I hope you will join me this weekend to celebrate Our World Underwater. There is something for everyone! We will also have samples of our Educator Guides for Pre K-K and 1st to 3rd Graders. So come on out to the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center and join us for a weekend of fun! Hope to see you soon. Email me if you have any questions or comments! Bring your friends and family! For complete listings go to http://ourworldunderwater.com/

My life changed 13 years ago when I purchased my first PowerBook from Apple. It is what helped change the way we create, see and use video because Final Cut Pro launched with it. Up until that point, filmmakers had to use an Avid machine with an entry price of 150,000 dollars. With a PowerBook computer and Final Cut Pro, you could become your own production company. With an iPad, iPhone or iMac you can now also become a filmmaker. I just tried to think of how many Apple devices I have owned, and I believe it is more than a bakers dozen. Ouch…just thinking about the investment, the electronic waste…and the amazing vision Steve Jobs had.

It is 3:36 AM and I am wide-awake but wanting to be sleeping. Sleeplessness really hurts the morning after. Since New Year’s I have been working 15-17 hours a day doing design work, editing, creating, writing on devices that did not exist when I was growing up. We learned to type on typewriters and did college term papers by researching at the library.

Every night this week to unwind and fall asleep, I read. This week it has backfired and caused me to be more wide awake as I have been given the gift of insight into the brain behind the machine I am more intimate with and spend more time in front of than any human being on the planet. Steve Jobs, by Walter Isaacson has 100% captivated my mind. At times, Steve Jobs becomes the ultimate role model for an entrepreneur, yet the book is so personal and raw it unveils a side of this guy that I just don’t want to know, but I keep reading. Isaacson’s writing style makes me feel I am right there with his smelly, scruffy fruitarian self working nights at Atari and then in with the engineering teams that created the hardware I am using right now.

We really are in the middle of a technological revolution.  I forced myself to put my book down and grabbed my iPhone to check the time and make sure my alarm was set…but somehow the next thing I knew I entered the black hole of space as I know it. The device simply sucked me in and the next thing I knew, I was watching a youtube video on the lytro camera which is revolutionizing camera technology by capturing and recording light waves http://www.lytro.com/ And I thought to myself, how am I going to get one of these! Our world is changing right in front of our own eyes. Can you see the picture or are you in the frame? I have been doing quite a bit of observing and am more excited than ever to have experienced BC and BI.

I still have the digitized tapes on hard drives from the 18 months I lived in Belize teaching myself underwater filmmaking, photography and desktop editing on the PowerBook. Reading this biography and tribute to Steve Jobs makes me realize how blessed I am to be living during this moment in time. My company would not exist without him and the more I read and learn, the better designs I want to create. He pushed his team to do more than they believed possible and therefore drove them to achieve more. Sometimes all we need is that one person who believes in us until we can believe in ourselves. Demand excellence. Be an A plus player, why would you want to be anything else?

I believe we are all more powerful than we think we are. I believe most of us need to reprogram our own brains and minds. Computers last about 2-3 years and then technology catches up and makes them obsolete. What old thinking do you have rattling around in your body and where is it connected. It is time you take the hooks out and let your outdated thinking back in the year it served you. 2012 is upon us and we need fresh new programs to create your life. You design your future. What does it look like? It is time to start creating, designing, architecting YOU!

Right now the wind is howling nearly 30 mph, it’s rained nearly 6 inches in 24 hours and it may freeze overnight. The weather will change as soon as the sun comes out tomorrow, and we know tomorrow is only a day away. We live our lives watching the weather and climate, which in turn impacts our outlook on life…if we let it. So many of us get caught up in outside circumstances driving us instead of focusing on the power of what lies within. If you read, watch or listen to the news, you will experience a roller coaster ride of emotions. We go up and down with the world economy, politics, people, and the weather. What we think and feel affects what we say and do, therefore we need a personal reminder to bring us back to our center of truth of who we really are.

And so I ask you the age-old question, who are you? I am not talking about the person on the outside and what you show to the world, but who you are on the inside. Our hearts change during this thing called life, yet we have the ability within to not only have a change of heart, but to create a life built around the heart-life we want to live. As a world traveler, the longest journey I ever took was the one from my head to my heart. As we grow up, we learn to live our lives based on circumstances. We adapt to our surroundings. We become focused on the wants and needs in our lives, our expectations, ourselves and we have a heart change. We experience heartaches, heart pains, and heart diseases. In order to live from the inside out, we need to remember that all of the outer circumstances are not who we truly are for if we all lived within our true hearts we would live a life in balance with nature, with money, with our neighbors and all religions. A wise sage said to me, to live within your heart, you must find a way to live with gratitude for everyone and everything. And so began my journey from my head to my heart, giving gratitude and thanks for every experience. The remembering is important because it is easy to forget living in hearts and gratitude if we focus on our external circumstances instead of what lies within. And so I built mantras and daily reminders in order to keep me in my heart space. I remind myself with Thanksgiving Living.

Johannes A. Gaertner said, “To live in gratitude is to touch Heaven.” Thanksgiving Living everyday has become my daily prayer. When I wake up in the morning as I open my eyes, I am thankful that I have eyes to open.  I take a moment and feel my entire body, giving thanks and greeting a new day. Everyday before I rise out of bed, I take a moment and create the day.  Realizing that I can choose the outlook of my day from the visualization I hold in my mind and heart working together changed my life. Scientists are exploring the connection our hearts are to our brain and our surroundings. Although much of our heart living happens on a subconscious level without us knowing, when we can consciously put our hearts back into everything we think, say and do, we change our own lives and those we are connected too. So take a moment and begin the reconnection to your heart and soul by living in gratitude. Make it your goal to experience our world living life with your heart from the inside out.

Schedule for the week:

Wednesday November 2 2011

2:00-2:45

Image Resource Center Main Stage

Dive Into Your Imagination, Annie Crawley Booth #960

Learn to Shoot Video Like A Pro!

When speaking with visuals you must convey your story with images. Research, planning, anticipating and visualizing before getting wet will allow you to create better images no matter which camera and editing system you are using. Filmmaker Annie Crawley will help you learn the basics of video production and show you how easy shooting and editing go hand in hand. You will learn tips and tricks necessary to make your work flow go as quickly as possible so you can create programs to fulfill your needs so you can not only create great video, but also get a firm understanding in how to teach this to your students! “Video has exploded and I want everyone to be able to use this powerful visual tool to become a filmmaker and share their vision with video!”

Thursday November 3 2011

1:00-2:00 PM in Room N320D

Get Generation Now Involved in Your Business and Your Future

Dive Into Your Imagination, Annie Crawley Booth #960

Want to bring the real Ocean to a school near you? Want to share your underwater experiences with children in your life in a way that will excite them and have them scuba diving with you from the living room and then into your dive shop? Dive Into Your Imagination was founded to change the way the next generation views the Ocean and themselves. By creating a series of books, DVDS and teacher lesson plans, Annie Crawley has developed tools and techniques you can use to compliment your Kids and Family Program, or help you create your own!

Friday November 4 2011

3:00 PM – 3:45 PM
What is Your Story and Who is Your Audience
Track 3 – Cache In On NEW Consumers
Room: N310E

Dive Into Your Imagination, Annie Crawley Booth #960

This seminar will walk you through how to craft a story for your business, develop a mission, vision and marketing campaign to reach a targeted audience through a variety of social media initiatives. We are living in a new marketing world in which people trust their friends for purchasing decisions. How can you target your business to be that friend and choice? Only you can put a face to your company. In today’s world, you become your company.

Saturday November 5 2011

Image Resource Center Main Stage

Advanced Lighting Techniques for Photo and Video

Dive Into Your Imagination, Annie Crawley Booth #960
Shooting and editing go hand in hand. In order to create a great visual story, you need to know how to tell the story through the shots you take. During this seminar you will learn how to create shots utilizing advanced lighting techniques needed to create any story! You will also learn advanced lighting techniques for Photo and Video as almost every camera from Sealife to SLRs are now shooting both! Once you understand the basics of the sun and loss of color underwater, you must think about adding light underwater. The best light source you can use during the day is absolutely free, yet we are now experiencing a lighting revolution. It truly is magic to add light to a reef scene at just the right time of day so that you can balance the sun and artificial light. This seminar walks you through lighting techniques so you can capture the best images possible!

My lover, My friend, You…
You are the Ocean.
As I lay near you, I can whisper all my secrets to you.
You take them in.
You listen.
You understand.
There is no judgment.
Your roar as the waves crash is music to my ears.
When tides change, silence.
Listen.
When I am separated from you, I feel my heart breaking.
I look out the window, and see only the surface.
Reveal yourself.
Joy. Laughter. Love.
Is there anything else the Divine would want for you?
No heartbreak. No pain. No abuse.
You do not have to dive deep to see your soul.
You are me. I am you. Together.
No separation.
Remove I, only we.
We are one.
Nature. Humans.
Human Nature.
Breathe.
You are the sea in life.
Flow free.

I love the ocean. Today I feel overwhelmed by all the things I have to do. There are times I feel as if I am a human doing instead of a human being. When I get to this point, my soul seems to cry out. It manifests in a variety of ways. Sometimes I laugh, sometimes I shed tears, sometimes I reach out…and at other times I write. The Ocean is my first love and it was love at first sight. God was revealed to me through the Ocean as I seek this Higher Spirit in nature and through singing. For many moons I stopped writing, fearing the judgment of others if I revealed my thoughts. Today, I set myself free. Being transparent brings honesty and allows me to tap into me, which flows into you. Together we are stronger than I am alone. Thank you for listening and sharing your thoughts with me.

Namaste.

In 2009, President Toribiong declared in front of the United Nations that Palau was in fact a shark sanctuary and with this declaration he reached directly into the hearts of millions.  He has also declared the protection of marine mammals including whales, dolphins and dugongs.  When he took office he required the states of Palau to establish marine sanctuaries to ensure the sustainability of fish stocks and marine resources. President Toribiong realizes that if his nation is to survive then the Ocean needs to be healthy and people need to protect the sea for the future generations.  The mission and vision of my company aligns so much with Mr. President Toribiong that it was an honor to speak with him and be able to put my images of Palau together with his voice.  His words create a strong message of what we need to do and I hope you will share this with all your friends and family.

“The health of our ocean is a reflection of the health of our sharks.  The need to protect our sharks much outweighs the need to enjoy a bowl of shark fin soup.” President Toribiong

Since Palau has been declared a shark sanctuary, many other nations have followed his lead.  Honduras, Bahamas, Fiji, areas in Indonesia, and a few states in the US with Washington State being the first.  But we need everyone to understand the importance of loving and protecting our Ocean and marine resources.  We need to write to our legislature, our senators, representatives, and corporate leaders to ensure there are policies in alignment with preservation.

Although Palau and others have created shark sanctuaries and marine preserves, areas are still endangered.  Patrol boats and resources are needed to police the areas of protection.  There are a variety of organizations working as watchdogs including Shark Savers, WildAid, Palau Shark Sanctuary, Sea Shephard, and PADI Project Aware to name a few along with some amazing companies and individuals.  Margaret Mead said, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world.  Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” She was right as is President Toribiong.  In his words, “Everyone, every single child can change the world.  It must begin with each of you and with me.” The islanders of Palau are inspirations to the world.

During my visit to Palau I was sponsored by Sam’s Tours and Continental Airlines to film and create a program for children on the incredible life living below the Rock Islands, once an ancient reef and today teeming with sharks, manta rays, coral reefs and healthy fish stocks.   During the time I spent with Sam’s Tours, I was fortunate to meet Dermot Keane, Founder of Palau Shark Sanctuary, a man with a mission, to protect Palau’s natural resources.  Dermot secured this interview with President Toribiong and together we witnessed conservation in action as he was vetoing a bill that would have opened the Maori Wrasse and Bumphead Parrotfish Fishery, which are endangered species.

In addition, to diving with Sam’s Tours, I joined Kids Sea Camp Palau which was one of the best Kids Sea Camps I have ever attended.  Children were learning to scuba dive, snorkel and love the Ocean while learning about the reefs.  We were surrounded by parents who share the love of the Ocean with their children and help protect marine life.

The President invites everyone to visit Palau and I would like to encourage you to do the same.  The islands of Palau in Micronesia are magnificent.  Filled with amazing adventure, out of this world underwater experiences and a nation of people who value the importance of marine conservation and protection of sharks, marine mammals, and marine protected areas.  Contact me for more information or if you want to join me for a visit!  Keep diving into your imagination and thanks for sharing.  Ocean Annie, aka Annie Crawley

There is a lot of work that goes into creating images to shape young minds. Here is a typical day during production: working with a captain and crew to get the best out of the short amount of time in the water, evaluating weather conditions, water conditions, and whispering to the animals for their cooperation; prepping cameras, charging batteries, double-checking dive equipment, envisioning shots, shooting, downloading, editing, re-charging my own spiritual batteries, re-evaluating everything and then checking cameras again.

Because everything is constantly changing, we need to capture the moment when it presents itself. Being prepared mentally and physically is imperative to any production and shoot. Also personally keeping in mind why it is so important trying to inspire those who have not been exposed to the beauty of water, planting the seeds, which will grow into the future.

Every day is different. Studying, thinking and anticipating what will unfold in any given circumstance is what I excel at when diving and filming. I believe I belong underwater. The ocean has given me so much; however, I am not fulfilled just experiencing the underwater realm. I feel compelled to share it with others. One of my true gifts is that everything I learn, I want to share: forever the student, forever the teacher. Writing, photography, videos, producing and speaking allows me to reach a variety of audiences with multi-media storytelling.

“It is our duty as scuba divers with cameras to tell our stories, to reach every audience on the planet because we are only 1% of the population, if not less. There is 99% of our population that do not understand the underwater world or possibly only see it as a place to harvest marine life for commerce. People will not want to experience this life-changing event if they are bombarded with messages of Shark Week on Discovery, Jaws, or fear-based media. We are in a technological revolution right now, and everyone has the ability to be a storyteller.” The goal is to reach everyone to fall in love with the largest and most unknown part of our planet: our ocean. I want children, parents and teachers to fall in love with the ocean because in the words of a legend, “We protect what we love” ~ Jacques Yves Cousteau.

The filmmaking and photography is only one side of my business. The other part does include motivational speaking, writing books, creating programs, and also teacher lesson plans. Four years in a row the Save Our Seas Foundation awarded me with small grants, which has enabled me to create programs to fulfill a vision. “Dive Into Your Imagination” was created to change the way a new generation views the Ocean and themselves. I believe our environment is a reflection of who we are as a society. Character development is just as important in our society as having a healthy ocean. We need to be healthy from the inside out, as does our ocean.

Growing up can be challenging for every child. Although I grew up with love, life was filled with challenges. My father died when I was 8 months old. That was just the beginning of what proved to be a difficult childhood. I found solace in the local swimming pool, on stage in drama, and in my studies. After graduating college with a Journalism Degree, there was a calling in the core of my being to travel. After saving money for a year, I bought a ticket to Australia. Upon my arrival, a voice seemed to speak to me, saying leave everything as you know it behind and be open to the possibilities. Two weeks later, walking down a street in Fremantle, Western Australia was a sign, “Learn to Scuba Dive. Classes start tomorrow.”

Closing my eyes, I can still feel my first breath underwater, the bubbles rolling up along my cheeks and past my ears. And then another breath…underwater. For the first time in my life everything went silent. Do you know listen and silent have the same letters? Everything on land was forgotten and there was that inner voice again. It was as if even my deepest memories were somehow given a safe passage to an unknown destination, concealed somewhere in the back of my mind, hidden from any conscious thought of what I knew as reality. My instructor looked at me, asked if I was okay, and I had tears in my eyes because I felt like I was home. Within my first moments, the voice spoke: you can do this job, travel the world, be a dive instructor, and experience life underwater. It was my epiphany. During my first ocean experience, I learned the unbelievable was real. The ocean taught me to see life in a new perspective.

I went from a PADI Open Water diver to Dive Master during my year in Australia. When my visa ran out I followed my journey to New Zealand. I worked with the New Zealand Rodeo taking pictures, being a photojournalist and doing a wide variety of tourism jobs, allowing me to save money for my PADI dive instructor’s course. I knew I had to become a dive instructor. That voice that spoke to me the moment I experienced scuba diving kept driving me towards this goal.

Three days after becoming a PADI dive instructor during winter in a freezing cold lake in New Zealand, I went to a travel agent and bought a one-way ticket to Bali, Indonesia. I see life as a series of images. On a bus I met someone who had photographs of Indonesia. I was captured. Indonesia had to be my next destination. Please understand how challenging this was. At the time, the internet, cell phones or any of the technology we take for granted did not exist. Digital was not a part of our lives. The only communication with family and friends were through letters that could take up to six weeks to arrive if they were not lost in the mail. Less than a week after I landed in Bali to follow my dreams, all of my money was stolen…everything except one lucky dollar I kept in a secret place. The children of the village stole my money at my favorite dive site. I thought it was safer to have my money on me than at the seedy hotel I called home. Because of this, my fate was sealed. I had no ticket out of the country, so I needed to stay and work in Bali. My misfortune became my blessing.

For two years I explored the Indonesian Archipelago. I worked on my first charter boat, going to Komodo Island, Moyo, and through the Banda Sea. I was diving Gunung Api, known as sea snake island, before scientists had discovered it. I would spend 8 hours a day underwater and then go night diving. I felt safe enveloped by the sea. The memories from this time in my life are like daydreams. It is where I started writing again. Even then the voices inside were speaking to me and guiding me to share the real ocean with the world. Deep inside of me I thought our planet would be different if people could experience nature and breathe underwater. Something shifted inside. At the same time, I was being exposed to so many conflicting stories and destruction. I collected hundreds of bottle bombs full of explosives that would have destroyed reefs. I saw the effects of turtle hunting in a country that had supposedly outlawed it. Locals stoned me and my crew off a remote island in the Banda Sea because I believe someone had destroyed their natural resources; they assumed we would do the same. I visited the Spice Islands, walked with Komodo Dragons and studied flamboyant cuttlefish. We tried to protect sharks as even back then, nearly 20 years ago, they were being wiped out in the South Pacific. It was during this period of my life I really understood how connected to one another and nature we are. The earth is our home; what we do to one area of the planet, we do to all.

I returned to the States, yet Chicago proved painful without an ocean. Even though I worked at The Field Museum and volunteered at the Shedd Aquarium, it was not the same as the freedom of the sea. After a couple years, I moved to California to be near the ocean again. My corporate job required I attend a conference entitled, “Harnessing Your Human Potential,” by Les Brown. The conference removed the haze that had distracted me from my life’s mission. Things became clear again. In a crowd of a thousand people, Les Brown spoke directly to me: “Can you do more than what you are doing today? Whatever goal you have, you first must believe it is possible. Embrace yourself and believe. Someone else’s opinion of you does not have to become your reality. You can go beyond what you are capable of if you believe in yourself.”

Once again that voice inside of me raised its voice and propelled me to action. The dream was so alive, I recognized and understood we manifest who we are. We create our lives and ourselves. We cannot be casual about our dreams, or we become a casualty. We can and need to live our passion and only we can turn our dreams into a reality.

To this day, I continue to develop myself. After the conference I took a calculated risk, quit my job, sold my car, bought my underwater camera systems, took one class at Brook’s Institute of Photography with Ralph Clevenger and Ernie Brooks and was told to get out of school and out working, shooting. I started work on the Peter Hughes Vessels and Truth Aquatics fleet. During the next several years I bounced between live-aboard boats, became a 100-ton USCG captain and worked in the production industry. I trained crews in Galapagos, Papua New Guinea and Indonesia. I was the resort/dive manager at Kungkungan Bay Resort in Lembeh Strait. I took the Sergeant General of the Army in Indonesia Scuba Diving as he was coming to check out our property to see if it could be used as a stronghold should a war developed in the region.

After working for a production company making large format, IMAX® films, I knew there was something else inside of me waiting to come out. I needed to create a vehicle in order to fund other projects to change the way people view the Ocean.  The ocean gave me a life I never dreamt possible and live within this dream everyday. Knowing the Ocean is more than 90% unexplored, I wanted to inspire others, to show them that what they did not understand was not something to fear, it was something to embrace. I wanted children of the world to grow up knowing the real ocean animals and to encourage all to imagine a life full of endless possibilities.

Tom Campbell, who inspired me and helped build my self-esteem as a producer and underwater filmmaker, also encouraged me to apply for a grant from the Save Our Seas Foundation. He believed in me. In life we all need one person to believe in us until we can believe in ourselves. Over the course of the past decade as I found my path, I have been fortunate to have people believe in me. Now I find myself in the role of the mentor, continuing to pass on the inspiration and help others.

In 2007 Reader’s Digest Children’s Division published “Ocean Life A to Z Book & DVD.” We sold more than 100,000 copies. Because of this success, Dive Into Your Imagination produced another ocean educational and entertaining DVD series available through the home and video market. This year another series of books and teacher lesson plans which will be released before the end of 2011 targeting pre-K, K and 1st to 3rd grades. We are teaching teachers to become SCUBA instructors and scientists in the classroom. We are using dolphins, sharks, clownfish, sea lions and all of the other creatures in the sea to engage children in learning science, English and math. We are applying 21st century learning skills, including a behavior component, imagination play, and character development. An international team of teachers is working on the lesson plans. Michele Hoffman-Trotter, a professor in the City of Chicago, a retired scuba instructor, and mother; led this project for my company. We met years ago working together as dive instructors, and our paths crossed through social media and my professional speaking. The goal is to have these life-changing learning tools about our ocean and marine life in every school across the nation.

After the release of “Ocean Life A to Z Book and DVD,” I began a speaking circuit to bring the ocean to kids, teachers and parents. Most people are unable to visit the ocean. I knew I could inspire them with my story, hoping to plant seeds of change for tomorrow. When I talk to kids in Chicago, I ask them where they think I come from. They scream, THE SEA! I am a mermaid for sure. When I share that I attended Chicago Public Schools, they suddenly believe their dreams can come true too. I have spoken to tens of thousands of students, including kindergarten to college, teachers and parents; developed a speaking platform for corporations showing how imagination drives innovation; and developed programs to teach others how to shoot photography, video and edit. At Dive Into Your Imagination, we continue to develop products to reach the next generation.

We need to raise a society of ocean literate people so the oil spills and other man-made disasters will be more preventable. Our ocean is responsible for more than 70% of the oxygen of our planet. Nearly 70% of our population relies on the ocean for their main protein source and it holds most of our planet’s water. Without clean water there is no life. Without a healthy ocean we cannot know life.

During the summer of 2009, I was hired by Project Kaisei to document a trip to the North Pacific Gyre with graduate students from Scripps Institute of Oceanography aboard the New Horizon. Project Kaisei sponsored two expeditions, and I was hired to be aboard the Scripps Institute of Oceanography vessel. This expedition changed my life. My company was hired because I could shoot video above and below the surface, take photographs, edit, do sound and lighting. With my journalism background and my belief in making a difference with the next generation, I had a refreshed confirmation that I was on the right path.

Project Kaisei was awarded a Google Earth Hero Award for trying to find a solution to the garbage patch, which has been described as an island twice the size of Texas floating in the Pacific Ocean. What we found could potentially worse. There was no island, yet every single trawl the scientists did had plastic in it. Plastic is not biodegradable. It photo-degrades and lasts for a thousand years. We have one ocean and five major gyres on our planet. In the gyres, our trash accumulates. There are nearly 7 billion people on our planet, and “We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.” ~Albert Einstein. I believe there is hope and encourage everyone to go on a plastic diet. We need to develop a material to replace plastic forever, yet until then we have this solution we need to reduce the amount of plastic we consume.

Ocean Annie is the name I was given by one of my best friends, Kim Rizzo. I never wanted her kids to call me Miss or Mrs. or Ma’am because it makes me feel so old, so one day she called me Ocean Annie and it stuck. The next thing I knew, kids everywhere and their parents were calling me Ocean Annie. It’s a name I am proud to wear. It gives me a feeling of stewardship, keeper of all things ocean, protector of the seas. It is a responsibility I cherish. I have also developed a series of cartoon characters, “The Adventures of Ocean Annie, Makaio and Fringy the Ichthyologist Fish.” Together with Finnagain, a shark that escaped getting his fin cut off, they take kids scuba diving, exploring our world and teaches them all about the marine world and how we need to protect our environment. We combine real photos and video with the cartoon characters so they introduce children to the incredible and beautiful truth that is the ocean.

I met the founder of Kids Sea Camp, Margo Peyton, in 2007. She saw the vision of Dive Into Your Imagination immediately. The work she started for families using PADI Bubblemakers, SASSY, SEAL Team, Junior Open Water and Advanced Diver programs is unbelievable. Last year, Marc Bauman from Sam’s Tours, Continental Airlines and Kids Sea Camp aligned with “Dive Into Your Imagination,” and I was able to attend Kids Sea Camp Palau. This year during the summer of 2011 I am ecstatic to be on the Utila and Palau adventures with Kids Sea Camp and Margo. The way I introduce kids in the classrooms and at home to the Ocean, marine life, and environmental issues, Margo has developed for families experience the real thing. At the Kids Sea Camp in Palau, I interviewed the President with Dermot Keane, founder of Palau Shark Sanctuary. There was a bill on the President’s desk that needed to be vetoed because it would have ended up opening up fishing in Palau for endangered species of Maori Wrasse and Bumphead Parrotfish. We were able to use production skills, an international letter writing campaign and an appeal to the President to veto the bill. It was conservation in action. That is the best part of the job, when you can truly make a difference. Public awareness drives corporate and policy change. The President of Palau stands for future generations and realizes his country is dependent upon the health of the Ocean. Letting your voices be heard through letter writing campaigns really can help create change.

Experiencing the ocean changes lives. I did not experience SCUBA diving and the ocean until after college. When speaking to students, I let them know, although they may not be able to SCUBA dive tomorrow, if they continue to dream, they will be able to do anything they want in life. What we think matters. What we say matters. What we do matters. You first have to use your imagination, dream and then through education and work turn dreams into reality.

I never want to look back at life and say, “what if.” After I took a calculated risk and switched professions to become an underwater photographer and filmmaker, I wrote a quote down from Mark Twain in my journal: “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than the ones you did. Throw off the bowlines, catch the trade winds in your sails, sail away from the safe harbor. Explore. Dream. Discover.” And so I ask you: What do you have burning inside of you that you want to do? You have a story to tell that only you can write. Your voice will inspire another because there is only one of you out there and there are people who will only respond to your voice. You can do whatever you want and I hope you will allow me to be one of your inspirations and you may be inspired to help change the way the next generation views the ocean and themselves. Last year I was inducted into the Women Divers Hall of Fame class 2010 and am awed at the women who have become my inspiration. We all need the voices inside of us propelling us along, not preventing us from living in our true potential.

For Scuba Diving Magazine to recognize the work I am doing and honoring me as an Oris Sea Hero leaves me filled with gratitude. I am only a drop of everyone who has been my guide and inspiration.

I truly believe when you reach a child, you change history. The time is now. Everyday we have an opportunity to make a difference. It is only my hope that we can work together and help others experience scuba diving and the magic of our natural world. The words for life I live by are: faith, courage, enthusiasm coupled with patience, persistence, perseverance and passion.

Friday Harbor, Washington – March 31, 2011 – After a successful victory driving the whalers out of the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary, Sea Shepherd Conservation Society has turned its sights from defending whales to protecting sharks. A Memorandum of Agreement was signed earlier this month between the direct action marine wildlife conservation organization and the Republic of Palau. This historic agreement authorizes Sea Shepherd to collaborate directly with Palau’s Division of Marine Law Enforcement (DMLE) to patrol and safeguard a unique marine protected area designated as the world’s first shark sanctuary. During a recent visit to Palau, Captain Paul Watson and Sea Shepherd’s Chief Executive Officer Steve Roest met with His Excellency, President Johnson Toribiong of Palau, and the 16-member traditional Council of Chiefs who serve as his advisors, to sign the agreement.

Under this agreement:

• Sea Shepherd will—at its sole expense—send a vessel to patrol Palau’s territorial waters against illegal fishing activity.

• Sea Shepherd will assist the DMLE officers onboard its vessel and facilitate prosecution of offenders to the fullest extent.

• The relationship between Sea Shepherd and Palau is defined as a “partnership in the preservation of marine life.”

“President Johnson Toribiong has led the world in taking action to protect sharks, and his establishment of a shark and marine mammal sanctuary is a call to action for other nations to defend diminishing populations of marine species. Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is honored to be working with President Toribiong and Palau’s Council of Chiefs, and we are proud to be a part of protecting the incredibly beautiful and biologically important islands of the Republic of Palau,” said Captain Watson.

Captain Watson and Roest, in close collaboration with Dermot Keane, founder of the conservation organization Palau Shark Sanctuary, made a proposal to President Toribiong to offer the assistance of Sea Shepherd to intervene against illegal fishing activities, particularly the practice of shark finning, within Palau’s territorial waters. Keane, who signed the Memorandum of Agreement as a witness, welcomed the historic partnership with Sea Shepherd by stating, “This is a major milestone for Palau’s conservation efforts and clearly sends the right message to the world: our nation is serious about the enforcement of our marine protection laws, and with the help of Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, smaller nations can certainly make a big difference.”

President Toribiong and Palau’s Council of Chiefs all agreed their country needs the assistance of Sea Shepherd to protect Palau’s spectacular, yet fragile natural marine resources. In September 2009, President Toribiong addressed the United Nations and declared Palau’s territorial waters as the world’s first official shark sanctuary. In August 2010, the President recognized protection of all marine mammals in the same designated sanctuary. Despite an increasing poaching problem in Palau’s waters, President Toribiong has not waivered in his support for conservation. This joint effort between Palau’s government and Sea Shepherd begins the next phase of President Toribiong’s conservation plan: in-field enforcement.

“This agreement is exemplary of a concerned government working in collaboration with a Non-Governmental Organization like Sea Shepherd. It reinforces that small island nations are at the forefront of oceanic conservation and are more willing to take matters into their own hands before it is too late to do anything about the loss of marine life and habitat,” said Roest.

Sea Shepherd has a long history of working in direct collaboration with national governments to oppose poaching operations; its first such agreement was in the Galapagos Islands, where Sea Shepherd is now in its 11th year of working in partnership with the Galapagos National Park and the Ecuadorian Environmental Police to protect the waters of the Galapagos Marine Reserve.

About Palau Shark Sanctuary:  Palau Shark Sanctuary was founded in 2001 in an effort to end the annihilation of Palau’s sharks as a result of rampant shark-finning at the hands of foreign long-line fishing vessels licensed by Palau to fish in their waters. Palau Shark Sanctuary established the goal to have Palau declare the waters of its’ Exclusive Economic Zone as a sanctuary for all sharks. In May 2003, Palau adopted some of the toughest anti-shark-finning legislation in the world. On September 25, 2009, H.E. President Johnson Toribiong of Palau declared Palau’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) the world’s first shark sanctuary during a speech in before the General Assembly of the United Nations in New York. Palau Shark Sanctuary remains committed to the full implementation, enforcement and success of Palau’s marine sanctuary. For more information, visit www.sharksanctuary.com or contact:  Palau Shark Sanctuary, Dermot Keane, +680-488-7267, sharksanctuary@gmail.com or Tourism Unlimited, Judith Hoppe, +49-89-673 78 619, judith.hoppe@tourism-unlimited.com

About Sea Shepherd Conservation Society:  Established in 1977, Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (SSCS) is an international non-profit conservation organization whose mission is to end the destruction of habitat and slaughter of wildlife in the world’s oceans in order to conserve and protect ecosystems and species. Sea Shepherd uses innovative direct-action tactics to investigate, document, and take action when necessary to expose and confront illegal activities on the high seas. By safeguarding the biodiversity of our delicately balanced oceanic ecosystems, Sea Shepherd works to ensure their survival for future generations. Founder and President Captain Paul Watson, is a world renowned, respected leader in environmental issues. Visit www.seashepherd.org for more information.

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