Diving in Curaçao: Certifications, Coral Work & Dolphins!

Hi again, this time I’m going to be talking about my trip to Curaçao!!!

Me and my mom went to Curaçao on a diving trip with our Dive On It Scuba family. It was so fun, I love diving with all of them. During this trip I got two new certifications, one being coral restoration, and the other being nitrox. I also did a really cool experience too that I can’t wait to tell you about!

I’m going to interrupt. Mia’s mom here. I want to address some feedback Mia received after her coral restoration post. We were contacted by a fellow diver who pointed out that Mia should be a responsible diver and set a strong example for others who look up to her. In Mia’s position as a PADI AmbassaDiver, I could not agree more. Therefore I feel that I need to clarify for those who found the pictures in her post concerning.

Mia took a PADI certification course in coral restoration. There was classroom work and open water as well. Mia was taught how to handle corals prior to ever touching living ones. Part of the certification was to learn how to harvest developing corals from a tree and “plant” them on a bamboo tray in the coral garden. In order to protect and not disrupt the corals that were planted in the garden around the tray, she was instructed to kneel in a clear area on the ocean floor while she worked on building the new coral tray.

Mia is very aware of her environment and is in absolute control when she is diving. She fully feels the weight she carries as both an AmbassaDiver and as a well-known diver in general and she takes it seriously. She’s an exceptional diver and would never touch sea life or kneel on the bottom of the ocean floor during a recreational dive. Her passion for the ocean and its inhabitants goes far beyond diving just for fun. She is educated on how to behave as a responsible diver and has nothing but appreciation and respect for the ocean. As her mom, if she wasn’t then I would not let her dive.

She is excited to share an experience with you in this post that has always been a dream of hers. I won’t ruin it by telling you before she does, but just so you know, it happened in a controlled open water environment with trained animals and their trainer. They were not found in the wild. Mia knows diving 101- never hold your breath and never put your hand somewhere it doesn’t belong. Thanks for all of your continued support and now on to hear about Mia’s Curaçao trip!

First I got my nitrox certification. I had to do a little online reading but it was fun. I was a little scared before I did it after reading about some dangerous things that could happen but we were not deep diving at all it didn’t feel much different other than coming up with more air and being able to stay down a little longer. It was nice to fit in with the rest of the group and use nitrox rather than just oxygen. It is nice to have this certification.

We went boat diving every day and there was always something new to see. There were coral trees, beautiful reefs, wrecks, tropical fish, we even swam with a bait ball!

The hotel where we stayed also had shore diving so we did a lot of diving. I did 17 dives on the trip and some of our group did even more! The shore diving was so amazing, there was so much to see right off of the dock! We also did a lot of night dives. It was super cool because we found a lot of octopus. Probably 4 or 5 different ones on each night dive. We even found two that were sleeping and they were so cute! We did a night dive almost every night. The water was super warm, and I even got to lead a night dive once. It was a bit scary because I didn’t want to get lost but it was also a lot of fun and I got to feel a whole different side of being a diver and being responsible and aware of others.

Now to talk about my favorite experiences. I got to swim with dolphins! No, it’s not what you’re thinking, you’re probably thinking that it was in a pool or lagoon but it was actually in the open ocean! The dive boat went out into the ocean and then another boat with their trainer on it guided the dolphins to us so we could swim with them. As part of our dive brief we were told how to approach them and pet them. Their trainer was also there with them in the water and he was making sure everyone was safe, including the dolphins. This was so much fun because we got to play with them, and pet them. They reminded me of my puppy Reef! Like ocean puppies. They where supper nice and did a lot of tricks. This was a really cool experience, and I had soo much fun doing this dive.

This was an amazing trip and I would definitely go back! There is a coral conservation blog too, so don’t forget to check that out. Sea you later!

Follow me: @underwaterwithmia.