Vital Freediving

May 24, 2021
Vital Freediving is not booking classes at this time.

RECOVERY UPDATE - Irma packed winds in excess of 200mph and Maria over 100. St John was devastated. We are now in recovery mode. It will be a few more months before we're recovered enough to have visitors. BUT we will need tourism when power is restored and the roads are cleared. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers.

If you're curious about how we're doing with Irma bearing down on St John, we have spent the last 3 days preparing. With 150mph winds forecasted, we have prepared as best as possible. We have an area between our concrete water cisterns called the "bomb" shelter. We have provisions for close to a month. I might be doing quite a bit of spearfishing to help keep our food stocks up.

Also, we will probably be out of contact for a couple weeks since internet will likely be down. I will post updates as soon as I can. Classes are cancelled for at least the next week (but probably longer). This is the cost of living in paradise.

- Rob Tutton

Congratulations Dani Hardy for hitting 18m Constant Weight (CWT) to pass her AIDA 2 class on Tuesday despite the weather challenges. The storm Monday night knocked down several power lines on St John, including one just before Hansen Bay shown in the 3rd pic. Dani and I made a quick decision to drive back to my house and use my wife's kayak to paddle from South Haulover, a bay we could drive to. Then I paddled to the shop to grab gear and paddled back. The plan worked and she hit 18m easily. What an adventure and a great time diving with Dani!

Turtles...turtles...and more turtles! Amazing snorkel tour with the Mia, Min, Collin, and Jason Sweeny. In a couple hours around Hansen Bay, we saw a spotted eagle ray, sting rays, octopus, and of course, lots of green sea turtles! Great fun with the Sweeny family! Tomorrow Jason and I will be doing the first PADI Freediver class taught by VITAL Freediving. We're excited to teach the PADI courses along with the current selection of AIDA courses. More pics to come!

The grim truth of this documentary is stunning. I thought I understood the extent of plastic pollution, but this reality will haunt me.

A Plastic Ocean - The Film - Plastic Oceans Everyone can make a difference. This film will make a difference, by first and foremost getting people to know and to care Dr Sylvia Earle Plastic Oceans has assembled a...

We're excited to have another article written about VITAL Freediving by St John Villa Rentals!
https://stjohn-villarentals.com/freediving-st-john-us-virgin-islands/

FREEDIVING on St John | St John Vacation Rentals St John is home to some of the best shallow water snorkeling in the Caribbean. Each year visitors of all ..

Last week we conducted the deep water dives for an AIDA 3 class from S/V Pelican off the East End of St John. Sarah Elise Field, Miles Brill, and Josh Revoy all passed their deep water requirements by hitting 25m CWT easily. Congrats!

Also a special thanks to Captain Paul Porter for hosting us from S/V Pelican. This 58 ft Voyage was a luxurious addition to our class.

VITAL Freediving AIDA 3 Class from S:V Pelican 21 April 2016, VITAL Freediving and S/V Pelican conducted 25meter CWT dives with AIDA 3 Students Miles Brill, Sarah Elise P Field, and Josh Revoy. Thanks so ...

You may have already heard through the coconut telegraph that Frank Cummings, C.O.R.E.’s Education and Outreach Director, was recently selected for the EPA’s highest public award for Region 2. The EPA chose Frank for the Environmental Champion Award because of his “outstanding commitment to protecting and enhancing environmental quality and public health.” Even with the challenges of raising a family in the islands, Frank has spent his spare time to give lectures about the invasive lionfish destroying our reefs, he has organized and led lionfish eradication dives at least a couple times a month, he has busted his knuckles in the bilge of the C.O.R.E. boat to keep it running, and so much more! Many of you have asked how to help him and his family travel to New York receive this EPA award. As a result of the wave of support, we’ve set up a few different ways to make it easy for you to help fund his trip. The award ceremony will be held in New York City on May 19th. That’s only about three weeks away, so we have to act quickly! Our goal is $3150 for Frank’s and his family’s airline tickets, lodging, and other travel expenses.

WANT TO MAKE A DONATION? There are a couple different ways:

1) Simply click on this link: https://corefoundation.networkforgood.com/projects/24338-grow-core-values Then select the donation amount, frequency, and the “EPA Award Travel Fund” from the pull down menu below the “Apply My Donation To” section.

2) You may also leave a check made out to C.O.R.E. at Connections in Cruz Bay. Please put it in an envelope for Lani Clark.

We’re excited for Frank and we hope you will join us in showing support for him. This is also a great opportunity to promote C.O.R.E. on the national stage!

Finally, please feel free to share this post with anyone who you think might want to contribute!

Best wishes,
The C.O.R.E. Family

Grow CORE Values

Hope to see you at the Potluck for Lionfish Prevention April 30!

LionfishPreventionUSVI This is "LionfishPreventionUSVI" by Friends of VI National Park on Vimeo, the home for high quality videos and the people who love them.

Very cool project in London.

Blue Abyss The world's foremost extreme environment research, test and training centres for the offshore energy, subsea technology, maritime defence and commercial human spaceflight sectors.