This past Friday it was time for Marianas Dive. I had a small group of enthusiastic kids who were sharp in answering questions and knew quite a bit about the creatures we talked about. Two even won DVD's with their quick answers to tough questions!
I did a combination thing. We watched clips from The Underwater World of Saipan in order to help illustrate some of the marine behaviours we talked about as we read Annie Crawley' s book, "Ocean Life From A to Z". It's a great book and it has it's own DVD included!
After all was said and done I tried to instill some pride in the kids with regard to what our waters have and how our diving is really world class. 
Above I share with them a recently published article about Saipan diving in Sport Diver Magazine. February 2008, we made it into the top 100!
Click on the photo to enlarge. It's a good little snap shot of what we have to offer here and for them to see their home in a major publication was pretty cool for them too. They then wanted to watch more of the spotted eagle rays that are pictured in the story so we watched more of the Ice Cream dive!Next Up on Saturday was the Rotary Club of Saipan's 3rd annual Parade of Books. I was the official photographer although there were no shortage of parents and cameras!
With Saipanda and Hard Rock dog guy taking the lead the participating schools first took a couple of laps around the Gym before preparing to preform their skits.
The crowd was large and appreciative of all the efforts, from the costumes to the actual choreography and performances.
The judging was apparently so tough they had to ask Mike Sablan to resign his post as public auditor just so he would not have any conflicts of interest as head score keeper. It looks like Mike has landed on his feet after leaving OPA!
There were a few classics performed like snow white and ....
a not so classic one by the kids from Tinian. They came all the way over and managed 3rd prize with a funny little story about a king who would not get out of the tub!
In the end it was San Vicente Elementary and their performance of Frankenstein that raised the roof and allowed some very enthusiastic kids to take home first prize - 700 bucks and a big trophy too! A special thanks to NWA for a generous donation to make the event possible!Congratulations to everyone who participated and to the Rotary for instilling the sense of importance for reading not only for the kids but for the parents too!
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