Napason Wetchapram, or Wai, works in the Diethelm Product department and is the team’s CSR Ambassador, always on the lookout for another way to help or give back. Recently she went on a dive to help collect trash and clean the seas.
Scuba diving is a great way to travel and have fun for adventure lovers. I’ve always loved discovering the world underneath the water but recently enjoyed it even more as I was able to help give back to the ocean.
More Than Scuba Diving Camp
For the past four years, I’ve joined an Underwater Archaeology Training Camp, operated by Silpakorn University, professional archaeologists and Royal Navy, to learn how to dive and survey underwater shipwrecks. While I’ve enjoyed each year participating in the programme, I especially appreciated my experience this past July when, before leaving the island, we voluntarily collected underwater rubbish.
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Koh Rang and its Surroundings
As part of the camp, I stayed for 10 days in Rang National Park Island, not far from the popular Koh Chang in Trat. Each morning after a beach run, the group would head to the boat, spend all day onboard and diving, then in the evening return to the island for dinner and spending the night. Along with our group, there were also a lot of tourists stopping by for snorkelling every day and there’s no doubt that even being careful we collectively dropped rubbish and left the island dirtier than we found it – both on land and under the sea.
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Time to Give Back
On the last day before we headed back to the mainland, all cabins including camp staff, students, members of the navy and underwater archaeologists, put on our scuba gear once again then jumped into the 10-metre-deep water around the pier with a big basket in hand to collect trash like fabric, spoons, soft drink cans, plastic containers, beer bottles and even engine parts.
Working in pairs, one person would hold the basket while the other picked up rubbish from the ocean floor, then we helped each other to carry the heavy trash up to the surface where a camp staff member was waiting to collect the baskets and put rubbish bags on a trolley to take back with us to the mainland.
Along with helping me become a better and more experienced diver, this camp always teaches me to appreciate the underwater world and that it’s better to work as a team. When sharing a common goal to do good, we can accomplish much more together than on our own.
It’s also important to take care of our environment and be aware of how our choices or actions affect nature and wildlife. Please visit Our people, our world, our action to learn more about eco-friendly and sustainable experiences from Diethelm Travel.
