Garden International School (GIS) divers and an IB crew went on a rewarding beach cleaning journey to Jomtien.
To improve the coastal environment on a nearby island, they decided to pick up the rubbish both on the beach and in the sea as well by snorkeling.
Students and teachers headed off to the dive shop in Jomtien where they had their registration done and had a simple breakfast. Then they drove to the port at Pattaya City to take a boat to the island for coastal cleaning.
Gearing up – GIS students prepare for the big clean.
The dive master from Mermaid’s Dive Centre, Nok, introduced herself and other staff and gave instructions. The journey to the island was refreshing with a cool wind breeze and a picturesque landscape of green islands and the emerald sea under the shining sun. Everyone on the boat was in awe of the magnificent views and was so excited that they wanted to jump into the sea right away.
GIS students stand on the newly-cleaned sand.
After arriving at the island, the International Baccalaureate (IB) crew and the teachers all prepared to snorkel with goggles, fins and life jackets and dived into the sea. While snorkeling to the island, everyone spotted hundreds of fish and sea urchins. Along with the sea creatures, there was also a lot of rubbish under water which was collected in a basket.
GIS students get ready to clean!
After the coastal cleaning was over, there was 15 minutes of free time. Following IB student Louisa’s recommendation, some IBs went to the other side of the island via a rocky path, where they found a spectacular white sand beach with transparent blue sea. It was a mesmerizing scene – in contrast to the beach that they had come to clean up. It taught everyone a lesson about how badly humans can harm nature and how different the environment becomes if we take care of it, and therefore how important it is for us to conserve the nature.
