The UCT Underwater Club and the Two Oceans Aquarium Dive School hosted a 24-hour ‘dive-a-thon’ from 5 March to 6 March. The weekend was spent submerged in the Two Oceans Aquarium’s I&J Ocean Exhibit surrounded by marine life.
The aquarium has hosted the event since 2017, but it has not happened for the past two years due to Covid-19. Divers were in the water from midday on Saturday until midday on Sunday. The money raised went to the Two Oceans Aquarium Education Foundation and the Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (Sanccob).
UCT Underwater Club marketing and outreach Nicholas Miehe said: ‘Diver24 is an innovative and celebratory event that is highly anticipated within the UCT Underwater Club. We greatly appreciate the opportunity to explore the vistas of the Two Oceans Aquarium, while having the knowledge that our enjoyment is contributing to the important beneficiary charities that we have chosen to support.’
Devon Bowen, Two Oceans Aquarium digital manager added, ‘It’s always a pleasure to welcome the enthusiastic young people of the UCT Underwater Club to the Two Oceans Aquarium for Diver24. Connecting people to the natural world, be it through an Aquarium visit, learning to dive at our Dive School, or simply being a scuba diving student, to inspire love and appreciation for our environment is a cause we can always get behind.’
Matt Torr, one of the 72 scuba divers in the UCT Underwater Club, spoke about his dive: ‘We dived in the predator tank with the sharks and yellowtail and then we dived in the I&J tank, a kind of free for all tank where we could just swim around and take photographs. We had a great time interacting with some of the marine life, especially Bob the turtle, he was very friendly and he would come and nibble on us sometimes.’
The spokesperson for the Two Oceans Aquarium, Renée Leeuwner said that initiatives like this are a ‘key element’ for the work that they are able to do as they are 100% dependent on donations. A big programme that was put in gear was their turtle rehabilitation project, for stranded sea turtles found along the coast.
‘Earlier this year we released 44 sea turtles back into the ocean and we are actually currently entering stranding season where hatchlings that hatch in KZN get stranded on Western Cape beaches because they caught in the cold currents, eat plastic and get ill which then leaves them stranded and in need of rehabilitation,’ Leeuwner said.
For people wanting to make a donation, you can do so here.
Pictures: The Two Oceans Aquarium
