I'm hitting the books in anticipating of this weekends adventure... so I may be posting sporadically this week. Mat and I are off to do our advanced SCUBA diving certification while on an overnight boat trip in the Poor Knights Islands!

My love for all things aquatic prompted me to start diving nearly 10 years ago and this weekend I'm looking forward upping my skills. It's rather dorky, but I agree with my training book- divers are natural ambassadors for the environment because you come face-to-face with such beauty and realize how much there is to preserve. This weekend, I am particularly eager to learn about fish identification techniques which will help to monitor coral reefs. PADI divers have the opportunity to be a part of project AWARE which is a 20 year old organization dedicated to increasing environmental awareness and protecting underwater environments. Data collected by recreational divers trained in fish identification can help scientists track the health of underwater ecosystems- how cool is that?!