The Tourist Development Council (TDC) picked up an online story in 2009 about A Deep Blue Dive Center's participation in the Ocean Conservancy International Coastal Cleanup (ICC). The Miami visitors bureau saw the story on the TDC website and contacted A Deep Blue Dive about bringing a group of international visitors to the Keys for a underwater clean up. This year’s trip is set for Tuesday, Aug. 3. The group will dive and snorkel Sombrero Reef off of Marathon.

These visitors are invited to the United States under the auspices of the Department of State's International Visitor Leadership Program. Their program is arranged by the Institute of International Education (IIE). They are coming from 14 different Pacific Islands: Cook Isles, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Papau New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Timor-Leste, Tonga and Tuvalu. They hold varying professional positions of marine sciences and participate in environmental conservation efforts. This year’s agenda: Climate Change – International Strategies and Activities.

One of the objectives outlined by the Department of State for their visit in to identify and explore strategies adopted by the public sector, businesses, NGOs and grassroots organizations to moderate the influence of climate change on American communities.

Last year’s group expressed how much fun they had in the water so the program director wanted to set this year’s visitors with as much water time as possible. Working directly with the group’s program director we have set the day up with representatives from REEF, Reef Relief and Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary’s (FKNMS) Team O.C.E.A.N.

REEF links the diving community with scientists, resource managers and conservationists through marine-life data collection and related activities. Lad Akins, Director of Operations will lead the group through a Lion Fish education / possible collection and a fish count.

FKNMS Team O.C.E.A.N – The Ocean Conservation Education Action Network is an on-water educational and information service of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary in which volunteers are stationed at popular reefs providing information to visitors about enjoying North America’s reefs without harming them. Coordinator Todd Hitchins will join the crew and discuss what his work entails and part of the group will participate in an underwater clean up.

Reef Relief is dedicated to improve and protect coral reef ecosystems. Rudy Bonn is joining the group to discuss coral reef restoration, sea grass damage assessments and restoration, the effects of global warming on our corals and ocean acidification. See more about Reef Relief at www.reefrelief.org .

A Deep Blue Dive Center, located in Key Colony Beach, has been participating in the ICC clean up efforts since the owner Jeff Neidlinger purchased the shop in 2003.

"We completely understand how precious of a resource the sea and coral reefs are to not only for our business but all around as a resource for life," Neidlingler says.

"Diving on the Thunderbolt wreck, one of our divers had her regulator ripped out of her mouth because it was caught on a mess of monofilament line," Mike Stone, an instructor at A Deep Blue says. "That kicked up our efforts for the underwater cleanups a few notches."

In addition to the annual ICC clean ups, A Deep Blue participates in Project Aware's Dive for Earth Day and the Ocean Project's World Ocean Day.

Those interested in getting involved can register for the 2010 ICC clean up in September. Find details online at www.adeepbluedive.com or call 305.743.2421.

A Deep Blue Dive Center is committed to assisting inpreserving and protecting our precious resources of the Coral Reef ecosystems and waters of the beautiful Florida Keys.
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Media representatives who would like to cover the event can join the trip. Check in is 12:30 Tuesday; the boat is expected to be back to dock by 5 p.m.

Lobster Season

The Florida Keys is home to the Spiney Lobster. The Spiney Lobster has antennas and sharp spines that run along the sides of the body, instead of claws like the main lobster. The lobster season in the Florida Keys always begin at 12:01am on August 6th and ends at 11:59pm on March 31.

Each person hunting for Lobster must have a fishing license with a crawfish stamp and is allowed 6 lobsters per day of legal size. Allthough if you are on our vessel we have a vessel license so you do not need to have your own. If you’re a beginner and interested in stalking your own dinner A Deep Blue Dive Center have instructors on staff that are Master Lobster Catchers. We’ll jump on the boat head out to the reef and you’ll learn first hand how the professional get -r- done!

A Deep Blue Dive
has established a reputation for catering to groups of any size, offering dive-in-one day instruction and personalizing trips to focus on reef watching, wreck diving, lobstering and spearfishing and everything in between.
No weddings have taken place on the turtle yet, but the 34-foot dive boat has hosted on funeral.
“We’re open to anything”, said Michele Adams, a crewmember. “We focus on customer courtesy, making them as safe and comfortable as possible. We like to run it like a mom-and-pop shop.”

Perhaps it was the small store mentality that prompted Jeff Niedlinger, manager, to get creative for the up coming hurricane season.

“During hurricane season we would board up our windows and everyone would think we were closed,” he said. “So we got the idea to paint the plywood to look like a store front.”
Now, when the weather threatens, the storefront is sheltered with blue window coverings that promote services and match the rest of the nautical surroundings.

“DAN, the Divers Alert Network, is coming down to check it out because they really like the idea”, Niedlinger said.Written by: Jessica Machetta

The International Coastal Cleanup:
The World's Largest Volunteer
Effort for the Ocean
Click Here for pictures of the
Aug. 29, 2009 event