Repeating Islands

The 2^nd Annual Montserrat Dive Festival will take place June 26-July 2, 2010, hosted by Green Monkey Dive Shop, in conjunction with Scuba Montserrat, the Montserrat Tourist Board, and Montserrat’s Reef Check Program.

Reef Check is an international program dedicated to the conservation of tropical coral reefs. Reef Check combines education with action to give volunteers a unique experience while taking an active role in conserving the world’s reefs. The EcoDiver program allows participants the opportunity to work with teams of scientists throughout the world to combat the crises affecting our reefs today.

EcoDiver program collects valuable data to establish the status of coral reefs worldwide; data results are analyzed and used internationally by organizations including United Nations agencies to help better track and care for coral reefs. Reef Checks are held biannually in Montserrat, usually during the months of March and June. The program is directed by Professor James Hewlett of Finger Lakes Community College in New York with the assistance of student volunteer groups and the Green Monkey Dive Shop. The Montserrat Dive Festival will open with the Reef Check survey at two different sites. 

Besides diving activities, the festival includes other activities such as a boat trip along the leeward coast of Montserrat to see the Soufriere Hills Volcano and the destruction left behind in the former Capital City of Plymouth, now buried in ash and volcanic debris; and a land tour to the Montserrat Volcano Observatory (MVO), Jack Boy Hill, and Runaway Ghaut.

For full article, see http://www.visitmontserrat.com/index.php?categoryid=17&p2_articleid=170

For more information on the Reef Check Program, visit their website at http://www.reefcheck.org/

For more information, visit the Green Monkey Dive Shop’s website at http://www.divemontserrat.com/