A question of balance.

New divers often struggle finding that sweet spot where they can just hover, neutrally buoyant. You either rise uncontrolled, struggling to descend or you sink and risk damage to some sensitive marine organisms.   When I thought I was going to do coral transplantation shortly after qualifying as a SSI Open Water Diver, I did the SSI Perfect Buoyancy course. I am still a new diver now, but I am happy that I can control my buoyancy underwater most of the time.

On land it is a different challenge to find your balance between rising and sinking. To find that happy routine that ensures a healthy body and mind. Currently my buoyancy underwater is better than my balance on land! Considering that I have only been a diver for 10 months but lived more than 5 decades, it raises eyebrows, I’m sure. My medical history and some other historical incidents did not help me with my balance challenge. Returning from a long dive stay on a tropical island to a very quiet country life far from the sea in mid-winter, did not help either. So as you know, I plunged into studying the SSI Marine Ecology course and became more obsessed with marine conservation and the pollution run-down from land to sea.

I have been in contact with our local Municipality regarding clean-ups of the multiple rivers running through our town, eager to assist in any way I can. I am thinking that I would be good with advocacy, creating awareness, speaking at schools as well as taking part in meetings to find solutions for the current rubbish dumping by the people living in informal housing on the river banks. Nothing has materialised yet, but I will continue to push for answers. Apparently I am perceived as pushy. So I know I am over qualified to get answers and push for results.

In the interim I’ve been considering my return to the Island and trying to push open a door in Coral Conservation. I am dreaming of cleaning a Coral Nursery and transplanting some Coral to safe places where I can monitor their growth in the years to come. I feel an urgency about this as I not only know how urgent it is ecologically but also that my age and health probably leaves me a limited period to actively participate. My legal background has me considering doing a Master’s Degree in Environmental Law, but until I am registered for that, I am reading as much as possible on all topics relating to Marine Conservation and Environmental Law. Have a look at my Facebook page “Keepers of the sea” where I started some Marine Conservation Advocacy.

Planning a dive after being “beached” for almost 3 months, I booked a dive in Simon’s Town. A False Bay beach entry from Windmill beach, to a small kelp forest that I know has a diverse ecosystem going, was my plan. The water temperature of 16 ˚C and a health concern on the day forced me to cancel the dive. Instead I found myself hanging out at the dive centre and supporting them by shopping Nudibranch stickers and a T-shirt.

So there I was, sharing information from a book I discovered (Rewilding the Sea – How to save our oceans by Charles Clover, co-founder of Blue Marine Foundation) with some Dive Master Interns in a classroom situation at the dive centre. I suddenly felt truly alive. The way I do when I’m hovering over a Coral Reef spying on the inhabitants in water of 26˚C. I know talking about the urgency of marine conservation is what I will be best at and I also know that my passion and apparent entertainment value when I start speaking, can sell the cause to anyone. I see myself volunteering in Coral and Marine Conservation Advocacy and Training as well as Fundraising in the long run.  How do I open enough doors so that I can walk through the open ones?

We had a lovely week’s holiday in Simon’s Town. I was spending it with African Penguins instead of Corals but that did not matter much as I was on the beach, looking at the sea and talking diving and conservation with like-minded souls. The Atlantic Ocean, which is the only ocean I knew while growing up, is cold. It limits my diving as a result of my health. Here I will never be able to do two dives in one day and as I do not live next to the ocean, the costs and effort to get to False Bay to dive, turns regular diving into a huge challenge.  This reality makes me long for my island in the Indian Ocean. A place where my balance on land is as good as my buoyancy underwater, most of the time.

By Lynette Gerber-Lochenkov