When it comes to attempting a Guinness World Record, you might think about attempting the fastest time to eat a Terry's Chocolate Orange, growing the longest fingernails, or putting the most kinds of cheese on a single pizza and while these are all worthy pursuits, a diving team has managed to set a new world record and help the planet at the same time. Nice.
The 633-strong team of divers earned themselves a place in the record books by forming the largest mass underwater cleanup on Saturday.
Organised by the Dixie Divers in Florida, the group donned their aqualungs and picked up litter from the sea floor near the Deerfield Beach International Fishing Pier.
Arlington Pavan, the owner of the Dixie Divers facility, told the South Florida Sun Sentinel: "Oh, it's amazing to see everybody here, happy, just amazing.
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"The last record took 24 hours and we did it in two hours, so it's amazing."
The 'last record' Pavel referred to belonged to the 614 divers, led by Ahmed Gabr, who jumped into the Red Sea to perform a clean-up in 2015 and claim the record... until now.
On Saturday, Guinness officiator Michael Empric arrived from New York to oversee the attempt and carry out a headcount.
Speaking to the South Florida Sun Sentinel, he explained: "I actually stood there and clicked off everyone as they got in the water... so we know immediately whether or not the record's been broken."
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The divers entered the waters in groups and had to stay under the water for at least 15 minutes to meet the record's requirements, which they did.
Among the divers was 13-year-old Dahlia Bolin, who arrived from Illinois with her mum Rebecca to take part.
Describing one of her underwater finds - a metal sign with the words, 'boats must not come within 100 yards of pier' on - she said: "It was at the end of the pier about 20 feet down, just kind of buried in the sand. There's a lot of heavy weights for fishing line down there, but there's some really beautiful fish, mostly."
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The weight of the rubbish cleared from the sea floor has not yet been revealed, however, the news outlet reports that a whopping 725kg of lead fishing weights was removed from the water.
Well done, guys.
Featured Image Credit: Facebook/Dixie DiversTopics: US News, trash isles