Montserrat Dive Festival 2009 – new Caribbean scuba diving event

June 15, 9:39 AMWorldwide Travel ExaminerMark Resnicoff

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    Montserrat Coastline – Photo by T. Gilligan

The Caribbean island Montserrat is hosting its first ever scuba diving festival from Saturday, June 27 through Saturday, July 4, 2009.  The festival is being held in conjunction with Montserrat’s biannual Reef Check Program, which is dedicated to the conservation of tropical coral reefs.

The Montserrat Dive Festival is hosted by the Green Monkey Dive Shop with support from the Montserrat Tourist Board through the Montserrat Tourism Challenge Fund.

In addition to numerous scheduled diving events, the festival features:

• A free Coral Reef Conservation Specialty Course
• An optional Peak Performance Buoyancy Course
• A special dive near the uninhabited island of Redonda

Land-based activities include scenic boat tours offering views of the capital city Plymouth and Soufrière Hills Volcano, a coastal kayaking trip with snorkeling and a land tour to the Montserrat Volcano Observatory.

A special, free Discovery Day has been organized for June 28, dedicated to teaching children about Montserrat’s underwater world.  Children will learn about the marine environment, local coral reefs and fish species.  Snorkeling lessons will be offered to all children under 14 years of age and diving lessons for children between the ages of 11–14.

Registration for the Montserrat Dive Festival is $25 US.  The fee includes:

• A welcoming cocktail reception (includes two drink tickets)
• Reef Check classroom instruction
• Reef Check dives (includes tanks and weights)
• PADI/Project AWARE coral reef conservation specialty course (certification cards are available for an additional $25)
• A BBQ and beach party
• Montserrat 2009 Dive Festival and Reef Check t-shirts
• 20–30% discounts on all dives and scheduled activities

Buoyancy compensators and regulators can be rented for $15.