The diving here is great (so I’ve heard!). Sabine Kooijman is one of our local participants. She’s grown up on the Kenyan coast and dived all her life, but in just one dive Kisite Marine Park impressed her…
It’s been a great experience so far, meeting new people from as far as Panama, Columbia and the Bahamas, and many from my home territory (here in Kenya) as well. Once I settled in and familiarised myself with the work and what is expected of me, I concluded that I’m going to be a sponge for the next month in order to absorb as much as I possibly can! I’m especially keen to gain insights and knowledge from the other participants.
Today was our first field trip and the marine group was raring to go, spurred on by the chipper company of Jillo (a course participant from KWS) who seems to have appointed himself as the group documentary maker! We arrived to a very friendly welcome at the Pilli Pipa dive centre and we were loaded onto our ride (a dhow come dive boat) in no time. I was particularly excited to dive a different part of Kenya’s coast, but the 45 minute journey to the Kisite Marine Park dive site was also enjoyable (everyone was keeping their eyes peeled for dolphins… and we weren’t disappointed).
We jumped in for the first dive and the bar was immediately raised! After 40 minutes of enjoying the Indian Ocean’s fish and coral species we were met by a pod of bottle nose dolphins who, after deeming us interesting enough (for a little while anyway), decided to stick around just long enough to award us with an amazing and truly special experience. I’m confident I speak for everyone on the dive! Our second dive tested our ability to set down a transect line along the reef at a given depth. This was a first for me since ‘A’ levels but I like to think I made a fairly successful attempt.
I am appreciating the work and opportunity more and more every day. I can’t wait for the upcoming trips and projects and the experiences they’ll bring!
The EDGE Conservation Tools training course forms part of the EDGE Fellowship programme – to learn more click HERE