Mirror Magazine

Mirror Magazine

Celebrations under the sea
By Marisa de Silva
Heralding the New Year underwater, with the aim of increasing public awareness on the threat to our reefs is what 10 young scuba divers plan to do this 31st night at Bentota.
They will leave the Bentota shore at about 11.15 p.m., head to deep sea in a speedboat and descend about 12 metres underwater alongside the reef at about 11.45 p.m.

At precisely mid-night they plan on popping an empty bottle of champagne to symbolically celebrate the dawn of the New Year. For the following half hour or so, they will explore the surrounding reef area and observe how the various types of marine life off the coast exist.

The team will then re-emerge at around noon on January 1, 2004 and once back on board the boat, they’ll each sip a bit of sea water from the champagne bottle, whilst taking in the splendour and appreciating the vast ocean around them, where life began millions of years ago.

This dive will be conducted by Scuba Sri Lanka and headed by Dive Instructor Eric Fernando who has over 10 years of PADI Certified International Dive experience.
The main objective of this New Year dive is to create awareness amidst the local and tourist community on the importance of safeguarding our reefs for the continued existence of marine life.

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