Page 13 - ATD21NOV2015

LOCAL A13
Saturday 21 November 2015

De Palm Tours – Winner of the Reef Alliance Award, 2nd year in a row!

November 2015, BALASHI celebrated their 21st with different kinds of gar- fortunately, due to recent excess of hiding places
- Every year people from cleanup in support of the bage like plastic bags, environmental challenges and homes for the local
around the world are in- international event. bottles, cigarettes and associated with river runoff marine.
spired to participate in Employees and their fam- much more. The debris and poor water clarity, the De Palm Tours wants to
The International Coastal ily of De Palm Island, At- was moved from the island enhanced Sea TREK team thank their staff members
Cleanup – the world’s lantis and De Palm Tours to the mainland with the finally revealed their new and volunteers for being
largest volunteer effort collaborated during the help of a tugboat from At- Sea TREK dive site in early part of this big achieve-
for our oceans. Ambassa- cleanup, which took lantis. October. The site, which ment. For more informa-
dors of the event – hosted place on September 20th. “I am so happy with the includes a bus and a Land tion about De Palm Tours
by Ocean Conservancy The group came together outcome… the amount of Rover Defender, offers an visit depalmtours.com.q
– aim to turn the tide on to cleanup the pier at Port volunteers and what they
trash and work toward the De Palm and a nearby have achieved,” said Miri-
ultimate goal of trash free mangrove habitat. am van de Plassche, man-
seas. Divers scoured the coastal ager of De Palm Island. De
Among the volunteers is water around De Palm Is- Palm Island is dedicated to
a group of dedicated in- land, while other workers maintaining and protect-
dividuals from the ARUBA combed the beaches. In ing sea creatures and the
Reef Care Project, who total 102 bags were filled environment, and they use
creative ideas to achieve
their goals.
This outstanding commit-
ment and volunteer work
has earned De Palm Tours
the Reef Alliance Award
for the 2nd consecutive
year. The annual award,
presented by Reef Alli-
ance, is exclusively for a
Sea TREK operator whose
staff is dedicated to pro-
active conservation ef-
forts, such as those dem-
onstrated by The De Palm
Sea TREK team and their
work with the Aruba Reef
Care Project.
In addition to the cleanup,
the De Palm Sea TREK staff is
also committed to sustain-
able eco-tourism. Since
2002 the team has cre-
ated and maintained an
enhanced Sea TREK dive
site with repurposed ve-
hicles, such as an airplane
and a bus. The manmade
site alleviates pressure
from the natural reef, pro-
viding additional homes
and hiding places for an
abundance of sea life. Un-