Every year, organizers produce the Tortuga Music Festival on Fort Lauderdale Beach with the intention of giving a fraction of proceeds to ocean conservation projects. Unfortunately, whatever is donated comes at significant cost to the reef just offshore. Boats anchor illegally and without prosecution directly on the reef, often leaving scarred and broken coral along with a few anchors jammed into crevices. Trashed dumped by boaters and blown offshore from over 100,000 fans on the sand drifts along with ocean surge, posing well-known threats marine life.

As we did last week, our divers will enter the water and gather as much plastic debris as possible. In just 45 minutes of bottom time, four divers collected about 150 lbs of debris. There is much more out there. When possible and practical, we'll also document reef damage for the record.

Standard scuba gear should be supplemented by gloves, sea snips, and a mesh bag (we have a few bags to loan).

RENTAL GEAR IS AVAILABLE FOR THIS DIVE. Air tanks $10, BCD's $15, Regulator set $15, weights (any amount) $5. Please have your request posted no later than two hours before the scheduled dive time to ensure we can load your gear before departure