NEWS DIVE48 – A SUCCESSFUL EVENT TO CREATE AWARENESS FOR MARINE LIFE BY MICHELLE WETTSTEIN PHOTOGRAPHY SHAFRAZ NAEEM & BHUSHAN BAGADIA
Dive48, the biggest dive event to have been held in the Maldives to date, was carried out on the last weekend of February 2016! The event was Shaff Naeem’s brainchild, the enthusiastic founder of Atoll Scuba. The aim was to raise awareness about the Maldivian marine life’s endangered and threatened species, and monitor the conditions of a famous dive spot’s coral reef structure. Since El Niño is one of the biggest topics of conversation around the globe, the team also collected data about possible effects caused by the climate cycle itself. The Dive48 team was made up from all corners of the world and were flown in by Turkish Airlines, one of the event’s main sponsors. The team had carefully been selected specifically for this event and even though most of the divers had only just met, it looked as if they had been friends a long time. Special guest, freediving world champion, Şahika Ercümen from Turkey and her trainer, Mindaugas Kreivenas from Lithuani were also welcomed and took part. The first dive team kicked the event off on Friday the 26th of February at 4pm. From then on, there were shift changes every hour for the next 48 hours until Sunday the 28th of February. Even though it was incredibly tiring, all the divers remained highly motivated throughout! Safety were the organisers’ main priority. No diver went solo and if a diver didn’t feel fit enough to go on the next dive, the team was flexible enough to rearrange the buddy teams. It was not only about the diving; the divers all collected a mass amount of data about the marine life, edited photos and uploaded footage to social media for all the followers around the world. After the 48 hours were completed, temperatures were logged, and the stationed video cameras, which had been 18 DIVERS FOR THE ENVIRONMENT, JUNE 2016
placed at the start of the event, were brought back up to the surface. Everyone was tired but happy that they had achieved the goal and very proud to have been a part of the project. There was fantastic support from the different sponsors and partners. Turkish Airlines flew the team in to the Maldives. Würth Group supported the team throughout the event. Dhiraagu, the No. 1 Maldivian Telecommunication company installed a massive infrastructure for the event. Coca Cola cared for the team’s hydration, Fourth Element provided the team’s exposure suits, and last but not least, TGI Maldives at Halaveli and Maayafushi, provided all the diving equipment and material, who without, the dives would not have been possible. THE FUTURE OF DIVE48 According to the team, they have already started planning the next phase for next year’s edition. It will need a lot of work to prepare the next event and to negotiate with the sponsors and partners.The team have all agreed on one point – even though the time was very short and they faced many difficulties, they made the event a reality and most importantly, a success. The next event in 2017 is envisioned to be even bigger than this year’s. www.atollscuba.com and www.dive48.org