A group of yachtsmen and divers have returned from a successful trip to build relationships with coastal communities in the Pacific. The Magic Roundabout, the lead boat in the OceansWatch organisation’s latest project, left New Zealand for Vanatu in late May. OceansWatch is an organisation of yachtsmen and divers, undertaking marine conservation projects and offering humanitarian aid to coastal communities in developing countries.

OceansWatch’s primary goal for 2008 in Vanuatu was to build solid relationships with coastal communities to learn about their needs and how the organisation could then best help meet them. By staying for a week at a time in five different communities, the OceansWatch team was able to introduce interested locals to the Reef Check system of monitoring the health of their reef and to assess their enthusiasm for training in the future.

In close co-operation with the world’s yachting and diving communities OceansWatch undertakes marine conservation projects and offers humanitarian aid to coastal communities in developing countries.