42nd Annual Harbor Cleanup

Happy March First! The first day of Women’s History Month! For those of you who don’t know, I do a lot of photography for Bleu World, a non-profit that is Female founded and operating here in SoCal and based out of Catalina Island. This year I was so stoked when I was asked to participate in photographing the 42nd Annual Underwater Cleanup in the Avalon Harbor.

This was my first year ever participating in the event, and I initially thought it would be a good group of volunteers working on the beach and in the water, but I was blown AWAY when nearly 300 divers and volunteers came to help clean our oceans!

As a non-certified diver (yet), I was so humbled to be in the presence of SO many volunteers from all over the world, from different backgrounds and cultures, and especially the amount of Female divers. Scuba diving has such an incredible community and I am so lucky to have found myself amongst it! In a sport that is so male dominated I was incredibly moved to see the amount of lady divers and the level of diversity amongst them!

This year the theme for Women’s History Month is to “Inspire Inclusion”, and I think these photos have done just that. Not only are these just photos of women in the scuba community, but they are portraits of women that are trailblazers and making change through caring about the ocean. That, to me, is pretty incredible.

I was fortunate enough to help and document the incredible volunteers and ladies who run Bleu world and Scuba By Design (adaptive scuba diving!!! SOOOO COOL) sort through and categorize the trash and marine debris. By the end of the clean up we totaled up over 1,300 lbs of trash and debris, and released any creatures who made their home there back into the water. Not only am I so lucky to work with and participate in the events run by these ladies, but I am BEYOND lucky to call them my friends! I can’t wait to see what awesome changes in the world they make next.

In the meantime, check out some of these finds!!!