Shelter Bay Marina, Colon, Panama—”I know you,” Captain Andy shouted to the couple who had stopped to chat with us sitting in the OceansWatch boat. They had been walking the dock looking for a line handler for their transit thru the canad.

“We know you, you are in our video! You did OceansWatch work,” he continued.

Sure enough, the videos that we volunteers had been studying about OceanWatch projects included an interview with a couple who did some volunteer work in the South Pacific. After seeing their interview so many times on the video,  they seemed like celebrities!

Best yet, they were a great fun couple full of stories from the four and a half years at sea. This is the last leg for them as they are heading back to California, their home.

It was a nice way to wrap up the OceansWatch experience.

Mike Comier

His life reads like part of a travel movie, avid scuba diver Mike Cormier has traveled the world in search of new adventure.  In conversation, he will have a story for many parts of the world and from his experiences.

Sailing is his latest “new” experience.

“This is my first boating trip off shore,” he explained. “One of the things I was hoping to find in this trip was: what is it about long passage making that interests people? —and the human dynamics aboard a boat, generally out of touch with the rest of the world” he said.

Personally, he found a favorite memory in being on watch at night alone. “That was an interesting experience, sailing into the darkness with the abundance of stars overhead … very humbling” he added.

But water has played a big role in Mike’s life growing up in Canada.

“I’ve been canoeing or boating all over Canada since I was quite young, it is something I have always enjoyed.”

Mike had his first diving experience in 1973. Later, he went on to get multiple diving qualifications and became an instructor and master diver.

“In that time span, I have seen significant difference in the oceans,” he said with concern. “I have 2 children who are now divers. I want them to see beauty that I saw. Hopefully, if enough people start working to make positive changes, then my great grand children will be able to see it too.“

But life has not been all travel and adventure, a lot of the travel was through his work.

“ I had a varied career. Joined the Canadian Airforce in the early 70’s, and spent a few years there. Went up into the Arctic and truly enjoyed it up there.”

After leaving the Canadian military, he worked in the Artic doing different jobs for several years. I followed a passion for the visual arts after that and studied Film/Photography in Toronto prior to working in that field.

“When it came time to raise a family, we bought a farm in eastern Canada but it got too hard with small children, so I went back to the  9 to 5 grind and essentially ended up being an entrepreneur for the rest of my life.  Involved primarily in education and development of educational products for K to 12 and universities, we got involved in projects all over North America and as far off as Brazil,” he explained.

His company web sites include: LearningStyles.ca, VitalKnowledge.com and Atoya.ca

Mike joined the OceansWatch team in Antigua and dug right in to researching the areas and meeting with people reviewing their concerns and what OW can do to help.

“I think essentially what I gathered from the people that I spoke with was the common concern that was not much different than the concerns anywhere else in the world. There are some  concerns over things like Lion Fish but they are really minor in relation to some of the bigger issues like the acidification of the oceans.”

“The big problem I think is trying to get the mindset of the majority of people to change in understanding that the oceans are a finite resource and we can’t continue to milk them forever. If we don’t start doing something immediately to take care of them we’re going to be in huge difficulty.”  So to answer your question, “The immense damages anticipated from acidification, is the biggest one from what I’ve heard. It is probably the most dramatic and it’s a universal concern, so I don’t think the issues that we’ve seen here in the Caribbean are that significantly different from anywhere else,” he said.

From Antigua the team visited Montserrat, St. Martin and the Dominican Republic.

“I think it was very successful, I think we’ve gathered some really good connections if OceansWatch  members are coming to the Caribbean, we can certainly provide them connections to the people that they might be able to get involved in on a one to one, on a personal level. I also think that we’ve established enough connections that would allow OceansWatch as an organization to have a really fundamentally strong relationship with several of the islands.”

As a volunteer, Mike was a great asset to the team with business and professional knowledge learned with his time in business.

“I spent 35 years working to create a life for my kids and myself; houses, college…but now being retired, I have the time drop the focus on getting ahead and giving back a little bit… doing some helpful.”

Edee Dalke

Note: As the author of the project blog, this profile is in first person.

We sit perfectly still in the waters of the Dominican Republic. The morning bay water is calm with hardly a ripple. The air smells of burning and the distant smoke along a hill says they are still burning sugar cane, the reason I was told, that small black ash pieces covered our boat. I’m glad we will dock soon and have access to fresh water.

This is the 10^th island for me in the OceansWatch project as I was the only volunteer to visit Trinidad, due to the boat having a couple problems and going directly to Grenada instead after the transatlantic crossing.

Trinidad, Grenada, Union Island, Bequia, St. Lucia, Dominica, Antigua, Montserrat, Sint Maarten and now the Dominican Republic, our final island for this assignment.

After crewing on a boat in the Mediterranean for nine months, I made the Transatlantic crossing from the Cape Verde Islands to Barbados and then sailed to Bequia and left the boat I had been crewing on.  Finding the OW organization and getting a volunteer position was the next step in my personal journey to change my life after giving up a business in the US after 26 years.

I had some healing to do after a bad experience on the other boat and leaving my life in the US after losing most everything that I had worked so hard for due to the economy.

I’m in the middle of writing a book called “Changing Courses,” and when I left the boat that I had planned to be on for 15 months, I thought I could either end this journey in Bequia and fly home, or with over 9000 ocean sailing miles, surely I could find another boat. Learning of the OW boat was a miracle for me, a safe boat AND chance to do something productive. This I thought, would be a great way to say “thank you” to the world and nature for all the breathtaking things I got to see in the Med. Perhaps a way to give back. I figured if only I could make even a little difference that would help me in return. I didn’t want to end my experience full of negativity. And so I flew to Trinidad to wait for the OW boat.

Growing up in Kansas, I was always a “summer girl” and spent every moment allowed at the city pool. I eventually got my Water Safety Instructors license and was a lifeguard and taught swimming for two seasons. The first time I saw the ocean I was 18,  that was it, I knew I wanted to live on the ocean.  I couldn’t afford out of state college tuition, but as soon as I graduated from Kansas State University with a degree in journalism and public relations, I packed my car with everything I could fit and drove to Daytona Beach, Florida. I had a total of $500 to my name, no job and knew only one person there. Within 10 days I had found a self employed opportunity with the largest newspaper in Central Florida: The Orlando Sentinel.

It wasn’t reporting and I really didn’t mean to end up in advertising, but it was a job. Bringing the territory from $200,000 to 3 million during my time there, the role fit and I soon became involved in the professional society: the Advertising Federation of America.  At 29 I was President of the organization and took the membership from 20 to 200 people that year, but it was a blast. I found a ambitious group of people my age and called them the “Have the Most Fun Possible Committee” and to this day, they evolved to be some of the movers and shakers of the ad community in Daytona.  But I think my biggest career honor was being awarded the Ad Fed “Silver Medal” in 1993, the second youngest person in its history to be given the advertising person of the year award. Also as a Rotarian Fellow, between Ad Fed and Rotary there was a lot of volunteer work, boards, committees and events that I was in charge or involved in.

It’s funny how things you don’t realize are preparing you, end up coming into play later in life. I feel that way with some of my OW experiences. My sales experience, public speaking and constant multi-tasking certainly came into play as we felt our way through the OW project.

Each island was really different yet there were links that bind them together. On some island, the environmental office that I walked in and was able to talk with the Minister of Environment himself!  But others were assistants to the assistant. We were a tight team and shared responsibilities according to our expertise or took turns on the islands.

I guess looking back, the thing that haunts me is the islands, the organizations that could really, really use volunteers to help. When we talked to new contacts, to see the look in their eyes when they asked “Can you help?”. 

To see hope.

The idea that some yachts might come to help, or that a scientist who’s willing to give their time for expertise that the organization cannot afford. Those looks, they scare me because I am one volunteer sent to make contacts, research projects and organizations, meet yachties and talk to them about membership. I am only one, we were only five and just here for now.

Soon, I have to go back home and find a new career so I can survive before I am able to give back again. Volunteering is not free, it has cost each of us to do this but that is a part of giving and that’s good as long as it ends up meaning something. As long as there are members who step forward and answer them with, “Yes. We can help.”

Jake Navarro

Everyone gets along with Jake Navarro. From Seville, Spain,  Jake’s command of the English language is excellent, however not without a strong accent that becomes an endearing part of his personality. Mild mannered, quiet and funny, Jake seems to end up at the disposal of a lot of teasing and takes the crew’s banter with stride and confidence, usually giving back a comment to put everyone in place.

He joined the OW boat in Gibraltar and began his volunteer work in Grenada.

“I found OceansWatch and it was a little like a ‘meant to be’ thing because it was just the right time, a boat going the same way I was going, doing all the things I really wanted to do. Yes, it was quite lucky that I found it,” Jake commented.

“It’s been nice to be able to do things that I think is a good direction for what I think everyone should be heading towards,” he said. “I think the whole thing with the sea and the atmosphere getting polluted has to be something that we have to do something about. I think everyone should be working in that direction. We’ve been doing little things, but in the future we’ll do more. It feels good to do that.”

Jake’s attraction to the sea started at an early age with a family house on the ocean. But sailing was something he did all by himself.

“I started sailing when I was 8 years old, it was the very thing I did on my own. I would go on the bus and go to the marina to take lessons and I think it was something that really, really got my attention when I was a child, like that was the only thing I would do.” 

But going to college and work took him away from sailing for a long time. Jake got a degree in Genetic Biology in Spain and then went on to study Architecture and Film. His film studies took him to San Deigo, California where he started looking for a boat for a friend, but instead found one himself.

“I had (needed) to go back to Spain and I got the flight but I was checking on boats around the marina because someone told me they wanted to buy one and one of the boats I was checking out, the guy said he would give it to me (for hardly anything). It was a beautiful boat with solar panels. I thought it was nice, I thought it was beautiful. I loved the boat. So I flipped a coin, I canceled my flight and I stayed there for four (more) months,” he said with a smile.

“The idea was to sail it to Spain but I didn’t know what to do with the boat (how to manage it), so I started sailing every day but someone told me the boat was not fit for the trip, so I had to sell it.”

“I went back to Spain and started working but I wasn’t quite happy. I decided I would try to do something with sailing and I took further sailing lessons. I went back to the states and was trying to buy a boat there. I found someone else who wanted to learn to sail, he had no idea about sailing, it was a friend of a friend who wanted my help so I spent two months going up and down the whole California coast.”

“Then I went back to Spain and got my skippers license (in Gibraltar),” he concluded.

Sailing with OW through the Caribbean has given him great memories.

“Montserrat was my favorite. It is an island that has been, can I say, hurt or damaged but the people seem to be quite resilient. It was the most friendly and the island was beautiful. I don’t know there was just something about it.”

But sailing was only once aspect of this experience. Being a part of the OW team has made him aware of the challenges the area faces.

“The greatest challenge in the Caribbean is going to be to get people educated enough to recognize that they do have to do something for themselves—a cleaner way to obtain what they need.”

Captain Andy Clarkson

He has created just that with his live-aboard lifestyle and beautiful red cutter named Kai currently in Malaysia waiting for his return from this Mediterranean to New Zealand yacht delivery. The OceansWatch project in the Caribbean is a six week side line that he volunteered for during the delivery, achieved by the owner’s very generous donation of the use of his boat. With almost 100,000 miles of sailing experience, Andy moves about the boat with a symphony of moves and expert handling.

But Andy’s evolution into sailing began first with land travel as a youth. Growing up in England, nowhere near the ocean,  his first adventures as a young man were spent like many other European youths;  backpacking around, working as jobs came up and moving around as the opportunities…or boredom, directed him.

“I was always fascinated by the TV show, The Undersea World of Jacque Cousteau as a kid, so it was inevitable that I became scuba qualified. Very quickly I became a Dive Master and eventually with more training became a Diving Instructor. For years I worked as both. Many of my Jobs were on live aboard sailboats and this is where I got my first real experience sailing.”

Life took its twists and turns and Andy ended up back in the UK using that time to get his professional captains training and license.  It was during this time that he found his boat Kai, a project that needed a lot of work but once that was completed, the ocean became his home and he hasn’t looked back.

“I’m a sea gypsy. But my work with charter companies and yacht deliveries keeps me focused. I met Chris Bone (CEO of OW) this way in New Zealand and began working for him. This was when OceansWatch was still in its very early days, but I saw his passion for it and totally supported it,” Andy said.

“After being based in Grenada, and spending two and a half years in the Caribbean some years back it has been great to return to this area and become involved with this project. We’ve done so much in such a short amount of time it’s all a blur looking back,” he reflected. “The thing is, in the Pacific as well as the environmental concerns, many people still live at a subsistence level without any of the most basic amenities, and having the most basic materials to achieve a primary education really is an issue. But here they mostly have those things covered, so here I believe that it is more about the environment. I just cannot believe how small and few the fish are becoming, and it’s hard to see all the reef damage. As well as the coral bleaching events that occur due to sea temperature rises and acidification, human influence and overfishing alongside bad fishing practices has compounded the problem to a point where if continued the effects could be irreversibly catastrophic.”

Andy was instrumental in talking to dive shops in several of the islands and saw similar concerns with each island.

“The problem is that the different organizations don’t talk to each other. There is no uniting force that communicates and works together as a whole with reefs, conservation and ecological concerns. They are all doing their own thing when really, it is the same waters, the same Caribbean Sea, the same concerns,” Andy said.

“I personally think the answer is Marine Conservation Zones, protected Marine parks with strict laws and punishments that are enforced, and as has been done in Dominican Republic, the fishermen can be educated in sustainable fishing practices and encouraged to be involved with the parks. Where you have parks you can bring in Coral Gardening and Coral transplanting and let the process renew itself. But this has to happen on every island and education of the fisherman is an essential part of it,” he continued.

“But that is going to take time and a united front. I believe that OceansWatch and its members could be of great assistance helping. Along with the different island organizations and governments we need to work together to create a sustainable marine ecosystem and rescue our reefs before they are gone forever”.

“We found contacts along these islands that are doing things and care,” Andy said after reviewing the list of Island visited. “Other boats must come behind us and continue to follow up with the same people. Projects must be developed or existing ones be announced to members so that they can become involved with them. If not, then we’ve achieved nothing. I just hope it will continue. We got the ball rolling… Don’t let it stop.”

Becky Trenner

She’s bright and pretty, but that is not the first thing that catches your attention with Becky, it’s her laugh.  At 29 years old, Becky has led an exciting life of traveling and living overseas.

Becky Treneer grew up in Falmouth, Cornwall in the UK into a sailing family.

“It’s something I was brought up with and something that is intrinsic to my nature I suppose,” she said reflecting on her past.

Becky worked in various water sports centres and became a dinghy and powerboat instructor and taught sailing for numerous years.

“I’ve got a range of different experience in different boats and I am now starting to really concentrate and focus my career, shall we say, into the sailing world.”

But sailing is not the only thing she has worked with in her career.

“Well I have a background in, and a degree actually, in arts and events management.   I did a lot of work with youth which took me on to doing education work and being an outdoor person, I decided I wanted to do something that I really wanted to do so I went off and worked in an adventure center teaching and youth leading.”

 Becky joined the boat in Italy, made the transatlantic crossing from the Canary Islands and began her volunteer work with OW in Grenada. With her project management background, she took on the responsibility for compiling island reports, meeting with some of the Yacht Clubs and marinas and of course, talking to yachties.

“Personally I find OW a really a very interesting concept and there is so much potential and opportunities that OW can get involved in. My personal area was all about the educational side of things having worked in various educational settings and knowing the value of working with young people and communities and also being an outdoor and marine person I have a lot of interest in the marine wildlife so tying the two together was somewhat of a natural concept I ‘spose.”

From Grenada, the team travelled to Union Island, Bequia, St. Lucia, Dominica and Antigua spending time gathering information and making contacts.

“I think we have covered so much in the last three weeks. We have met some really very influential and interesting people. I think personally talking to a couple of  organizations and people that are just very interested and very supportive and learning that there are people out there that want to make a difference and help out, I don’t think I realized how much of that was going on.”

Looking for ways to help the communities is a part of the team’s research.

“A common issue that kept coming up was certainly the issue of rubbish, the garbage, and the disposal of it. With the impact of all the yachts and visiting people in the islands they just don’t have the systems to be able to deal with the rubbish and so a lot of the organizations we spoke to were really concerned about that and obviously disposing of that in the right way, “Becky said.

“There also seems to be a lot of individual organizations working, but not necessarily the network that perhaps in more developed areas are used to,” she continued. “This became an issue with people just talking about the communication and the links between groups.”

“We observed this (success) in Grenada where we actually saw 4-5 different organizations come together and work together on a security network for visiting yachts. I think it’s just a question of pulling the resources and there is so much enthusiasm, so many people who want to do good things but we need to bring them together and that’s a problem that we found,“ Becky reviewed from her findings.

Her time with OW ended in Antigua so she could pursue other goals, but she made a difference. Laughing and happy, it was always fun to be around her.

Jake in the waters of the Dominican Republic

Marina Zar Par, Boca Chica, Santa Domingo—The weather has cooled a bit and the team has arrived in it’s last Caribbean Island on the project. The water is as beautiful here as the rest of the island, this marina has shallow bay surrounding it making the immediate waters bright aqua near by.

By comparison, this island is differnet than any other, it’s huge.  There was almost a feeling of being overwhelmed with all the possiblities of things to research, so we decided that we would select a few that cleared our research and do a good job with a few. The rest of the island will be left for future OceansWatch boats.

Initially someone at the Marina was the brother of the manager of La Calienta, a marine protected park that teachs Reef Check and is a Scuba shop all in one. The key contact was Dr. Rueben Torres.

We spent several hours with Rueben looking at their La Coleta project which has revitalized an old historical museum (and grounds) on the waterfront in Boca Chica proper. They have a dive shop and use the property for reef check training as well as educating the local fisherman and look forward to having some coral farming opportunities.

Rueben is extremely interested in having OW be involved in something here, he is hoping that having someone from “away” involved, it  will help  inspire the locals that they are not alone in doing this work.

On Saturday, Mike took part in a reef check training dive session with Rueben’s group of students and volunteers which included two US Peace Corp volunteers.

Reef Check dive team in Boca Chica

All the OceansWatch crew was present for the onshore portion of the class, Edee and Jake snorkeled above the survey area, while Becky and Andy photographed the area.

Mike and Jake took a bus to a different part of the island to meet with part of Groupo Punta Cana which owns 30 square miles  (including an international airport and resorts).  They spent much of a day travelling to and touring  their facilities one mile from the Punta Cana airport. They were open and sharing about their projects and the sharing of information.

This locally owned organization has a dedicated team working on various projects both land and oceans based to enhance the biodiversity and development footprint in this region of the DR. Easily the best funded project (and established) we encountered, they have training facilities that accept up to 25 students at a time in a residential setting. This facility is often used by several universities from the US for Marine Sciences studies. 

Victor galvan, Jake navarro and Jake kheel at the center

There is an ongoing coral reef rehabilitation and gardening project that is managed by Victor Galvan, who took over the project from Dr. Austin Bowden Kerby.  They would be excited to have volunteers help with the coral nursery/transplanting at anytime.  hey have one of the only nurseries for the Acropora corals and hopes to re-establish them throughout the DR.  They have ambitions of becoming the regional coral gardening center. 

That same day, Edee took 3 buses and a taxi to the National Aquarium in Santa Domingo and met with the Assistant Director (Subdirectora), Nina Lysenko.  She explained that they are now a part of the DR Environmental Ministry and they are doing reef projects on a small scale but have more planned for the future.  Currently the project they are working on is tracking the underwater growth of coral and sea life after someone had sunk a structure. This is taking place at Palmar Ocoa in Azua.   She spoke about the goal and possible cooperative project with Haiti in the future and bordering coastal areas.

Sint Maarten (the Dutch side)—The Daily Harold newspaper reporter embraced our project and wrote a full page article in there publication. Reporter Lisa Bernett was contacted by Michael and an interview with Michael and Jake produced a great full page article on the OW effort!

St. Maartin—In contrast to the previous islands of Montserrat and Dominica, Sint Maartin was a huge contrast for us to visit. Developed and wealthy comparatively, the all duty free island* attracts huge super yachts and upper-class tourists. But this does not mean the island doesn’t have it’s challenges in conservation, reef preservation and the onslaught of lion fish invading the Caribbean waters.

A meeting with the Nature Foundation’s manager, Tadzio Bervoets showed us the great work that is started there.

Meeting with Tadzio Bervoets, manager of the St. Maarten Nature Foundation

Tadzio gave the team a tour of their facilities, new Marine Park markers are ready to install!

The Nature Foundation has their own boat to work the area

Reporter Lisa Bernett for the Daily Herald was an invaluable resourse for connecting us to great contacts. A full page story ran on OceanWatch while we were there.

Edee took a taxi  into the capital city of Phillipsburg, to meet with someone from the Environmental Ministry and her experience was a bit humorous. She arrived at the building that online research had said was where the Environmental Ministry was located. But once there, they directed her to another building…which turned out to be the Education Ministry, who directed her to another building about 1/4 miles away. Once she walked there, it turned out to be the Labor Ministry who directed her to another building about 1/4 miles away. Once THERE, it turned out to be the Security Department who walked her around the corner to the actual Environmental Ministry. Each time she had gone through the OceansWatch spiel, each time, wearing a dress and low heels and walking from place to place in the beating down hot tropical sun.

Finally meeting with Melissa A. Peterson, Head Associate Environment Policy, the information gathered was that unlike other Ministries that have been visited on this trip, this department only writes policy. They turn all hands-on activities to the Nature Foundation. The new Marine Park, she said, had taken years in the making especially when they recently separated from the Netherlands on 10/10/10 and are their own country now. She explained they had to start all over on the paperwork.

When asked about policy, she said there was no policy for holding tanks or Marina control. (Surprising for an island like Sint Maartin)

Jake attempted to talk to yachties on the docks and at anchorage but found a different experience than in the past. His finding where that the cruisers seemed less interested in the concept, perhaps because of the environment of bars and restaurants and good times.

After completing their fact finding and meetings, the team left St. Maarten for a three day passage directly to the Dominican Republic.

Montserrat—There on the beach in Little Bay, where we anchored,  is a dive shop called the Green Monkey.

 Troy Deppermann and his wife Melody have lived in Montserrat for eight years. Their story of growing up in the mid-west USA, following a dream to Montserrat, getting there after their boat sank and the rescued equiptment was loaded on another boat…that sank, starting a business and surviving sounds like a novel, or and action adventure drama/comedy movie all in one.

The OceansWatch team made his Dive Shop home base for the projects we were doing while we were there. They were the perfect hosts with a lot of knowledge of the island and had great internet connection and electricity!

Since we talk so much about coral protection and the organizations Reef Check and Coral Watch, it was great to go down and take a look for ourselves.

Edee

 Jake from our team had never tried Scuba, so he did the discover diving course and we all packed up and went to enjoy a shallow dive right off the dock area. Jake will never be the same as he is a changed man and snorkeling will not be enough from now on.

Jake

Master Scuba Diver Trainer, Michael was anxious to hit the water.

Michael

MSDT Andy loves nature photography and recorded the wonders of the underwater world of Montserrat. 

Andy