sportdiver.com20 May 2007

thedivelifeNews, Events and People of the Padi diving Society

A Night Dive for TwoNatalie Chabierski aNd tim huNt live the dream

by tara bradley

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the sun is setting and divers are gath-ered around PADI Course Director Tim Hunt as he begins his briefing.

“One amazing site during the day can become a colorful scene from Alice in Wonderland during the night,” he begins. “Some species of fish sleep while others are waking up to feed. Look for polyps and tentacles stretching out to catch drift-ing food, and if you cross your light into

the shadows you might see the glowing eyes of crustaceans.”

Tim talks about the creatures they will encounter with the enthusiasm of a trea-sure hunter as his wife Natalie Chabierski grins looking on from the bow. She’s heard his briefings before and each time he gets more excited than the last.

For many newlyweds, the evening is a time for walks along the beach and can-dlelit dinners. But for PADI Diving Society members Natalie and Tim, a romantic eve-ning is a night dive. The two met in Thai-land where he was completing his PADI Rescue Diver course and she was the one

instructing it. You could say it was love at first dive. Tim ended up staying and earning his PADI Divemaster certification. From then on, they have been traveling the world from Canada (his home) to Australia (hers), and even to Grand Cayman (where Tim became a PADI Course Director) — all the while continuing their PADI education while helping others with theirs. Today they are back where it all began: Chalook Baan Khow in Thailand, managing PADI Five-Star Gold Palm Dive Center Sunshine Divers. And ultimately doing what they love to do, instructing.

As their most recent students, David

(from Spain) and Asbjorn (from Norway), get ready to jump into the black water, they do their regular buddy checks with Tim and Natalie, grab their torches and start their descent. The international visitors are on their way to completing their PADI In-structor Course, and the PADI Night Dive specialty is one step further. With navi-gation being a special challenge without light, they almost feel as if they are getting two specialties at once.

Once beneath the surface, Tim senses the comfort in his students and signals to them to turn off their dive lights. The dark becomes darker, but it is only a moment

coat of many colorS left: Tim and Natalie after a dive. right: A squid puts on a full display for night-diving visitors.

sportdiver.com22 May 2007

sport diver divelife

it’s no longer a hot debate: Scientists all agree that climate change is happening, bringing with it rising ocean temperatures

that kill, or bleach, corals.When bleaching occurs, corals lose

symbiotic algae (zooxanthellae), which live inside coral tissue and supply the coral with energy. This loss leaves coral trans-parent and reveals the white coral skeleton underneath. This potentially fatal process yields the “bleached” appearance.

Coral reefs are essential to ecosystems, human health and coastal economies, but new research discussed at the U.S. Coral Reef Task Force meeting in St. Thomas, USVI, indi-cates that more than half the world’s coral reefs could die in less than 25 years — with climate change and human activities taking blame.

MAke Your Dives CouNT;

MoNiTor CorAl reefs

Many questions remain regarding bleaching and recovery patterns, and the severity and duration of bleaching events.

The Project AWARE Foundation and CoralWatch are seeking answers by joining forces with divers and snorkelers to imple-ment a large-scale monitoring program using simple, noninvasive techniques.

CoralWatch monitoring charts display a series of colors representing different stages

of coral bleaching and recovery. Divers can match the color of the coral with the cor-responding color on the chart and record information for reefs over time.

Data collected and entered online is analyzed by coral scientists to help answer questions critical to coral survival. Using this online database, volunteer groups can track the health of their dive sites over time and compare them to the condition of reefs in different regions of the world.

Project AWARE aims to implement 200 new monitoring sites in the United States, the Caribbean and Latin America by 2008, and we’re well on our way. Divers can get involved by searching the list of Project AWARE Coral- Watch Dive Operators conducting regular monitoring programs at projectaware.org or by e-mailing information@projectaware.org for a free Coral Health Chart.

The Heat is onmake your dives CouNt toWard CoNservatioNby tiffany leite, program speCialist, proJeCt aWare fouNdatioN

ProjeCT AwAre

Jim

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top 10 night dives» manta ray Night dive, hawaii» Prince Albert, roatan» Coral spawning in Curaçao (aug 31-sept

6 and again sept 29-oct 5)» diving with whitetip reef sharks off

manuelita island, Cocos» the Coral Queen wreck and its colony

of flashlight fish, pNg» frederiksted pier, st. Croix» Coral spawning, texas flower gardens» town pier, bonaire» Columbia shallows drift dive, Cozumel » ss Yongala, great barrier reef

Show your Support for coral reefs

Join the project aWare foundation and know that your gift helps protect fragile reef environments. your donation of $25 can help project aWare establish one new coral reef monitoring site, providing monitoring tools and education to volunteer divers. Join project aWare online at projectaware.org and make a lasting difference today.

before the divers’ eyes adapt and silhouettes of coral heads begin to appear. Tim then moves his hand from side to side causing the nearly microscopic animals in the water column to phosphoresce in the wake.

After Tim’s underwater disco, the divers turn their lights back on and head for the pinnacle where they uncover small nudibranchs in a striking mix of blues and yellows. Ironically, the beams of their lights display more color on the reef than the sun does during the day. And appar-ently the new colors on the coral aren’t the only pluses to diving at night. A timid

porcupine puffer skirts the outside of the light as Natalie signals the group to look toward a large sleeping turtle. Not far away, elbow crabs and small scorpion fish wait motionlessly for their prey. Near the edge of the light, a jet-like eagle ray grace-fully flies over the sand in its hunt for food. After successfully navigating their way back to the boat, the divers hit the surface where they’re greeted by a cloud-less sky speckled with stars. The warm night air is quickly filled with words of congratulations. Tim and Natalie’s enthu-siasm is contagious, and it isn’t any won-der they have permanent grins on their faces — they do what they love.

“There is nothing more satisfying for an instructor than to witness her/his student divers getting reintroduced to the passion of diving through a specialty such as night diving,” says Tim. And with the suntanned smile of a passionate diver and a happy newlywed, Natalie agrees.

CoNTiNuiNg eDuCATioN

get your Night diver specialty. for more info, go to padi.com.