Bridging the Gap: Hooking the Next Generation

By Chance Ruder, NAUI 52587, Florida Keys Aquarium Encounters Dive Team

NAUI Instructor Chance Ruder is the leader of the dive team at FKAE and has dedicated his life to sparking a passion for the ocean in the next generation. Immediately after they break the surface, my two young guests burst into excited chittering. “Did you see that eel come up? It was huge! Those lobsters look even bigger underwater! Dad, we have to get certified; that was amazing.” It was the kind of excitement you would expect after two teenage girls breathe underwater, get swarmed by a tornado of several hundred fish, and hand-feed sharks. Sitting at the surface of the water and reflecting on their dive in our 760,000-liter (200,000-gallon) Coral Reef tank, Ashley and Kaley tell me that their favorite part of the experience was “all of it!”…

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