The Night Lionfish Changed Everything

If someone had told me five years ago that a few lionfish, a Monday night jam session, and a local brewery would eventually help shape HydroSoul, I probably would have laughed.

Its January 2021 and at the time, none of us were trying to build anything. It was during COVID, we had just taken over Aquanauts and honestly, we were a little slow. 

We were simply making the best of a very unusual situation. COVID had changed everything. Like everyone in tourism, Aquanauts suddenly found itself without guests. The dive boats weren't running every day, the island was quiet, and like many people, we were trying to figure out what came next.

In mid-January we had a group of thirty-five students from High Seas High School in Europe that  found themselves stranded in Grenada. COVID restrictions prevented them from continuing to the next island on their itinerary, leaving them with two unplanned weeks on Grenada while their teachers worked to reorganize the expedition.

As we talked with the teachers, a simple idea emerged. Rather than waiting for travel restrictions to change, why not use the time to complement what the students were already learning? Together, we aligned diving and field experiences with their lessons in marine ecology and conservation, transforming an unexpected delay into an immersive educational experience.

It worked.

Looking back, that experience taught us something we would come to rediscover many times over. People don't simply learn about the ocean by reading about it. They learn by experiencing it. Once students had the opportunity to see Grenada's reefs, discuss what they were observing, and connect classroom concepts with real ecosystems, conservation became something tangible rather than theoretical. We didn't realize we were beginning to develop an educational philosophy that would later become central to Aqua Rangers.

Around the same time, I had also discovered a small recording studio tucked away inside the West Indies Beer Company. Mark, the owner, had built the space before COVID, but with everything shutting down it wasn't really being used. He said to me, "If you want to play music, go ahead."

So every Monday I'd grab a guitar, have a beer, and spend a few hours playing music. At first, it was mostly for me. I was new to Grenada. I was meeting people. It gave me somewhere to go.

Before long, other musicians started wandering in. Many had been performing on cruise ships before the world shut down and suddenly found themselves back home, stuck on the island.

Some nights there were only a handful of us. Other nights the room was full of extraordinary musicians simply enjoying the chance to play together again.

As someone who grew up listening to the Grateful Dead, it felt like heaven. 

Another thing that was happening at the same time was we still  wanted to dive. Not because we had customers. Because we love diving. Grenada's reefs were experiencing a significant invasion of lionfish.

Without guests to guide, the Aquanauts team spent time hunting lionfish instead. We needed to stay in the water, maintain our skills, and we knew we needed to get rid of them..

The team knew the reefs. They showed us where the lionfish were hiding. Before long, we had a freezer full of lionfish. Which created a new problem. What exactly do you do with a lot of lionfish?

The obvious answer was… Cook it. I mentioned the idea to Mark. His answer was immediate.

"Sure. Use the stage." So we did. Ty played bass. Asher brought percussion and his unmistakable energy. I played guitar. Chrispin—one of our dive team and an incredibly talented Soca artist—demonstrated how to safely handle and prepare lionfish while explaining why removing them mattered for our reefs. People came for the music. They stayed for the food. They left knowing something about conservation they hadn't known when they arrived.

We split the proceeds with the brewery. It wasn't much. Just enough to make us ask another question.

"What should we do with the money?"

Someone—I honestly don't remember who—said something that changed everything. "We should create a fund to teach Grenadians to dive."

At the time, it sounded like a nice idea. Teach a few Grenadians to dive. We weren't thinking about workforce development. We weren't thinking about conservation capacity. We certainly weren't thinking about HydroSoul. We simply wanted to create an opportunity for someone else. We always wanted to give back to the community.  

Looking back now, I think that was the moment HydroSoul quietly began. Not because we had created a nonprofit. Not because we had written a strategic plan. Because for the first time, music, community, education, conservation, and opportunity had all come together in the same place.

The Monday night jam sessions continued to grow. Eventually Mark created what is now known as the Green Room, giving the musicians a permanent place to gather after the original studio disappeared.

Next door, a yoga studio became home to another idea. Jam & Jewelry Night.

Locals, students, travelers, guests came in and began creating jewelry from lionfish spines while music filled the room next door. The community grew a little larger. The conversations became a little deeper.

Lionfish Bites & Beats continued to evolve as well. What began as a few friends cooking fish now serves more than two hundred meals during an evening, requiring nearly seventy pounds of lionfish fillets. Conservation demonstrations remain part of every event, often joined by scientists, conservationists, and community leaders who share their own stories and perspectives.

Looking back now, we thought we had created a fundraiser. What we had really created was a community that wanted to invest in its own future. 

Today, those community events help sustain the pace of Aqua Rangers, creating opportunities for local youth to begin their own journeys beneath the surface. The music still plays every Monday night and the lionfish nights are always special.

People sometimes ask us when HydroSoul started.

Most expect me to point to the incorporation papers. Or the first grant. Or the first Aqua Rangers cohort.

But if I'm honest...

I think it started with a guitar, a handful of lionfish, and a simple question. "What good can we do with what's already in front of us?"

Looking back now, the answer seems obvious.

At the time...

We were just making music.