This Saturday, 15 July will mark PADI Women’s Dive Day, encouraging more women to take up scuba diving, and two Falmouth, Cornwall-based dive centres are planning some programmes to celebrate the day.
Dan McColl, a 34-year-old ex-Royal Marine Commando and Royal Naval Mine Clearance Diver, now married with two children and resident in Falmouth, is founder of Dive In Falmouth, where he will be hosting a 24-hour snorkelling marathon to raise money for breast cancer awareness charity CoppaFeel!
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Founded by Kristin Hallenga and her twin sister Maren after Kris was diagnosed with secondary breast cancer at the age of 23, the charity seeks to educate and remind every young person in the UK that checking their breasts regularly could save their lives.
Dan is encouraging local female snorkelers to come together and contribute part of a swim towards a total of 26.2 miles.
‘The marathon will be an accumulative distance, so every little helps and the distance covered by each individual, will contribute towards the total 26.2 miles,’ said Dan.
‘I think CoppaFeel! is a great charity and this is the perfect opportunity to get a group of women together to work as a team and raise money and awareness for a good cause. We hope to raise £2,000 for this incredibly important charity.’
The distance will be completed utilising the buoys along the coast of Castle and Gyllyngvase Beaches. Masks, snorkels, fins, and wetsuits will be provided by Dive in Falmouth and a free Fourth Element Scout Mask will be given to the 3 individuals who cover the greatest distances.
For more information or to join in the snorkel with Dive In Falmouth, email contactus@diveinfalmouth.com, or follow Dan and the team on Instagram @diveinfalmouth
Based in Bar Road, Falmouth, Cornish Diving Centre is celebrating Women’s Dive Day 2023 with a PADI Dive Against Debris ocean cleanup event at some of Falmouth’s top dive sports.
Dive Against Debris is a citizen-science programme which empowers scuba divers to remove marine debris from underwater, to report data on the types, quantities, and locations of rubbish collected – to improve the health of ocean ecosystems through local action.
Falmouth resident, Shannon Moran, a 25-year-old award-winning underwater photographer and Lead Instructor at Cornish Diving Centre works closely with charities Seasearch and Fathom’s Free, helping survey and clean dive sites around Cornwall.
‘We’ve noticed lots of litter such as fishing gear and lines and ghost pots on our dives recently, so we’re going to spend the day cleaning up some of our local shore dive sites in Falmouth,’ she said.
All women participating on the day will receive a 10 per cent discount on their dives and kit hire during Women’s Dive Day.
For more information about the Cornish Diving Centre, email info@cornishdiving.com; Instagram @cornishdiving
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