Over the Edge of the World is the title of a magnificent book about Magellan discovering the straits which bear his name.  I believe this is also where the explorers of the world find their place and their peace, at the literal edge of human existence.  There is a line that marks the edge of the survival zone of our species, explorers thrive on the far side of that line. There is something out there for us over the edge and its manifestation is different for each one of us.  I refer to both a physical and mental place.  But in the physical realm for me, there are four incomparable and inhospitable places on earth that represent  “over the edge”, the lowest and highest and coldest and driest. This means truly disconnecting with “man’s world” and fully embracing and connecting to the natural world and its rhythms. It is immensely powerful and a strange dichotomy, balancing on that line, more alive than ever yet so near to possible death.

The Ocean Depths

The ultimate realm, alone with the biggest fish in the sea

If you’ve never experienced the depths of the ocean carrying your life support on your back, you have missed the world’s ultimate realm.  At depths below 100, 150 and 200 feet I have stepped into a world beyond.  I feel alone and insignificant, yet strangely connected and serene.  It is magnificently quiet yet thriving with energy and life.  I feel the pulse of the earth, the breath of the sea and am pulled towards it like a child to the womb.  The line between life and death for a human here is thin and fragile, connected only by a small amount of portable and limited air.  To me, it is the ultimate place and peace on this planet.

The Himalayas

20,000ft in the Himalayas, you can barely breathe but you are definitely alive!

The rarified air holds a similar, magical, and spiritual place in my heart.  To sit above the clouds swaddled in the arms of the world’s greatest mountains is humbling.  At 20,000 feet I am fast approaching the limits of a human’s ability to survive.  Yet it calls.  Why?  Climbing higher and higher we step into the realm of certain death.  We dance on that line and revel in the freedom from human constraints.  The explorer inside me wants to know and see and understand more…to unlock the mysteries of the unknown and test my abilities to the very limit. And to understand myself and my place within it.

Antarctica

Ice, Shadow, Light. Antarctica is a tempting siren

You need to only brush the closest tentacles of the bottom of the world to feel the power of this place.  My arrival here signaled my release from planet Earth into truly another world. As harsh and as unforgiving as the highest tip of the great mountains, the bottom of the world can easily rob you not only of life but will capture your heart and soul.  It pulls me to it with a gravitational force unequaled.  Antarctica is a captivating siren who lures with equal and relentless parts beauty and danger.  A force to be reckoned with only on her terms.

The Heart of Africa

I have not endeavored into the great deserts and plains of Africa.  When I do I know I will be lost forever, that Africa’s sand and it’s inhabitants will captivate me to want nothing more from this world than to be forever a part of it.  To be at this edge of human existence along the great migratory routes is truly to dream of Heaven.  To exist side by side the charismatic megafauna of this earth at the mercy of nature’s whim is to attack life fully awake.

The explorer within never rests, continually seeking an edge to leap over to feel alive and to discover the world around and within.

Where is the magic for you?  How will you explore?

To Your Adventures!

I have four mandates that I use to help people discover their passion.

The Monday Question.

Let’s say it’s Monday morning and you have one year to do whatever it is that you want to do.  There are no holds barred here, no restrictions of money, no responsibilities of children, no deadlines.  You don’t have to consult your spouse or your mother or arrange a babysitter.  This is YOU and ONLY YOU.  Life is an open book, you write the chapter of one year.  What do you do?  Usually people answer by saying, “well, first I’d sleep for two weeks, then I’d take a vacation and then I’d do those scrapbooks I’ve been meaning to do.”  That is NOT what I’m talking about.  This is not about what you have put off, this is about what gives you gut wrenching joy.  Give it to me in one word.  What would you do for one year?  Maybe it’s Travel, or Give Back, or Skydive.  What drives excitement into your soul?

The Passage of Time without Notice

Is there something you do that when you do it you simply do not notice the passage of time?  Again, I don’t mean that you get wrapped up in paying bills and 5:00pm goes by and you forgot to defrost dinner.  I’m talking about something you go out and do and the entire day you never once look at your watch or worry about your schedule.  If I were to put recipes and ingredients in front of you at 8:00am and at 9:00pm you are still singing away to the radio lost in cooking 25 pies and have no clue that the day passed, would you think you were passionate about baking?  I would.

The Passage of Time without Regret

This is quite different than the passage of time without notice.  What if your passion was mountain biking and you left for six months of riding the back country roads of the west.  After six months go by you have not a single regret that perhaps you should of been in school or at a job or visiting your mother (sorry mom).  In fact, you feel that there was NOTHING you’d rather be doing than cycling and each and every day you get up not knowing or caring what day or month or year it is.  You live to cycle.  That’s passion.

Not Wishing You were Doing Anything Else

I alluded to this in the previous paragraph but #3 is really about not regretting the passing of precious time in the endeavor of your pursuit.  This is about not doing the “should have” or “could have” done something else.  For example, what if every day you went to your job and every hour you thought, “I like my job here at the car wash but I do wish I was teaching kindergarten”.  What if you had a passion for teaching kindergarten?  Then each and every day you would not wish you were doing anything else.

So if you can answer these four mandates with a resounding “yes”, you have truly found your passion.

I never notice the passage of time when I'm diving

My passion is scuba diving.  If I had one year with nothing to do and no restraints on my cash flow, I would dive every day and film in the most extraordinary places in the world.  When I have the occasion to travel and dive, which I do often, weeks go by and I have no idea what day it is, nor do I care.  I get to the end of each and every day completely satisfied with the way I spent my day and I don’t wish I was doing anything else.  I know I have found my true passion and calling in life.

What’s your passion?  And once you have found it, what you will do with it in the short time you have on this earth?  Will you squander your time or “live with passion” in the pursuit of it?

To Your Adventures!

This morning I read a fantastic article by acclaimed explorer Mikael Strandberg, http://tycoonsventure.com/Tycoons_Venture/GW1.html .  In the article entitled, “I Just Love Life”  Mikael explains his philosophy of getting the most out of our short time on earth.  He says, “You have to dare, even in every day life, to be able to live life to its fullest”.  Then I watched his video at the bottom of the page where he describes his numerous expeditions to find the meaning in life.  And at the end, he says, that to really enjoy life, you must communicate with other people.

And when I went out for my walk today that’s exactly what hit me.  People here aren’t communicating. Let me explain.  How many times on cruise ships do you hear, “All these ports are just the same.” or “ABC” another bloody church, or “oh, another walled city with shops”.  And if that’s all you do, that’s exactly what it will become.  You don’t learn anything about the country and you have no contact with the people except for shopies and restaurant waiters and of course that’s just service, not meaningful communication.  And if that’s the case, the towns will blend together until it’s just a blur of ramparts and patisseries.

But it’s safe.  No one has to open up to anyone else.  No one has to explore the language and try to communicate.  No one has to do anything uncomfortable.  No one dares, as Mikael would probably say.  If I polled this week’s passenger compliment and said, “So, did you meet any interesting Spaniards today?”  they would look at me with an incomprehensible expression.  But I realized as I walked, that I hadn’t either.

I spent a month trekking in Tibet last year.  The people were so exotic and fascinating that I just wanted to know everything I could about them.  I didn’t speak a word of their Tibetan language but I tried every which way I could to communicate.  And it was wonderful and meaningful.  One day I was attempting to wash my long hair in a bucket outside our “hotel” room.  It was so funny that I decided to video myself doing it.  A curious Tibetan woman came out of her shop completely baffled as to what I was doing and went about helping me wash my hair, making suggestions with gestures and we laughed and laughed and had a marvelous time.   And every time she saw me for the next two days, she came over with treats from her meager kitchen, fresh watermellon or cookies.  I met her children and husband and she proudly showed me her shop.  I think of her often and remember fondly our time together trying to make a connection as two curious human beings.

But here in Europe I haven’t made the effort and I have paid dearly for it.  I could write volumes about the people I encountered in Nepal and Tibet but not one story from western Europe in the past two months.  Mikael’s right, you need contact and communication.  I have been too wrapped up in my day to day work, not focused on the daily exploration of the world.  And it has left me very unsatisfied today.

Few people are explorers in the definition that describes Mikael Strandberg’s life.  But you can still explore the world each and every day by reaching out, by connecting with the world and by daring to live.

Thank you Mikael for your insight and may we never forget that life is short and the world is large.  There is no time to waste.

Life is too short and the world is large. Dare to live. (photo from Antarctica)

“There is more to see than can ever be seen, more to do than can ever been done”
from the song, “The Circle of Life”

To Your Adventures!

Today we went out for lunch.  As is quite common of us here in Europe, we headed for a local pizza place.  There is nothing quite like the thin crust and REAL tomato taste of a pizza in Italy and the French actually can do a nice one too.  Today, it is Corsica so we knew we would not be disappointed.

Up in the corner of the menu was a “special”, a Corsican pizza.  My French is not too bad but I couldn’t understand some of the items listed on the pie.  So, rather than ask the server, I searched the menu to see if I could find the same words on other areas of the menu and then figure it out.  Sure enough, I found the words listed under the charcuterie plate which is an assortment of meats. I didn’t know exactly what meats but since Corsica is known for their sausages I figured we were great on that one. Ok, so it’s a meat lovers pizza, good to go.

Below the Corsican special pizza a second item was listed, moule du la biere Pietra. I know the word for beer in French and that Pietra is a lovely Corsican beer brewed to traditional and artisanal methods with malts, hops and chestnuts and no chemical additives.   So here is where my American culture threw me off course.  Since both items were listed in the box and one was a pizza and the other one some kind of beer, my brain just assumed that a moule must be a big pitcher of beer!  So we ordered one of each, we’ll split the pizza and the beer (typical of Americans again to split).

So I did the talking and told her we’d like the pizza and the beer.  Then she looked over to Ridlon and asked if he wanted anything to drink.  Odd, I thought, she thinks I’m going to drink the entire pitcher of beer?

After a bit out came the pizza complete with the entire charcuterie and she placed it before me.  Then out came…..the beer???? No, a huge tureen and a plate of potatoes… what???  Then she lifted the lid to proudly show us the huge bucket of MUSSELS.

Oops!

Then it hit us both.  Of course!  Moules is the French word for mussels that were obviously cooked in the lovely Pietra beer.  Then we just laughed.  Our cultural bias had come through loud and clear.  If it’s a pizza it must be a pitcher of beer…  I looked at Ridlon and said, “What were we thinking?”  When have you EVER seen Europeans drink beer from a pitcher?? Duh??? And just because the items are listed together in the corner of the menu does not mean they are meant to go together!  No wonder she asked Ridlon if he wanted something to drink with his mussels.

We sheepishly sent the mussels back to the kitchen and asked the server to bring us two pressions, which are draft beers.  We happily split our pizza and sipped our artisanal beer with chestnuts.

Just goes to show you that no matter how much you travel, you still catch yourself dragging your background with you and looking at life through the lenses of your upbringing.  There is wisdom in walking a mile in someone else’s shoes or at least understanding that pizza does not always go with beer.  Sometimes it goes with mussels.

Great pizza...hmmmm mussels?

To Your Adventures!

So I wonder…..is 200 a lot? I mean for a blog post. Somewhere, some internet, blogging, marketing guru will say that once you reach 200 posts, you should have “X” number of readers, “X” number of comments daily etc….but is that good? Is that a blogging babystep or a magical number? Sure wish I knew. Not that it would change anything….I’d still have 200 posts for better or for worse…

But you know….I can celebrate it because I think it’s cool. People don’t celebrate enough things. I know I don’t. I reach some goal or make a great contribution and say, “wow, cool” and simply go on with my day to the next goal. But why NOT celebrate things? Why NOT pat yourself on the back more often? If you don’t, who will?

A couple of months ago, our truck was about to turn 100,000 miles. We thought we should have a party. So with 7 miles to go, we grabbed a few beers at sunset and drove 3.5 miles down our dirt road, turned around and drove home. Why? So we could celebrate the turnover on our own land. Yep, halfway up our 1/2 mile driveway the odometer clicked 100,000. I stopped the truck and we got out and sat on the hood and popped a couple of frosty brews. Eight mule deer wandered up and we raised our bottles, drank deeply and then poured a bit over the hood. It was a beautiful evening, so we turned up the stereo and just sat on the hood in the driveway with the deer and enjoyed the sunset. An impromptu party for a silly little thing that just made the end of a great day. Oh, and we took a picture of the odometer just for fun.

So writing this post about celebrating our 200th blog, reminded me of the truck gala and gave me a reason to remember something happy. And it reminded me to celebrate more. When was the last time you celebrated simply for the fun of it? Do you take time to enjoy your accomplishments no matter how small? Do you give yourself enough credit for the things that you do?

Celebrate everything!

We don’t have to celebrate because it’s the 200th blog. Hell, we could throw a shindig because it’s the 187th blog. The point is, find a reason to celebrate your life and the joy in it.

To Your Adventures!

Is the clutter getting in your way?

The Adventurer’s Closet and a Functional Minimalist Lifestyle

What does a minimalist lifestyle mean to an adventurer?  Recently, I was at the Overland Expo in S. Arizona and one of the panelists who was an accomplished overlander* said something that struck me.  He was asked how he managed to fit all the things he would need for a round the world trip into one vehicle.  This was a common question from all the people who hadn’t done a multi-month or multi-year overlanding expedition to all those who had.  The panelist replied;

“Remember that you have a responsibility to everything that you take with you.”

What does a minimalist lifestyle mean?

It may or may not be a coincidence that recently I’ve been feeling that “my stuff” has been getting in my way.  It’s my personal belief that doing and being is more important than having.  Despite growing up as an 80’s mall rat, that’s a very conscious choice I make about how I live my life today.  And, no, I’m not talking about casting off all of one’s worldly possessions and living like Buddha.  For me, that’s a little too extreme as well.  I like a roof over my head and a comfortable bed.  I also like a glass of wine at the end of the day.  What I am talking about is the feeling that my “having” was getting in the way of my “doing.”

Less is More
– Mies van der Rohe

Looking after my stuff, organizing my stuff, repairing my stuff, paying for my stuff and finding time to use all my stuff was getting in the way of doing the things that were most important to me.

Having just accepted my latest adventure travel job as a SCUBA diving & water sports director aboard a small, luxury cruise ship, I looked to this as an opportunity to simplify and streamline many things in my life and focus more on doing.  I didn’t realize how complex and costly many things had become in my life until I started cancelling subscriptions, services, phones, utilities and insurances that I wouldn’t need anymore.  What I realized is that I probably hadn’t needed many of them all along.  I looked at all the things that I had and never used but took up space, time, energy or effort and put them all up for sale on EBay and Craigslist.  Man did that feel good – and it made me some decent cash too.

I traded satellite TV, Netflix, Rock Band and a car payment for the Dalmatian Coast of Croatia, the Ligurian Coast of Italy and every Sunday in Venice, Rome or Barcelona.  It really was that simple.

The closet of a minimalist lifestyle

On the ship where I live and work, the closet in my cabin is 6 feet high and only 22 inches wide and all my clothes fit in it – with room to spare.  My packing list included SCUBA diving gear, beach wear, casual clothing and even semi formal evening wear.  Everything that I needed for an entire six months fit into two checked and one carry on bags – and it fits in my closet and bathroom a fraction of the size of the one at my home.  And as amazing as it is, I still haven’t worn all the clothes I brought.

What is taking up space in the closet of your life that isn’t helping you have/do/be what you want most?  How can you simplify these things and focus on doing what you really want?  Please leave your comments/ideas below.

Live Adventurously is a premium provider of SCUBA diving vacations and advice on SCUBA diving travel & the adventure lifestyle.  We provide our friends the experiences and knowledge to live an extraordinary life through adventure.

* Overlanding is the art of extended, vehicle supported adventure travel or exploration.

Yes, I know, Jimmy Buffet made famous his book about turning 50, which gave me the idea for the title of this post. Well, I’m not 50 and I’m not Jimmy Buffet….but my brother turned 50 this week and it truly made me stop and think. I’m just a few years behind him and I’m in the last few laps of the race to where the “50” checkered flag waves.

What’s wrong with 50? Not a thing. They say it’s the new 40. It’s simply another milestone in the road of life. But…as I mentioned…it made me stop and think. I was raised to believe I could accomplish whatever I wanted in life, that anything was possible and that I was my own limiting factor. I was also raised with a pretty basic Protestant work ethic, work hard for 40 years then retire and play. That was the part I never could grasp. Why???? So, I opted to play as I went along. I decided that I wasn’t going to wait for 65 years to roll by before I started living my dreams.

Whew!!

Now, as I “approach” 50, I think of all the things I would have missed out on so far. I would have 15 years left of “nose to the grindstone”, “climb the corporate ladder”, “save for a rainy day”, “work now, play later”. That’s a decade and a half! That’s 5475 days!!!!! Holy Crap!!!

Here are some highlights of my life. This is written simply as a way to see what I might have missed had I lived my life keeping my nose to the grindstone.

Climb in the Himalayas

Travel to all seven continents

Scuba dive the world’s best destinations including Galapagos (6x), Palau (5x), Papua New Guinea (2x), Truk Lagoon (2x), Cocos Island, CR, Fiji (5x), French Polynesia (2 years), the entire Caribbean, Australia (3x) and many places off the grid

10 years guiding in Yellowstone, Grand Teton, Grand Canyon, Bryce and Zion National Parks,

15 years guiding all over Europe

5 years guiding in Central America

Worked on six different cruise ships worldwide

Seeing Antarctica, one of THE most amazing places in the world

Too many to count world famous attractions such as the Leaning Tower of Pisa, Ephesus, Cinque Terre, Great Pyramids, multiple crossings of the Panama Canal and Suez Canal Four crossings of the Atlantic Ocean

Visits to islands I can’t pronounce such as Niatoputapu and Tuop

Climbed the highest peaks in Spain and the Netherlands

The ability to live in a remote area like Montana and not rely on where I live to make a living

Taking thousands of people scuba diving the world over to show them the beauty under the sea

Starting a non profit foundation and having the time to pursue it

Travel to over 106 countries World cities such as Istanbul, Paris, Marakesh, Kathmandu, Barcelona, London, Athens and Cairo

Incredible cultural experiences across the globe

7500 scuba dives

If I can do all of this in 25 years, I imagine what I can do by the time 50 turns to 70. Imagine what you can do if you are still 25, or 30 or yes, even 40. Are some of your dreams on this list?

In the past few years, I’ve also seen my share of sadness, of friends in their 40’s struggling with life-threatening illnesses. I lost one of my closest friends to sudden death just three weeks after turning 50. These are the wake up calls to get out there and keep doing and being and living and exploring and adventuring.

No, I haven’t read Jimmy Buffet’s book yet but I will. But I will always remember his line from Last Mango in Paris, “…..and Jimmy, there’s still so much to be done”.

To your Adventures!

Ocean Conservation Needed Now More Than Ever

Email Action Alerts for Ocean Conservation

Like a lot of us, I’ve been watching dramatic footage of the disaster in the Gulf – oil soaked beaches, dead wildlife and oil slicks spread across hundreds of square miles of ocean.  At times like this, it’s really easy to get overwhelmed because this is an unprecedented ecological disaster whose impacts we will not even fully know until we look back ten years from now.  And when we feel that the scope of a problem is so big that we can’t individually make a difference – we don’t.

Lets never forget that as imperfect as it is at times, we still live in a democracy and at least in theory, our voice counts as much as anyone else’s.  And it’s at a crucial time like this that we make our collective voices heard, if for no other reason, that we ensure that a disaster like this doesn’t happen again.

So how can we do that?  Have you ever heard of email action alerts?  The internet is the greatest communication tool in history and email is a huge piece of that.  Prior to email, if we wanted to voice an opinion to our elected representatives, we had to contact them or their office via mail or phone.  There was often little coordination to these efforts and individually, they were mostly ineffective.  Today, ocean conservation non profits do this same thing via email campaigns that are coordinated and highly effective.  If there is a piece of legislation or an issue like the gulf oil spill, the ocean conservation non profit sends out an email alerting everyone who has opted in that there is an issue that needs action.  You can then log onto the organizations website and there is usually a premade letter ready to email to the correct office or official.  You can edit the letter as you see fit and then send it with the click of a mouse.  The entire process takes minutes.

Using this process, individuals just like you and I have been able to weigh in by the tens and hundreds of thousands on key issues regarding the health of the Ocean and make significant change to policies that were detrimental to Ocean health.  Imagine the effect of a representative’s office getting 100,000 comments on an issue.  I can not impress on you the importance, ease of use and incredible effectiveness of these email campaigns.

So, ready to help with Ocean Conservation?

All you need to do is go to one or more of these websites and sign up for their email alerts.  Some of them deal with more than just marine issues and will let you choose what kind of alerts you want.  Click through now and make a difference.

www.oceana.org – Oceana

www.defenders.org – Defenders of Wildlife

www.nrdc.org – National Resources Defense Council

In my last post, I provided an overview of our charitable non profit Ocean of Hope Foundation, why we began it, and how we are creating ocean stewards around the world.  But there was a tipping point which actually made us realize that NOW was the time to act.  Here is one of the two stories that moved us to action, a simple role playing exercise that changed our lives.

What makes people want to give back? Carin planting a tree in Borneo

Aiding humanity is the most satisfying ways to live your life

I had a sandwich and an apple but not a clue.  I didn’t have a penny in my pocket and I had been dropped in the middle of downtown San Diego.  I didn’t know my way around this city and the only way to get picked up was to get to a homeless shelter called Father Joe’s.  It was somewhere in town.  I figured locating it would be easy, getting there may be a different story altogether.

They say to know a man you must walk a mile in their shoes.  That was my plan today.  I wanted to know what it was like to have no resources and to rely on the world at large for their kindness. I wanted to see life from the other side of the door.  It was life altering.

Locating the shelter was simple.  I walked over to a waiting city bus and just asked the driver.  The shelter was a few miles away.  I decided the best way to get there was to take the bus.  That would require $2.20 of which I did not have even one cent.  Somehow I had to get money.  I didn’t have anything to sell except my sandwich but then I wouldn’t have any food, a decision made by millions of starving and homeless people each day.  I didn’t figure anyone would buy it anyways.  So I guessed I would just have to start asking.

I instantly realized the courage it took to walk up to someone on the street and simply ask for money.  It was the most humiliating task I had ever taken on.  The very first thing I had to do was to swallow my pride.  And then after swallowing, I had to keep swallowing in order keep it down.  I began to sweat and I became extremely nervous.  After about ten minutes of procrastinating, I walked up to couple and asked if they had any spare change.  The reproachful look I got was a slap in the face to the pride now unsettled in my stomach.  Ok, try again.  The second approach was even worse.  The reaction was, “You don’t look penniless to me” and they kept on walking. 

The more people I approached the more humiliated I became.  No one would help.  Not a single penny.  I sat down to think this through.  How many times was I the one walking by, not stopping, not helping?  How many times did I wonder to myself if the person on the street was just looking for money for drugs and alcohol?  And the most important question was what was I going to do about it?

I was beginning to see things from the other side but at the moment it wasn’t helping me get to where I needed to go.  So I picked myself up and tried again.  This time I approached a group of well dressed businessmen standing on the sidewalk.  I explained that I needed to get to the other side of town and I didn’t have any money.  All I needed was $2.20.  Could they help me?

The first thing this group did was look away from me and at each other.  They each looked to the other for help? an excuse? a shared knowing?  a way out of this uncomfortable situation?  Talk about uncomfortable.  I was the one rolling over on my belly asking for a handout.  The first one said, “um, I don’t have any money”.  That was the most transparent lie I had ever seen.  The second one said, “All I have is a credit card.”  You’ve got to be kidding!!!  Among this group of six obviously well to do businessmen, not a single one had two bucks?  A third decided to use humor as his chicken exit.  “Hey, I think you’re on her turf” as he pointed to a homeless woman behind me.  They all got a laugh out of that one.

Ok, one more time I tried.  “Come on you guys, I have to get to the other side of town, I have no money, all I need is a couple of bucks.”  Now I think they realized that one of them would have to cough up some dough in order to get me to leave.  Someone finally reached into his pocket and pulled out a handful of change and dropped it in my palm.  It was a firm signal that this was all I was getting, now go away.  I thanked them all for their kindness and walked away.  After an hour of begging for money, my total take was 76 cents.  Looked like I was walking.

On my way to the shelter I stopped and chatted with a homeless man playing guitar on the sidewalk.  As we sat on the retaining wall over the water, I offered to share my sandwich and apple with him but his pride declined.  I began to understand that feeling. He explained that he slept in the courtyard of an apartment complex at night.  The owner had become a friend and allowed him to spread out a blanket in the corner.  He told me he was homeless by choice and that he liked the freedom of spending his days how he wanted.  He played his guitar on the street which earned him enough to eat.  And then he decided to help me. He said if I wanted a place to stay I should check out Craig’s list.  “You see all of these boats in the harbor?  Lots of people just giving them away because they can’t afford to keep them anymore.  You’ll find them listed for free on Craig’s List.”  I silently wondered why he didn’t then live on one of them.

It seemed it came down to pride again.  Does anyone really become homeless by choice?  Given a chance, wouldn’t anyone take a roof over their head and a hot shower?  Who, by choice, would beg from others to stay alive?  And who were we, the non-homeless to not help?

I found my way to the shelter where my ride picked me up.  I had put on another man’s shoes and didn’t like the way they fit.  They were uncomfortable and gave me lasting blisters.  I realized that for years I had been waiting for the “right” time to help and to give back on a sizable scale.  Someone once said to me, “Why save for a rainy day when it’s pouring outside.”  I heard Phil Collins sing, “Another Day in Paradise” and I cried.  When would NOW be the right time?  For the next two days I carried that 76 cents in my pocket and jingled it as a tactile reminder. 

I gave the 76 cents to a homeless child before I left San Diego.  That change in my pocket would signal change in my life and a final catalyst which led me to establish the Ocean of Hope Foundation.  This charitable non profit is dedicated to a healthy prosperous ocean and the communities that live on its shores.

Create your own adventure and watch it change your life.

In January 2009 Ridlon and I created Ocean of Hope Foundation.  The foundation exists for the purpose of furthering the cause of ocean conservation. Our path is a grass roots operation which initially supplies schools in ocean shore villages the needed infrastructure for basic education and then encompasses teaching on the need for stewardship of the ocean around them.  We are currently working with two oceanside villages in Fiji and are in the initial stages of work in villages near Misool Island in the Raja Ampat region of Indonesia.

Speaking to the Children of Fiji about ocean conservation

The idea for the foundation was born from our world travels in developing nations and our extensive experience scuba diving the world’s great coral reef ecosystems.  We found villages around the world that, while they relied on the ocean for their livelihood, had very little understanding of the ecosystem and some, very little respect for the underwater world that supplies their economy. 

Children on the Shore of their Village

Why Ocean of Hope Foundation?

Most of the children have never known the joy of putting on a mask and seeing the beauty beneath the waves.  A coral reef meant nothing but a meal.  Without understanding of the delicate and beautiful ocean next to their doorsteps, generations will continue to take and destroy the fragile world around them.  Our goal, is to educate the next generation of children to become caretakers of the ocean and to understand a balance between making a living from the sea and protecting its valuable resources.  We believe that the world changes one person and thus one village at a time.  For us, having personal contact with the people who are literally in the fishing boats and eating the resources is the best place to create a lasting sea change.  While sweeping reform of our world’s fishing policies is absolutely necessary, we leave that to other organizations with the skills in that area.  Our personal strengths lie in one on one connections in the heart of the villages.  

Ocean Conservation workbooklets donated by OHF through PADI Project Aware

How Did We Decide Where to Help?

We chose our first villages based on need as well as proximity to the ocean.  We also chose villages near scuba diving resorts.  We did this for a few reasons.  First, communication is difficult and slow at best so by partnering with dive resorts, we can have a liaison to the village.  Second, it’s important for the village children to get a first hand look at the reefs.  Dive resorts have the resources, material and staff to give this opportunity to the children through video and photo presentations as well as hands on experience snorkeling in their own waters.  Third, through our for profit company, Global Diving Adventures, we are able to bring dive groups to the resort who are able to further assist the villages with both their time and their financial resources.

Our Current Status

We began our organization just as the world economic crisis hit.  Because of this, our progress has been slow.  We are six months into the process with the IRS of obtaining our 501 3 c status which will then allow us to apply for grants and allow all contributions to be tax deductible. We are committed to creating an organization that will make a positive contribution to the world, it’s people and an ocean who’s future hangs not only in a balance but also in our hands.

I believe that as we grow as humans, we only too slowly come to the realization that we want desperately to give back to the world.  Ridlon and I have always known we wanted to give back and have always tried in our own small way.  However, we had some personal revelations that made us realize that we were spending our lives saving for a rainy day….but it was already pouring outside.

In my next two posts, I will give you some insight into our revelations.  Meanwhile, please take a few moments and look at our website, www.oceanofhope.net and we hope you will be inspired to join us.

To Your Adventures,