Dive Against Debris with Sea Experience

On Sunday, August 16, 2026, The International SeaKeepers Society partnered with Sea Experience for a Dive Against Debris! Sea Experience is a dive shop located in Fort Lauderdale that is awarded the PADI Green Star to commemorate their efforts and dedication to conservation and identify them as a dive shop that cares about our coastal environment and actively takes steps to protect it. This month we were joined by 10 volunteer divers who descended with mesh bags and sea snips to remove any trash they found at the dive sites. For the first time in several months, we were able to return to dive site Hog Heaven, the wreck of a 180-foot barge about 60-70 feet deep, where we removed lots of cargo straps and two plastic cups. Our second stop was The Caves, a shallower reef site ranging in depth from 20-30 feet named for its small caves. At this site, we found lots of fishing line, hooks, and lures stretched across the reef, one abandoned beach towel, and two glass beer bottles! SeaKeepers’ Community Engagement Manager also completed a SEAFAN BleachWatch report to help increase observations of coral bleaching and disease in South Florida, and we noticed some early signs of coral bleaching on many bouldering coral. In total, we removed over 29 pounds of trash from the two dive sites, while getting to spot super cool creatures like a huge southern stingray, a nurse shark, and a goliath grouper! While heading back to the marina, we held a raffle for all our volunteer divers to reward them for their participation. We are so grateful to all the volunteers who joined us and put in effort to clean our oceans, and we look forward to partnering with Sea Experience again in September for another Dive Against Debris!