Mobilizing and educating the next generation in the ocean, about the ocean, and for the ocean

2014
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
How we started

After being certified by two wonderful instructors and conducting my open water dives, I realized scuba diving is a passion I need to pursue. While interning at Denver Divers, I worked alongside two other interns, Rayna and Nicole who shared a similar desire to learn more about the ocean. With support from Denver Divers staff and their relentless attitude towards ocean topic education, the idea of founding a non-profit was in motion. We focused on ocean issues that directly pertained to Colorado: understanding the watershed effect and increasing general ocean knowledge among students. With goals and passion, we set forth aiming to make the next generation more motivated and equipped to make a positive impact on our environment.

Denver Divers

Denver Divers played a consequential role in the success and impact of Generation Ocean by allowing GO members to intern, providing industry expertise, and enabling us to operate in a community of like-minded individuals. I interned at Denver Divers for 8 years and attribute much of my redeeming qualities to this time. As I was only ten years old when I began interning and I was the first intern, there was not a clear role for me to fill. Therefore, I quickly learned how to find work to be done. My summers and school years would consist of random jobs from acting as a safety diver, to organizing all of the inventory, co-running scuba ranger classes, selling gear to customers, opening the shop, and vacuuming the pool. Denver Divers taught me how to identify problems and fill the role quickly.

Denver Divers also offered a massive helping hand to Generation Ocean by providing contacts and people well-equipped to help students create a non-profit. We were a student-run organization but benefitted from the help of professionals who knew how to write contracts or apply for our 501(c)(3) status. Denver Divers allowed us to be perfectly situated in a massive sea of ocean-motivated adults who were happy and motivated to help us succeed.

Cuba 2016

To accomplish the “in the ocean” portion of our mission statement, we planned our first research expedition. Partnering with Ocean Doctors, we identified Cuba as a great candidate for research as the coral is pristine and the location is very close to the United States. In 2017, American tourists were not allowed in Cuba so the visa process was quite difficult, but as summer came around, we embarked. Starting in Havana, Ximena from Ocean Doctor toured us around the sites that the Cuban government wanted us to see and even more sites that showed the grim reality of living in Cuba. We met up with two University of Havana marine biologists as well in Havana and were diving into the culture through unique restaurant, site, and people experiences. Eventually, the research needed to begin so we boarded the Melisa and headed to the Isle de Juventud. The light blue tones of the water and the serenity of the entire situation made for the most magical ocean-crossing experience of my lifetime. I will never forget the color of the water.

Once in Isle de Juventud, the scrutiny from the Cuban government became apparent through the routine boat checks and the limitations placed on us. We had to sneak hundreds of donations into a town otherwise the government would have seized them. This expedition was specifically geared towards learning how to collect data and form a research project. Everyone on the expedition improved their buoyancy dramatically as we collected data through the GCRMN methodology. Every day we would work alongside our Cuban colleagues learning from their techniques and expertise.

Accomplishing this research expedition was a monumental step for the non-profit. We now had a group of students who were more passionate about the ocean than ever before and learned techniques that could make a direct positive impact on the ocean. We came back to the United States, presented our experience to students and anyone interested, and rode the inspiration to propel the organization further.

Cuba 2017

With the borders of Cuba now open, and one research expedition under our wing, Generation Ocean knew we could make this expedition more unique. To offcut some of the costs for students and widen our educational impact, we organized a liveaboard for this Cuba expedition. Similar to the first expedition, we started in Havana. One of the student’s research projects involved investigating the architecture of Cuba so we traveled through the city with a completely new lens. This led to my dad and I finding our way too many rooftops to acquire a broader view…

After our time in Havana, we dodged massive fallen-over trees and sinkhole-sized potholes as we drove to the westernmost point of the island. There, we were meeting our boat, the Caribbean Kraken. We all excitedly boarded, endured the worst sea conditions of our lives, and then arrived back in Isle de Juventud, ready to dive!

With fewer restrictions from the Cuban government, we were able to dive as much as we wanted. This was imperative as each of us now had our research projects. Students were researching Acropora, lionfish, and sustainable anchor designs, among other ideas. I had recently built an underwater ROV and was excited to explore past 100ft. Nobody in the existence of earth had explored past 100 ft in this area so the idea of exploring uncharted ocean was exhilarating. However, a slight engineering mistake on my end resulted in the vessel flooding consistently at 50ft. No matter how much Cuban ingenuity we tried to use to fix the ROV, the magic that keeps 1950 pink Cadillacs running, unfortunately, did not transfer over to this underwater robot. I was frustrated by my failure and learned a very valuable lesson about the challenges of engineering in the ocean and the importance of not cutting corners.

I ended up pivoting and researching the effect tourism has on the coastal waters of the Caribbean (more on that below). Being able to dive 4-5 times a day allowed us to collect far more data. The liveaboard enabled the students to present to all travelers about ocean topics and develop our “for the ocean” portion of the mission. Unfortunately, there was a mishap on this trip that resulted in the Cuban military being unnecessarily aggressive and abusive with their power. We had to cut the expedition short and voyage to Mexico which was a massive change of plans.

At this point, Generation Ocean was very proud of our international efforts to make a positive impact on the ocean and spread awareness. We had all collected a suitable amount of data to go back to schools in Colorado and present our ideas. Presenting about research that we had all collected and formulated, our presentations were full of passion and knowledge. We found this to be a much more effective way of getting messages across, even if the messages were very niche and specific.

Curacao 2018

After our Cuba mishap from last year, we pivoted and relocated our efforts to Curacao. This small island was MUCH cheaper and logistically simpler. This enabled us to finally only bring Generation Ocean students, and because there were only students, pursue a less luxurious experience.

With many members returning from our Cuba expedition, most of the research projects were continuations but a few more students meant a few new research endeavors. Staying at the Carmabi research center, we utilized the fact that the island is broken into eight sections. Each section has uniquely different attributes and allowed us to better find correlations between Cuba, and other Curacao sites. I benefited greatly from the variety of sites as I was researching the impact of tourism on the coastal waters of the Caribbean. Some sections were heavily populated by tourists, and others were purely locals which was a great change as Cuba was neither.

A major development of this expedition was partnering with Ocean Encounters and assisting in their coral gardening project. For all of us, this was our first exposure to coral repopulation methods and provided invaluable insight into how people can make a positive impact on the ocean. We were working on coral nursery trees which required immense amounts of care and cleaning but were well worth the effort. We also enjoyed many lionfish hunting dives as the invasive species was wreaking havoc on the local system and was surprisingly delicious.

Curacao 2019

During this research expedition, we were able to make another great leap by providing large scholarships to students to make the research expedition more financially equitable. This brought along three brand new students who were passionate about the ocean but never had the opportunity to investigate this passion, especially in Colorado.

In Curacao, we pursued very similar research techniques as the years prior and especially focused on the coral nursery and lionfish hunting as these were two endeavors that had immediate and lasting impacts on the ocean. We outplanted hundreds of corals and built a few new reef locations during our time. We also were much more diligent on our trash pickup and ditch your single-use plastic campaign. We brought over a hundred pounds of reusable bags, water bottles, cutlery, and reef-safe sunscreen to give out to locals for free. We also collected hundreds of pounds of trash from all of the beaches we would dive on which provided very valuable data and made another immediate positive impact.

A few of the members had four years to develop their research project and were producing results that showed undeniable impact by humans and offered solutions to the damaging effects of overfishing, climate undereducation among tourists, and chemical imbalances in the water.

Colorado Impact

As the research expeditions were only two weeks of the year, Generation Ocean was also very focused on our specific impact in Colorado. A two-birds-with-one-stone scenario developed through our fundraisers. During our auction night, for example, we were able to raise money for our organization while also having multiple presentations and conversations about the ocean climate, explaining what people can do “for the ocean,” and networking to find new members or educational endeavors. Generation Ocean conducted many of these dual-intentioned events and consistently received positive support.

Generation Ocean also hosted trash pickup days where we would work with the community and go on hikes into the mountain to simply collect as much trash as possible. With monthly pickups, we picked up hundreds of pounds of trash.

The most personal and effective Colorado impact came from the Generation Ocean members going to schools or conferences and presenting our research projects. We learned that students in elementary and middle school were most receptive and engaged with our ideas so we presented at many stem nights and presented frequently to students who were coming through Denver Divers for scuba training.

My Research Project

From data collected on two research expeditions to Cuba and two expeditions to Curacao, I endeavored to discover the impact of tourism on the coastal waters of the Caribbean.

Cuba provided a fascinating outlook on my questions. Castro was very diligent in his environmental efforts so we drove water, unlike anything you can experience in the Caribbean. With zero tourists where we were diving, a control group was apparent. Cuba embodied the importance of a healthy ecosystem as the residents relied heavily on the lobster and fish abundance on the reef. The coastal line was well protected due to the mangroves and flourishing reefs. The possibility of increasing tourism in a manageable and non-damaging manner was possible with proper leadership and foresight as people wanted to dive and explore this reef.

Curacao was a great transition as we frequented beaches that were flocked to by tourists as well as explored beaches where only locals reside. Curacao opened my eyes to the positives and negatives of tourism specifically the coastal waters. On the stretch of land with more hotels than the eye can see, the beaches had very little trash and very decent scuba diving beyond the shore. Hotel staff members would go out every day onto the beach and use a sifting machine to pick up all of the trash left by beachgoers. This was a business tactic to ensure the beaches looked pristine but resulted in massive amounts of plastic and trash not making its way into the coastal waters and was funded by tourism. To add on, this stretch of ocean was closed in by rocks and breakwater concrete structures that made a large pool in the ocean. While there was no life within this pool, the rocks and closed system kept all of the damaging oxybenzone from sunscreens and other oils contained and unable to leech into the larger ocean. The coral nursery was just beyond this barrier and so was a thriving ecosystem of coral and fish.

The local beaches were quite a sad story. With no motivation to pick up trash, litter covered many of these beaches and a major culprit were cigarette butts and fishing line. The local beaches were filthy and our hours of beach cleanups would result in a small dent of a larger problem. Fish populations were usually lower closer to local beaches as fishing and trapping were much more common and intentional.

These observations and data collected led me to pursue endeavors of educating incoming tourists about their impact on the ocean through damaging sunscreen, damaging diving techniques, and poor choices in companies to support while in the country. Regarding the locals, our ditch-your-single use-plastic campaign tried to reduce the number of plastic water bottles and bags we found on the beaches but were constantly met with the hurdle of a foreigner telling locals what to do.