Childrens' shore day - with divers

[Storker]

The local chapter of the Norwegian Trekking Association have organized a Childrens' Shore Day for some years now. It has grown into a pretty large event, and the last couple of years the local diving community has participated, by collecting specimens underwater for the children to experience. This year's Shore Day was arranged last Saturday.

As a diver, I have to admit that the diving at that site just sucks. Max depth is some 3-4m unless you're prepared for a long swim from shore - which we didn't have time for, since we couldn't stay out if sight for the kids for too long. The bottom is soft clay that silts up very easily, and the timing is about the worst with regards to the annual algal bloom. This year, the vis was from less than half a meter to perhaps a couple of meters at the best. But the sucky conditions were more than compensated by seeing how fascinated the children were with the divers, our gear, and the few specimens we managed to bring up from the water. Lots of joy, lots of questions. And we of course made sure to promote the ocean cleanup project which our national Diving Association kicked off last year.

There are some pictures from the event on Facebook. The text is in Norwegian, but the pictures should be understandable for everyone.

 

[Storker]

The divers coming up to show the kids what they found:

 

[Storker]

Diver showing her catch to the kids:

 

[jodylynn007]

Wonderful!!! I did something like this on a much smaller scale last year for Mother's Day with my kiddo (6 years old at the time), left her on shore where she saw mama drop below the surface for the first time, gather up some starfish, sea urchins, sea cucumbers, snails, crabs, and sea shells and bring them ashore to put into a mini-aquarium my boyfriend, another diver put together in a water table on shore for her to gently touch and explore with another neighbour kid. This year I am going to do it again, not on Mother's Day though, and invite a bunch of my other single mom friends to attend and we'll bring a few more Rubbermaid totes to make several mini aquariums for kiddos to check out.

 

[robert pique]

i like these sort of events. Like i made my students visit the shore to clean it. We initiated a cleaning drive, and the students were given these back to school at reecoupons through which they were able to get the students discounts on gloves and uniforms