Urban American Outdoors has several Pro Staff members located here in KC, as well as around the country that participant in unique experiences in the outdoors. Our staff participates in adventures such as diving in the South Pacific, Skiing in Colorado, Sailing in Caribbean and of course, hunting and fishing in various locations throughout the states. One such person, who has leaded an historical expedition in the Micronesia Islands, was UAO Pro Staff member Dean Carroll.
Dean Carroll grew up in Harlem and has over 20 years of diving experience. He has won several awards and honors including being named Diver of the Year by The National Association of Black Scuba Divers and The Atlantic Rangers Scuba Club of Philadelphia. African Americans have been connected to the water and exploring from the beginning of time. There have also been black divers who did a lot of work in bridge building in United Stated. It has also been documented that way before Christopher Columbus came to the New World; Africans had long been on the waterways all over the world as well as occupants of this country. Today, we have black yatch clubs, black sailors, and of course black scuba divers like Dean.
Dean Carroll assembled a team of black divers to set out for a diving expedition in the islands of Micronesia in the South Pacific. There were 16 African Americans who embarked on a nine day adventure of scuba diving the Ghost Fleet of the Japanese Imperial Navy. Their initial dive took place in Palau where they dove into the Blue Corner and the Blue Hole. The Blue Hole was an under water cave where chunks of the ceiling fell out. The Blue Corner was the top of a mountain range which has a 1000 ft drop. In this special place you can witness beautiful majestic fish, or even 7 to 14 ft foot sharks cruising along with many micro sea creatures unseen by most people. A lot of us can remember the voyages of the famous oceanographer Jacque Cousteau, who would show you underwater from a clinical view. Well, UAO, and Dean will show you places under the sea were few dare to go, and do it with finesse, the only way we know how.
This was the first time six African American women did a group dive to descend over 200 ft together on a WWII Japanese wreck. The unique thing about this experience is that this ship still had tanks mounted to the top of it were you can physically see and touch. This was a powerful move by these individuals who embarked on this historical adventure, and we will be showing the first time under water footage by a group of African Americans ever seen on television. It is simply beautiful swimming under the sea in a whole new world on Earth. This is a great piece for the kids to see because they get a chance to see the real live home of Nemo.
One of the fascinating things about this is that Dean said they can train just about anybody who has the desire to learn how to dive. They have express that they have people from all walks of life, from the single mom from the city, blue collar workers to the professional group of doctors or lawyers. We at Urban America are always interested in exposing people to the possibilities of life and fostering alternative life role models for our children. We believe we can do all things and of course we do it Urban American Style!
