YME returned to cat island this month for the first time since our summer camp there in the summer of 2011. It was fantastic to be back on the unspoiled island working with many of the students that were part of our camp a few year ago. Our mission this trip was simple... EDUCATE, ENTERTAIN & INSPIRE.. about CORAL. This was the second of soon to be many Empowering Youth through Coral Conservation Trips. Shaquille and Jurique two of the boys who joined us last month in Andros had organized a group of students who were prepared to become part of our coral conservation team. Through great community support the weekend was a success. Our days were simple, theory in the morning and then diving in the afternoon. We spent our first day talking about coral and what makes some corals like Dendrogyra cylindrus EDGE corals and then went out to the beach to conduct our swim and float test. The following days passed quickly with a focus on our dive theory and confined water skills. A rainy last day reduced our class size from 9 to 4 but we pressed on regardless and conducted our final exam. Those who sat the final exam passed with flying colours with scores between 80% - 96%. A fantastic weekend full of fun our ambassadors our planning our return in may so that we can learn more about coral and get out and do some real dives..... if we are lucky maybe we will see some of those rare corals that we are studying!
