We are a team of dedicated ocean enthusiasts committed to restoring coral reefs in Hawaii.
Heather Howard
Heather Howard is a PADI Divemaster, USCG Boat Captain, Yoga Instructor, Life Coach, and Educator. She has over 25 years of experience in business and people management. She is an Ocean Quest Global trained coral practitioner and teaches courses in Hawaii about all things coral-related. Born and raised on the west coast of Oregon her love and curiosity for the ocean started at a very young age. In 2007 she made her first trip to the Big Island of Hawaii where her passion for learning and teaching about this special place became her full-time focus. Heather is a commercial diver and received her training by volunteering at the Oregon Coast Aquarium as a dive technician. She is the co-founder of the Coral Reef Education Institute and the Owner of Coral Reef Activities. She holds the Educational Alternate seat on the Coral Reef Ecosystem Reserve Advisory Council for the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument.
Paul Badgley
Paul is the co-founder of the Coral Reef Education Institute. He is a USCG Captain with a sail endorsement, commercial fisherman, commercial diver, and PADI SCUBA Instructor. Paul has been a Captain and Dive Instructor in Hawaii for over 30 years. He holds the Ocean Activities Alternate seat on the Coral Reef Ecosystem Reserve Advisory Council for the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument.
Rachel Schackne
Rachel Schackne graduated cum laude with a Bachelors of science in Marine Biology from the University of Hawaii at Manoa. During her undergraduate career she worked as a PhD lab assistant in the Gates lab at the Hawaii institute of Marine Science on coconut island. Helping in coral husbandry and data collection of assisted evolution techniques of keystone coral species in Hawaii. After her undergraduate studies she traveled to Indonesia to work as a divemaster and develop a locally supported coral fragmentation center in Komodo national park in efforts to combat coral reef destruction from bomb fishing. Using calcium carbonate biorock technology and steel grid tables to reestablish broken coral fragments in subsistence fishing villages. After moving to the big island of Hawaii she became a PADI dive instructor and USCG captain, and now works on the water to help educate a vast majority of tourists about the marine world and coral ecology. Passionate about freediving, surfing, and marine science, her end goal is to support a global shift in the importance of the oceans, contributing to marine education, the establishment of marine protected areas, and eco-tourism.