Teens and vets team up to dive, explore and preserve
By Robert Boyd
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PINELLAS COUNTY, Florida (WFTS) — Tampa Bay is known as one of the best dive spots in the country, and a couple of nonprofit groups are using that to build bonds that could last a lifetime.
John Borders is a U.S. Army veteran wounded while on active duty, while Rosalyn Fletcher is a 15-year-old high school student just starting to plan her future. This month, diving brought them together.
It’s all part of a partnership between Scubanauts and the Combat Wounded Veteran Challenge.
“Scubanauts International is a scientific diving organization for teenagers, we do a lot of research, we do a lot of coral restoration,” said COO Katie Cooper.
“I’ve always been interested in the marine sciences ever since I was little,” said Fletcher.
“It kind of helps to reduce a whole lot of that stress just going underneath the water, listening to my bubbles, and it kind of lets all my cares just wash away for a while,” said Borders.
Cooper is leading the latest expedition. She is taking John and Roselyn on a trip to the Circle of Heroes.
Located about 10 miles off the coast of Dunedin, 40 feet below the surface, is a series of statues representing all the different branches of our Armed Forces.
“We’ve got 13 life-sized statues, we have a diverse representation from all of the major American conflicts, from World War I, up to the global war on terror,” said Borders.
The statues were placed on the bottom of the gulf back in 2019, which means they are in need of a little maintenance.
“Since then, there has been a lot of growth on them, algae, sponges, other invertebrates, so it obscures the plaque, so it’s hard to tell what they are,” said Cooper.
Armed with scrub brushes, Katie, John and Roselyn dove in and got to work.
“It’s important for me to do my part, cleaning off the algae and the statues, and just make sure it’s remembered with Veterans Day coming up,” said Fletcher.
“We tend to be relying on the kids to make sure that we are doing things correctly when it comes to any of the coral restoration stuff that we are doing,” said Borders.
“It’s a really great feeling to have young people and veterans together cleaning up these statues, it’s a really meaningful site, a really meaningful partnership, and it’s just a great way to come together as a community,” said Cooper.
Scubanauts Annual Fundraising Gala will be held Nov. 8 at Zoo Tampa. For more information, go to scubanautsintl.org
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