has as little impact as possible on the delicate underwater ecosystem. We are so happy to be a part of their initiative, and hope that other dive centres will see the benefits of adhering to their code of conduct. 

For more information on Green Fins, and to see their code of conduct, please visit their website at www.greenfins.net

Schooling Devil Rays
The underwater world has continued to amaze us. Pulau Sipadan has been an absolute wonder. Hammerhead sightings have been on the increase, with multiple sightings throughout the day! On some days our divers have been seeing Scalloped Hammerheads and Devil Rays! We have also had sightings of Devil Rays out on the Sipadan Barrier Reef. The water temperature has cooled slightly and it seems the underwater life loves it! 

Schooling Hammerheads

The macro world has also been on fire. We have had several different sightings of Blue Ringed Octopus and a few resident Flamoyant cuttlefish. The sighting of the bizarre looking Estuary Batfish was a turn up for the books! It was the first recorded sighting of such a fish in the area! It’s not just the big stuff that can be exciting. 

The bizarre looking Esturay Batfish!


We would also like to welcome Valerie, Kevin, Edmund and Fendi, our new Divemaster Trainees. We wish them the best of luck on their course, and are confident they will learn a lot during their time here. A couple of them will be completing the Eco Divemaster course, where they will learn how to conduct Reef Checks. Reef Checks are an important aspect of underwater research; they indicate the health of the coral reefs and can give us an idea of whether the health of the reef is declining or not. It is an intense few weeks, hopefully these guys will enjoy it!


If you want any information on our Divemaster course, or the Reef Check course, please do not hesitate to get in touch: info@scuba-junkie.com





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