REEF is proud to partner with over 130 dive shops, dive clubs, individuals, and other organizations as REEF Field Stations.
Buddy Dive in Bonaire is this month’s featured Field Station. Buddy has supported REEF in the past by hosting weeklong Field Survey trips and lionfish presentations, but their current program was kick-started in 2009 when Dive Operations manager Augusto Montbrun visited REEF’s Key Largo office. Inspired by his visit with the local REEF staff, Augusto handed the project over to Francesca Virdis, a Buddy Dive instructor from Italy who has a master’s degree in Science of the Marine Environment. Combining her knowledge of fish with her passion for teaching, Francesa has developed a very informative “Sea’lebrity of the Week” program and a half-day Fish ID Adventure course that includes a beginning fishwatching course with REEF surveying dives.
Engaging divers in a new pursuit when they are visiting an area for a one-week vacation can be a challenge and Francesca’s favorite part of teaching the REEF course is the reaction she gets from her students after their first fish identification dive. “They are so excited by the number of species they can find, just in a small area off the dock – that is exciting to me – to see them change.”
In the plans for next summer is a few weeks dedicated to promoting the Field Station and REEF, including some events to raise awareness of all the interesting fish, like the Black Brotula and Medusa blennies, that can be found diving just in front of the resort.