Snorkeling inspires Cedar Rapids woman to create book to benefit ocean conservation efforts

Cedar Rapids resident Mary Lieder Cebuhar has long been an avid snorkeler. In fact, for more than a quarter century, Lieder Cebuhar has considered herself a water baby.

'I have wintered in Mexico for more than 25 years and spent many hours snorkeling in the Mexican Caribbean, particularly Puerto Morelos on the Yucatan Peninsula where the second largest barrier reef in the world is located,” she said by phone from Mexico, where she was on yet another snorkeling vacation.

Back in the 1990s when she started snorkeling, Lieder Cebuhar remembers seeing a plethora of tropical fish and marine creatures; but in recent years there have been a lot of oceanic changes. 'The water is cloudier. Parts of the reef and coral heads are dying,” she said. 'The fish population is much less than it was and there are pieces of plastic floating in the water that were never there before. The starfish, sea cucumbers and conchs that were plentiful are hard to find now.”

Wanting to be part of the solution, Lieder Cebuhar recently wrote, illustrated and self-published a children's book, 'Listen When the Ocean Speaks.” 'Because I see up close and personal the damage that is happening to the ocean, I was inspired to write about it. And really the book almost wrote itself.”

Lieder Cebuhar's hope is that 'Listen When the Ocean Speaks” will raise awareness, starting with children, as to what is happening to oceans all over the world. She also wants to see people work together to save the seas while there still is time to do so.

The book's mantra is 'Save the sea while there's still time. It's never too late to make things fine.” Lieder Cebuhar said it's an important message for children to hear over and over again. 'The children of our world are our future and raising awareness with them about what is happening is the key to getting something done.”

The book has been recognized with a Mom's Choice Award, which honors excellence in family-friendly media, products and services. Lieder Cebuhar said she is especially pleased with the honor. 'It's like a pat on the back to receive this award,” she said. 'I feel very good about it.”

Lieder Cebuhar said she hopes to see her book used as a teaching tool in the classroom and beyond. 'I wrote about the ocean because of my fundamental love of water, and realizing that maybe I can make a difference in saving the sea. And I think children are really able to get the message from this story.”

She added that she also particularly enjoyed doing the illustrations for the book, which are original watercolor paintings. 'I really loved being able to do the illustrations,” she said, noting that the paintings are inspired by photos she has taken while snorkeling and underwater GoPro video footage she gathered with the help of one of her grandsons. 'Snorkeling is just a wonderful hobby and sport, and we need to keep our reefs alive and make sure people are aware of how we should care for the ocean.”

For 25 years, Lieder Cebuhar owned her own business, the Lieder Corp., where she specialized in consulting, training and staff development. Now retired, she spends a lot of time snorkeling, having logged hundreds of hours snorkeling in The Bahamas, the Fiji Islands and mostly in the Mexican Caribbean.

'Listen When the Ocean Speaks” is available at Next Page Books in Cedar Rapids or on Amazon.com. There is an English-only version and a bilingual version with both English and Spanish. The book retails for $15 with a portion of the proceeds going to The Ocean Conservancy and Mission Blue - both of which pursue initiatives to protect the ocean.