The 2004 Aquarius Project Team completes a day of SCUBA diving in the waters of the Florida Keys. Click image for larger view and image credit.
The Aquarius Project
Girl Scouts of the USA
NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration
August 8-14, 2004
The 2004 Aquarius Project participants were:
Stephanie, Fox Valley Girl Scout Council
Andrea, Columbia River Council
Heather, Arizona Cactus Pine Council
Laura, Mount Magazine Council
Caroline, Girl Scouts of the Gulf Coast
of Florida, Inc.
Carly, Lone Star Council
What is it?
The Aquarius Project is an intensive week of
ocean science and discovery for a nationally
selected group of six Girl Scouts sponsored
by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration and the Girl Scouts
of the USA.
Where is it?
The event centers around the National
Undersea Research Center's (University
of North Carolina at Wilmington) Key
Largo, Florida field station, home to
the world's only underwater laboratory
- the Aquarius Habitat. Girl Scouts are
housed at the MarineLab Environmental
Education Center, also in Key Largo,
and attend lectures and field sessions
with educators and other ocean science
mentors.
What is the event about?
Girl Scouts learn the fundamentals
of ocean exploration, coral reef and
mangrove ecology, maritime archaeology,
habitat preservation, and marine biology.
Weather permitting, lectures and field
work include a SCUBA dive to the
Aquarius to visit current mission scientists
at work in the habitat; working alongside
marine resource scientists on the coral
reefs; SCUBA diving to numerous sites,
including a shipwreck site in the Florida
Keys. In the Aquarius Project, girls
learn about ocean science by hands-on
experience and interaction with mentor
scientists. Each participating Girl Scout
devises an outreach plan for taking what
they learned home to their schools, Girl
Scout councils and communities.
Who can apply?
Any registered Girl Scout who is:
- SCUBA certified and has received open water certification,
- Comfortable in open water,
- Committed to ocean science, conservation, and exploration,
- Willing to share her experience with her council after the event and,
- between 14-18 at the time of the event.
What are the costs?
This event is sponsored by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Office of Ocean Exploration. There is NO event fee. Travel costs are fully funded. Any ancillary travel costs, such as taxi fares, will be reimbursed to the participant after the event. Each participant is required to bring all necessary diving gear with her to the event (excluding tanks and weight belts).
For more information
Please contact the GSUSA’s Elliott Wildlife Values Project Consultant, Jodi Stewart or call 1-800-223-0624 Ext. 8076.
Information is also available on the GSUSA's Destinations 
and EPA web sites.
