Boynton children learn how to snorkel through Project Seahorse
Jan Engoren
Sun Sentinel
July 29, 2015
After a similar program in Riviera Beach last year, 42 children ages 10 to 12 from three Boynton Beach summer camps will get their first chance to snorkel and a peek into the world that exists under the sea.
A collaboration between the Boynton Beach Community Redevelopment Agency, the city of Boynton Beach Recreation and Parks Department, Palm Beach County Parks and Recreation Department, the Drowning Prevention Coalition and Project Seahorse, the children practiced with a dive instructor before heading to the Boynton Inlet to snorkel July 28.
"Project Seahorse is a wonderful collaboration," said CRA Executive Director Vivian Brooks. "This partnership gives the Boynton Beach children in the camp programs an opportunity to enjoy the natural beauty right off shore from the city's beaches."
"They will learn about a hidden world that will amaze and delight them, which will help them to become good stewards of the earth's treasure," she said.
On the itinerary a trip to snorkel the Lofthus, an old Norwegian ship that sank in 1898, about 200 yards off the Boynton Beach coast.
"This is a really cool project," said Dan Volker, co-founder along with renowned diver Jim Abernethy of Project Seahorse, a youth outreach program. "We want to get kids who live here year-round to understand the unbelievable treasure that lies off our coast."
The idea came after children would come up and ask the duo what they were doing and if they could try.
"We wanted to find a way to get local kids to enjoy this wonder in their own backyard," Volker said.
"Palm Beach County is a world class dive destination. People come from all over the world and yet there are children who grow up here who never experience what it looks like under the ocean."
Volker said that the Blue Heron Bridge Marine Park was voted the No. 1 Dive Site by People's Choice by U.S. Scuba Diving Magazine in 2013."
Project Seahorse partner Splash Down Center raised funds for equipment so each child will have their own mask, snorkel and fins.
The day of the event, the children will board boats from Splashdown Divers, Loggerhead Dive Charters and Keylypso of the Palm Beaches along with certified instructors including Volker, Abernethy and Jonathan Dickinson, owner of Florida Freedivers – some of the biggest names in diving.
Virginia Shea, the city's senior recreation manager, said, "The Recreation and Parks Department is so pleased to participate in Project Seahorse. Each of the two Mondays we've spent at the Aqua Crest pool practicing have been terrific days."
"It's wonderful to witness the kids learning snorkeling skills and being so happy to accomplish new things," she said. "One child told me, 'It's so quiet and peaceful. I can relax and feel happy.'"
Visit projectseahorse-bhb.org.