If you follow me on social media, you may have seen a tribute post for the Bubbles of Hope members. I thought it would only be fair to give them a shout out on this blog too.
The group had its very first cleanup on the 2nd April 2022. The goal was to get out once or twice a month, but I quickly realised it wouldn’t be as easy. First I had to find young divers eager to join to help me make a difference. To find them I started scouting in my class by simply asking, and extended it to my whole school with a poster set up in the hall and later distributed by the teachers to the targeted year groups. A letter published in our weekly newsletter was also shared in hope to reach both students and parents. As I had joined several reef cleanups myself where I was the only minor, I really wanted this group to be made up of teens only, from 10 to 17 years. Little by little some students accepted to be part of Bubbles of hope, making it official by purchasing the t-shirt with the logo I had designed.
Today, Bubbles of Hope has 11 members, from 11 to 16 years. Mostly – but not only – from my school. I knew one of them from outside school, and I was very happy to receive a request from a homeschooled teen girl traveling around the world, currently based in KK. She had come across a post about this group and was eager to join! Did I mention I also have four pairs of siblings which is absolutely awesome; not to forget two sisters who have since then moved overseas but regularly come back and make a point to do a reef cleanup with us.
Unfortunately gathering everyone on the same day happened to be quite tricky. Young people are definitely busy during the weekends, despite what people might think. Tuition, classes, family plans… We still haven’t had a chance to be all together at once. But with a bit of luck and eagerness we did manage to achieve 12 cleanups in 17 months and I couldn’t be more grateful for that. I also wanted to highlight one of my IG followers, a fellow young diver from England who messaged me that she was very inspired by our group. She decided to do some cleanup herself in the nearest park to her house with a friend and sent me the video, since diving is not as accessible for her as it is for us. I couldn’t be more happy to know our group can reach youth literally across the world who are inspired enough to do their part. The saying do good and good things will come back is very true in our case. What better reward than bumping into a turtle, some shy reef shark or even a whaleshark like we did at the beginning of this year!
Glad to announce we have two new members ready to join. I said it before but I can say it again: Bubbles of Hope is constantly looking for young divers to join us. Thanks to Scuba Junkie Kota Kinabalu we have a boat, a captain and divemasters ready to support us. I hope more youth will be onboard in the future. I know this project might feel like a drop in a huge ocean but I believe anything is better than nothing – and I definitely hope that this will create a continued wave of change in each of our members’ lives. We are very lucky to live in a place where the temperature above and underwater are really tropical all year long; the marine park is 10-15 minutes away. I know how lucky we are and I believe it would be a shame not to give back to the environment with these idyllic conditions. Each piece of trash/plastic removed makes it feel better and gives us a purpose as young divers.
As always, looking forward to the next time I can meet up with my cleanup gang and we can not only make a difference, but have a blast while doing so. Julia
Saturday 16th September was both Malaysia Day and International Coastal Cleanup Day. A good excuse for Bubbles of Hope to go out again and enjoy the beauty of our Sabahan underwater world while chasing any trash that is polluting it. After all, even if ‘coastal’ refers to the border next to the sea, we have to remember that pollution has no such boundaries and eventually ends up deeper in the ocean.
Five of us boarded one of Scuba Junkie’s boats with Jason and Alex, our two DMs for the day. With optimal conditions – water temperature 30°C and visibility up to 15 meters we were in for a great day, ready to do our part, and have fun!
Very happy to report our first dive site was clear of trash! After 45 minutes of trash hunting, we came back with empty mesh bags except for one plastic bottle. The kind of failure that feels like a victory. Pik Yen and Isabella even found time to play rock, paper, scissors to celebrate during our safety stop 😉
A quick snack and then onto a small cove of white sand that looked empty from afar. But behind the big tree roots lots of plastic bottles, packaging and diapers were there, ready to stay for the next hundreds of years. When plastic takes over nature, nobody wins. We removed 3 big trash bags before it was time to head out again.
After the second dive – no trash either – and lunch, we decided to use our free time on the beach to have some fun.
Work hard, play harder
Let’s not forget that Bubbles of Hope is a group of teen divers. And although it may sometimes sound like tedious work to remove trash, we actually have a lot of fun in the process; both under and above the water.
Once the diving part is done, there remains a group of young people who just want to keep the fun going. Give us a beach, a bit of sun and a beach ball, and we will make the best of it. Sand in my hair was all worth it after an epic battle of sand balls, as we all left with a huge smile on our faces. To me, there’s no better sight than to see youth reconnecting with nature, having fun, and bonding together – a luxury that we never take for granted.
Overall, we may not have found so much trash underwater, but to me this trip was a success yet again. We still managed to do our part for the park and the fun that we had that day was a reminder of why we are protecting such an amazing place.
Bubbles of Hope #12 was a blast! Definitely looking forward the next one…
Julia Rabenjoro
Saturday 16th marked the 10th Bubbles of Hope reef cleanup done and a very special one for multiple reasons.
As usual, our day started at the Jesselton Point Jetty, heading off under the bright sunshine and blue skies. Our first dive site was Sulug House Reef where we immediately ran into ‘Bumpy’ the residential humpback hawksbill turtle. Shortly after, we emerged from the warm waters with a bag full of trash collected from the sandy bottom and headed to a small, secluded island for our surface interval.
Normally, we would do a beach cleanup in this exact location, but today was a special day as it was the last time we would be diving with one of our divemasters/buddy, Awie, for a while. And so instead, we ate some cakes kindly brought in by Pik Yen, one of our teen divers.
It wasn’t long before we were heading off again to our fun dive yet again near Sulug Island. As we hurried to get into the tropical waters, no one expected what was to come…
The visibility was incredible – probably the best one I’ve seen in the park – and we excitedly roamed the top reef before coming to the slope where we followed a humongous school of bigeye snappers on our right shoulder. We continued along the edge, finding beautiful block corals, soft corals and an adorable, vibrant purple nudibranch.
Eventually, the visibility seemed to get a little foggy, and we headed back the way we came, running into our school of snapper friends again and taking many more pictures and videos. At last, in exactly the right location at the right time, a spotty shadow loomed towards us from the blue. The shape and pattern was undeniable: we had run into a whale shark mid-dive!
Squeals of joy, denial and disbelief bubbled to the surface as it looped around us slowly, yet efficiently, and we took as many pictures and videos as our cameras could hold. After it had faded away into the blue again, the magical feeling still lingered and each mask had wide eyed gazes.
Shortly after that, a chubby black tip reef shark came by just to make the dive even more incredible then it had already been, and we resurfaced in cheers and awe.
As we headed to lunch, there was no other topic of discussion but endless recounting of funny reactions and excitement as we rewatched the videos captured.
After lunch, logbooks were filled with drawings and bold titles of ‘WHALE SHARK!” and it was so amazing to think that for Isabella, one of the teen divers, this had been her very first encounter with one of these majestic creatures. And for Lung Ip who is only 11, this had been his second time in only 35 dives! A special dessert was the cake that I baked as a goodbye to Awie and each of the present members had signed it with a short message.
Nothing but happiness and stories returned to the shocked parents. This was an amazing reminder of what we are doing these cleanups for. It was a real-life (unexpected!) encounter with one of our rarest marine neighbours and it was just the most perfect way to send off Awie and to celebrate our 10th Bubbles of Hope dive trip!
I am very much looking forward to many more to come, and am more than ever motivated to help clean up our watery home.
Happy Bubbles!
Julia (Bubbles of Hope)
One of the most common things we teenagers hear from our parents is “Clean your room!” and “Pick up your stuff!” And let’s be honest, we suddenly have hearing problems and a million other priorities…
But when it comes to cleaning up underwater, it’s a different story. My name is Julia. I am a 15 year old PADI AmbassaDiver and a Junior Master Scuba Diver.
A few months ago I had the idea to gather young divers to dive with a purpose. After all, it’s never too early to start. After 7 years of scuba diving in the Tunku Abdul Rahman Park, seeing trash floating or stuck underwater and noticing more and more kids being certified, I thought: how cool would it be to join forces and do something good for the ocean!
I created a logo, found a great printer shop and Bubbles of Hope was born.
It’s not always easy to find the right day to accommodate everyone but also not impossible. Partnering with local dive centers is much easier and I am so grateful for that!
Scuba Junkie immediately accepted to jump on board and hosted our 6th reef cleanup last month.
There were 7 of us meeting up at Jesselton by 8am (yes, teens can wake up early during the weekend for a good cause!) and off we go, wearing our Bubbles of Hope t-shirts! Everyone is chatting and excited, the sun is shining brightly and with Awie and Jason, I know we are in good hands. Briefing, gearing up, mesh bags ready, one by one we are back rolling into Sapi House reef.
Split in 2 groups we worked together, keeping our buoyancy in control and helping each other out and had a pretty bitter-sweet outcome. Very sad to have seen so much trash but glad that we were able to get 3 and a half large mesh bags of rubbish out of there!
We used our surface interval to head to an occupied beach where we got to work on the mounds upon mounds of plastic bottles, food packagings and polystyrene that had washed up on the beach and in the vegetation. Led by our 2 dive masters we created an organized system to collect, crush and bag up as much trash as we could, and despite the time and limited workforce, we were able to get 16 bags of rubbish off that beach! We even had the unexpected help from a nice couple who were chilling with their own boat and were happy to give a hand. I hope the macaque who was watching us from afar appreciated our collective efforts. Of course, there was still a lot left so we’ll be back! Then we headed to Gaya Island, where we took a break from pollution to go on a fun dive and enjoy the beauty of the park we are working so hard to preserve! Cameras were out and lots of vibrant, colourful coral and fish were spotted.
Exhausted but satisfied with our work for the day, we headed to the other side of the island for a delicious, well deserved lunch followed by a peculiar competition of sand balls and leisure swims in the warm, tropical waters.
It was a very productive day and it’s so promising to see such interest and dedication reflected in this group.
So yes, we might not be the champions of cleaning our bedrooms but I can tell, we did a pretty good job with Scuba Junkie! And it’s just the beginning…
Please get involved! If you are/know any PADI certified teen divers (10-17 years old) who might be interested to join, don’t hesitate to contact me for more details on:
Instagram: @julia_into_the_blue
Facebook: Seed of Hope
Email: juliaintotheblue@gmail.com
If you aren’t a diver, then please show your support to our efforts by checking out the social media handles or spreading the word about this project. The more people we have, the bigger difference we can make!
I hope to see you underwater! Keep diving and happy bubbles! Julia
Here at Scuba Junkie Kota Kinabalu we love hosting outreach programmes with schools and expedition groups. The purpose is for the students to immerse themselves in Borneo’s unique marine biodiversity and experience conservation first hand.
Every year we are lucky to have a variety of groups ranging from Local school groups, and visits from international schools elsewhere in S.E. Asia and groups from Outlook Expeditions.
Outlook Expeditions is based in the United Kingdom and organizes adventurous trips for school/youth groups to destinations in the Americas, Europe, Africa, and Asia. Itineraries for each group are created over a 12-month period in collaboration with the outlook team and our staff to accommodate their project requirements.
We provide a PADI Open Water Diver certification, which allows you to dive with groups anywhere in the world to depths of 18 meters. You will learn the fundamentals of scuba diving, including dive equipment and techniques, throughout the course. This qualification is earned by completing confined water dives, knowledge development sessions, and four open water dives.
If you are already an Open water diver then why not further your education and complete your 2 day PADI Advanced Open water course, this will provide you with great skills such as Navigation, Fish ID, Search and Recovery, you have two compulsory dives and then can choose 3 more adventure dives.
We provide a Fish ID Presentation, a responsible snorkelling workshop and fish ID snorkelling session. Students will also be shown how to monitor for coral bleaching & crown of thorns populations and will participate in a coral bleaching / crown of thorns snorkel survey.
Introduction to the problem of marine debris in Sabah with a presentation, beach clean & snorkel clean up. Marine debris will be reported to Project Aware and coral bleaching results to Green Fins as part of an ongoing monitoring program.
This is dedicated to coral reefs and the project team will introduce students to the work carried out by Reef Check Malaysia and give them an introduction to the techniques used to assess and monitor coral reef health. You will also head out onto the reef looking for indicator species of coral reef health as well as any signs of coral bleaching.
Many visitors come to KK in the hope of spotting sharks & turtles, learn about the threats faced by these amazing animals as well as conducting a snorkel count of both (sightings are frequent but not guaranteed unfortunately!). You’ll also take the opportunity to practise Fish ID & coral reef health assessment during today’s snorkels.
We absolutely LOVE outreach programmes and can’t wait to welcome everyone back once things are safer for travelling.
Check out more about our conservation projects here!
Trash on the beach is not only unsightly, but it also creates threats for many of the underwater critters we love to see. Turtles will mistake plastic bags for jelly fish and eat them. This can cause huge problems for them, consuming plastic can make it difficult for them to eat other foods. It can also block their digestive system leading to painful fatalities. Tangled fishing lines left in the water can lead to entanglement for Manta and Devil Rays, or even sharks. There are many ways we want to protect our oceans, beach cleaning is one that everyone can easily get involved with!
Of course, protecting marine life is not the only reason. We also need to protect ourselves. Many people love playing around on the beach. Kids and adults love building sand castles and we want everyone to be able to do that without fearing risk of cutting themselves on discarded metal or glass.
There isn’t much equipment needed for a beach clean.
Pieces of glass or rusting metal can often be found along the beach. If you choose to pick these things up, be extremely careful! Even if you are just picking up a plastic bag – be careful! In many places these bags could contain substances that you would much rather didn’t explode on you (another great reason to wear gloves!). Be cautious when collecting trash!
Not all rubbish you see has to be removed. If you have limited bags then always put plastic bottles and plastic bags in first – these are the biggest threat to the underwater world.
Some people find beach cleaning a chore, but it can be easy to make it fun. Create competitions and have prizes for people who collect the most rubbish in the shortest amount of time.
Once you have completed your beach clean make sure all the rubbish is properly disposed of. Getting plastic recycled will give you even more eco-points. Recording the trash that you picked up can also be extremely helpful. There are many different operations that value and use this information. Have a look online to see what organisations near you will want this information and what recommendations they have for waste disposal.
Getting other people involved will make it a lot more fun for you. Explain to people what you are doing and why what you are doing is important. Kids and adults from all over the world can get involved!
People often find themselves discouraged when the tide changes and the beach they just worked so hard to clean is, once again, covered in plastic bottles / bags. But don’t be disheartened! It may not feel like it, but everything you do helps! One bag of rubbish you take off the beach is one less bag of plastic that a turtle might try to eat. That bag of rubbish may contain a fishing line that a shark or ray could have become entangled in and died. As one person you may not be able to change everything, but getting yourself and others involves DOES make a difference!
A beach clean doesn’t have to be a huge organised event. Many divers spend times on islands relaxing during their surface interval. If you look around and happen to notice a few bottles or some trash lying around, grab a bag and pick them up. It’ll take 5 minutes, and who knows, maybe it will give you some good diving karma!
