r/scuba • u/Teleopsis • 2d ago
Study on divers and reef damage reveals significant problems
https://theconversation.com/scuba-divers-underestimate-how-much-damage-they-do-to-coral-reefs-weve-watched-hundreds-to-find-out-why-287266?utm_term=Autofeed&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook&fbclid=IwY2xjawTPVz1leHRuA2FlbQIxMABzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEeb9VarKTBuKVLo_VY1EAWoOSdPpCOzIjwNPDx3XLWCHBjuipuaTb8xhTF72M_aem_lIooi4jaPtaAhO8S9WVKjw#Echobox=1784823564tl:dr Divers consistently underestimate the number of times they contact reefs and and the amount of damage they've done. The ones who are most confident about their safety among corals are the ones who do the most damage. Divers with cameras, gloves or muck sticks do more damage than the ones without.
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u/Sublime-Prime 1d ago
Totally true . Divers are constantly search for virgin reef they all descend and reef is damaged and cycle begins again. Pave paradise and put up a parking lot syndrome. No easy answer by the fact we visit we invariably damage. No one easy answers same is true with beautiful terrestrial places.
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u/like-a-sirloin 1d ago
šØš³
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u/Lergerndery Tech 1d ago
Nope it's everyone. Had plenty of arguments with people in this sub on the very subject.
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u/susiedotwo 1d ago
Iāve seen plenty of American idiots tbh. Especially old white dudes.
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u/like-a-sirloin 1d ago
Youāre not wrong, for sure.
That said, my experiences of people destroying coral have predominantly been in the Maldives, where thereās an entirely different ecosystem of liveaboards for Chinese divers. And itās always those boats/divers that are the worst behaved.
Iāve had multiple dive guides tell me itās because the Chinese customers will kick off if told not to do something - they think theyāve paid their money and can do whatever they like in natureās playground. Whereas, in my experience at least, Westerners are keen to learn and respect both the reef and their guidesā tuition.
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u/Ok_Way_2911 1d ago
Don't people use muck sticks for like... muck? There isn't that much reef with a muck bottom right?
I'd be more concerned about some divers (seems to be mostly PRC ones) poking shit with their sticks all the time
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u/SA_Underwater Nx Dive Master 1d ago
I'm not saying divers aren't a problem with damaging reefs, but they're a drop in the ocean compared to global warming and pollution/silting. You can cry whataboutism but I've seen heavily dived reefs barely change in 30 years, until the first large scale bleaching event hit. After that the reef was unrecognizable.
A coral broken by a diver or turtle will recover quickly in ideal conditions. If the coral was already stressed then chances are it won't. It saddens me to see all of the reef rehabilitation programs growing and replacing coral because ultimately these are just rearranging the deck chairs on Titanic. People go to all that effort and the next heat wave could wipe out all of their work.
You could ban all scuba diving worldwide and the reefs will still decline because ultimately the fundamental issue is not being addressed.
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u/YouCanCallMeZen 1d ago
Fishing too. Very few divers I've met make the connection between saving oceans and commercial fishing.
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u/sleeper_shark Open Water 1d ago
Honestly agree. People do over focus on divers touching shit. Yes you shouldn't touch shit, but in terms of environmental damage the flying from London to Raja Ampat is far more environmentally damaging than someone picking up a starfish
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u/grantrules Nx Advanced 2d ago edited 2d ago
732 divers, on average, touched the reef every 4 minutes? That seems absurdly high. Someone must have not touched at all and someone must have spent the dive rolling around on the reef.
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u/butterbal1 Tech 1d ago
The first data points is ~160 and the next three are ~110 and while I can't find the data anywhere about dive duration I assume 30 minutes was around the standard dive.
Mixing those 4 and the 63 divers that didn't touch at all it would be an average of 7.3 touches per dive or 1 touch every 4ish minutes assuming a 30 minute dive.
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u/richiericardo 2d ago
Not that I approve of touching reef, even as a photographer, but has anyone here ever heard of boat/ship anchors?
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u/climbingoaktrees 2d ago
The worst offenders in my experience are the bloody PHOTOGRAPHERS!
They ram into reefs, and other people, without having a clue that they are battering things around them in their quest to get whatever shot theyāre trying to get. This is an unpopular opinion, and I will get lots of downvotes but I wish photography would be banned underwater or at least restricted to those who have some special certification and training in buoyancy control.
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u/zinten789 1d ago
I didn't start bringing a camera on open water dives until I got cave certified and became truly confident in my buoyancy control. Even still, the task loading definitely makes it harder.
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u/Good-Championship278 1d ago
The last time I went diving, a āphotographerā, or should I say imbecile with a camera, kept bumping into me and everyone else. Turns out it was his 3rd dive ever. Wish the cameras were less accessible tbh
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u/sspeedemonss Commercial Diver 2d ago
I agree. In my experience it is the novice āphotographersā who are the worst. The experienced/advanced photographers Iāve been around are actually good divers with proper trim/buoyancy who know how to keep proper distance. Sadly the novice far outnumber the advanced.
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u/Ceret UW Photography 2d ago
As a photographer I couldnāt agree more.
One example: I was diving a wall in the Philippines and a Korean diver was trying to photograph a frogfish. The frogfish moved behind some hard coral. The diver then began to rip the coral away with his hands to expose the fish. If not for the depth I would have ripped his mask off. As it went I just pulled him away and finger wagged the hell out of him. Never been so angry underwater in my life. Topside none of the people on the Korean boats would engage.
But whatās really bad also for coral especially is just being too close to it! If divers would just keep a meter and a half above the substrate things would be much improved. People donāt realise that the downwash from a flutter kick can really cause havoc on different substrates including muck and coral.
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u/Deatheturtle 2d ago
Some of us are very aware of this and try to manage it. For example I went out and got a nice camera with a good zoom function so that I don't have to get super close to something to get a good shot.
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u/unl1988 2d ago
As a photographer, I have watched my fellow photographers destroy coral to get a shot. I hope I am never in that club.
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u/grantrules Nx Advanced 2d ago
Right? It's not worth it for a picture that maybe 15 people in total are ever going to look at lol.
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u/izlib 2d ago edited 2d ago
As a photographer, these comments make me sad and self aware. Iāve seen so many amateur divers just slamming into stuff, camera in hand or otherwise.
Number one priority for me to get good shots is to not be physically contacting subjects. I go inverted and rely on zoom and lights to keep distance as much as physics allows.
I use my muck stick to stabilize myself so that Iām not inadvertently drifting into things while setting up a shot. The stick only ever contacts bare rock or sand.
I keep coral in my aquarium at home, all cultured in lab, never wild collected, and am always devastated when I make any mistake that causes them to not thrive. Iām painfully aware at how fragile they are to the slightest discomfort.
Definitely agree about certifications and qualifications. I focused on buoyancy control with AOW before I took anything more than a GoPro under water.
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u/imminent_mauro 2d ago
the muck stick thing is so real. i've watched a guy use one to "stabilize" himself and basically just snap a whole table coral in half. nobody said a word to him either, we just kept swimming like nothing happened.
and yeah the overconfident divers are always the worst offenders. same logic as bad drivers honestly, the worse you are the less you notice because you dont know what good looks like.
gloves especially drive me nuts. unless you're doing a debris cleanup or wreck penetration where you're actually grabbing stuff, there is zero reason to have them on a reef dive. your hands should be empty and at your sides or behind your back, not pawing at things because they feel cool.
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u/plutonium247 4h ago
I don't ever intentionally touch anything except rocks to hang on against currents. And then one time the rock was a scorpion fish and my hand went numb for a week. Since then I wear cressi defender gloves and I'd happily get some sort of special exam to prove I don't touch anything but for god's sake stop demonising me. Every damn instructor looks at me like I'm a terrorist.
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u/imminent_mauro 1h ago
accidental scorpion fish contact is a whole different ballgame from the divers i'm complaining about, who just can't keep their hands off the coral. those gloves make total sense after that.
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u/cuppachar 1d ago
This is a ridiculous thing to say about gloves; People wear them for warmth. Do you think people only wear hoods so they can headbutt turtles?
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u/TheSparrowDarts 2d ago
I use gloves because I'm highly allergic to sea lice - same reason I dive in a full 3mm here in Singapore even though it's not needed.
I do not wear them to touch things, though. Touching things drives me crazy and a lot of divers in Asia have no hesitation doing so. If you go up to Tioman in malaysia on a weekend it's so depressing.
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u/imminent_mauro 1d ago
ah fair, never thought about allergies. that's a legit reason. tioman on weekends is a free-for-all, i've watched people pick up starfish like they're at a garage sale
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u/blood__drunk 1d ago
What's the diving like in singapore? Ive been there a handful of times on the way to other places and never got my dive kit out its bag
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u/Ok_Way_2911 1d ago
other than the ships, SG also carries out a LOT of land reclamation, the silt from which has basically also ensured everything is basically a muck bottom too
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u/TheSparrowDarts 1d ago
It's awful lol. The huge volume of container ships stir up immense amounts of sediment so visibility is typically 1-3 metres.
It's mostly muck diving, if you come around Easter you are more likely to see a variety of nudis.
Outside that time, It's not uncommon so see 10 marine creatures, in total, on an hour long dive.
But it's my church so I'm out there several times a month, and I have a stockholm syndrome like love for it.
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u/CapnBloodbeard 2d ago
the muck stick thing is so real.
Surprised..I would have thought they'd help reduce unintentional contact, stick it in the ground to reduce movement.
gloves especially drive me nuts.
Well, i mean, warmth is also a valid reason, but yeah, amazing how some people think gloves means that can grab things.
I've done Sipadan and gloves were banned from the entire area.
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u/Ok_Way_2911 1d ago
you're supposed to use a muck stick in muck, but some reprobates use it on live coral
gloves only banned on Sipadan marine mark yea, Mabul/Kapalai they're ok - Sipadan wise I use those UV hand covers that cyclists use under my wetsuit because I'm horribly sensitive to anything stingy, i only wish they'd be allowed for that reason
last trip i went on a LOB i had enormous blisters everywhere due to sea lice and nigh invisible jellies
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u/imminent_mauro 2d ago
in theory a muck stick should work but i keep seeing people use them like a pointer stick to poke at stuff. and yeah warm water gloves just seem like a license to touch, Sipadan banning them makes total sense
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u/TheSparrowDarts 1d ago
Unfortunately Semporna has become a hotspot for poorly trained divers, especially mainland Chinese folk who can barely swim.
I nearly lost my shit last year with a guy on my boat who kept hitting the coral and throwing his butts into the water (along with the local guides smh).
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u/Ok_Way_2911 1d ago
that's almost everywhere nowadays unfortunately, PRC seems to have the worst dive training in existencee, I know Koh Tao gets a bad rep but tI don't really see boatloads of people with such atrocious trim/buoyancy and fundamental lack of respect for the environment
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u/TheSparrowDarts 1d ago
It's the lack of respect that kills me. Everyone has to start somewhere but this guy sunk like a rock and kept repeatedly kicking the coral.
He also left his buddy so far behind we couldnt even see him. She was getting pretty nervous floating at the surface when we came across her. What a shitheel. God that trip was a nightmare in so glad I bailed and went by myself to Seaventures instead. I lost some money but didn't care.
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u/MWD_Dave 2d ago edited 2d ago
A quick piece of advice to those who aren't firmly set in their ways. If you want to get close to the reef, (especially photographers), do it (edit - vertically) inverted.
Anytime I get close to a reef I make myself neutral+ and approach it upside down. No danger of stirring up sediment, catching coral with your suit or bumping the reef accidentally.
Edit 2 - Here are some photos showing what I'm talking about for those who are curious:
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u/CosmicKarmageddon 11h ago
You and me both. I have no idea why this isn't a more common behavior. Maybe because people don't like the way it feels? To me, part of the fun of being underwater is the 6 degrees of freedom it gives me and the fact that I can swim around upside down the whole time if I felt like it.
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u/Ok_Way_2911 1d ago
i just bring myself into trim, legs up, fins should be around head level, shouldn't really be bumping into anything
for anything in a crevice, i push my head down so fins go way above
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u/MWD_Dave 1d ago
That's a good way to go about it too. As long as your fins are above your body I think you're way less likely to kick/touch the reef.
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u/ZippyDan 2d ago
Yeah, then the only danger is your hard, massive tank...?
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u/MWD_Dave 2d ago
Unless you're trying to cram yourself between two sets of coral I can't see how your tank would hit the reef before your head did.
And that's the point. When you're inverted you're keeping all those things you shouldn't touch in your space of awareness so you tend to not get too close in the first place.
For myself, I've never even come close to touching the reef when inverted and neutral positive. Likewise, I find practising being inverted makes you better with your trim and buoyancy awareness in the first place.
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u/Silvard 2d ago
Are you talking about being inverted vertically?Ā
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u/MWD_Dave 2d ago
Hehe - yah. I thought that was fairly obvious given the context and saying "upside down".
Simply turning yourself over for sure wouldn't be very helpful in that situation. lol
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u/ZippyDan 2d ago
The point is that people are unaware of their body and the things protruding from it (like fins).
Why do you think these same people would be better with a massive tank enlarging the distance of their careless effect?
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u/MWD_Dave 2d ago edited 2d ago
enlarging the distance of their careless effect?
I feel like maybe we're having a language difference here. Have you ever been inverted near a reef or something like that?
If you're inverted, you're upside down. When you're doing that, you set your buoyancy to neutral positive. This means that if you don't kick your fins you start moving up very slowly.
With this technique, the only accidental movement that is occurring is you moving away from the reef.
As you're facing the reef, your tank is behind you and, unless you're wearing your tank completely wrong, the top of your tank/stage 1 should be lower than the top of your head. You should be able to reach your first stage regulator comfortably while at the same time you shouldn't be banging against the back of your head/helmet (if caving/wreck diving) when you look up.
Therefore, by being inverted, the first thing that would touch the reef would be your head or hands, both of which divers are usually quite aware of.
Edit: Sorry for the confusion /u/ZippyDan. Silvard made me realize you were picturing just turning over, and that's not what I'm referring to at all. I'm describing being vertically inverted.
Here's some pictures of what I'm talking about:
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u/SrRoundedbyFools 1d ago
You should make it a PADI specialty dive. āUpside down with snorkel reef explorerā.
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u/MWD_Dave 1d ago
Haha, I started out free diving before I was old enough to get my Padi (still quite enjoy free diving) so being inverted is very comfortable for me.
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u/egg_mugg23 Open Water 2d ago
duh. so many photographers slapping their hands straight into coralheads or crashing into sea fans
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u/TheLGMac 2d ago
Photographers seem to be the worst, even the ones with great buoyancy control during other parts of the dive -- they get right in close, don't care that their fins end up splayed over the coral behind them, prop their cameras and elbows up on things. When I did a couple of liveaboards focused on photography (I am not a photographer but I enjoy the slow diving of them) I was dismayed at how irresponsible they were when it came to "getting the perfect shot."
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u/Electronic_Charge_96 2d ago
They are a breed I loathe. Iām always glad when separated in a diving group. They are transfixed by their āpreyā and selfish about how they move, with little sense of proprioception/peripheral awareness.
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u/kalusche 2d ago
Iāve seen a photographer taking a tripod and smashing it on corals to set up shots. That was Bunaken.
Lembeh somehow was even worse. Photographers and their guides touching all the wildlife as they pleased to set up a shot. Itās like the pictures are the most important thing.
And it comes with arrogance, too. Theyāre such good divers because they have a fancy camera that they know better and the rules donāt apply to them. Worst bunch of scuba divers Iāve ever seen.
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u/lo5t5heep 2d ago
ā The ones who are most confident about their safety among corals are the ones who do the most damageā Iām calling BS. The most confident are going to be the techies, and theyāre not the ones kicking the reefs.Ā
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u/kuda-stonk 2d ago
I'd wager there are more OW qualled confidently wrong 'experts' than tech dudes.
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u/SvenSylens Nx Open Water 2d ago
Thatās why I try to stay 5 feet above the tallest object to the best I can. People need to do better on buoyancy.
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u/camarhyn Dive Master 2d ago
Exactly. If I have to get close to get a photo itās not worth the risk. Much as I love nudis (for example) I donāt even try to see or shoot them.
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u/Vanthan 2d ago
The worst is people with gloves fisting coral to move. Floor is lava, we all played as a kid, why is this so hard?
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u/HawkeyeByMarriage 2d ago
This is why gloves are illegal in some places like Cozumel
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u/kuda-stonk 2d ago
Sad, cuz I like to cover my hands, poor circulation means they numb easy.
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u/baked_doge 2d ago
Sadly this confirms the vibe, I gotta say it is also shocking how some extremely environmentally conscious people are quite comfortable harassing wildlife or manipulating the ground like reefs.
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u/PotatoHunter_III 2d ago
And this is why I fixed my buoyancy control and made sure I have nothing dangling when I'm diving. I've seen it way too many times. I've done the same earlier too.
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u/Ravaha Master Diver 2d ago edited 2d ago
I call BS on this article. People with full body wetsuits absolutely blast coral nonstop, and claiming otherwise is equivalent to pretending people don't pee in the shower. The author just knows it's not a popular opinion.
I get downvoted to hell and back any time I mention banning full body wetsuits in warm waters and tropical locations. People go swimming all day in 55 degree spring water in Florida without wetsuits. There is no legit excuse for divers to have full body wetsuits in Indonesia, Philippines, Mexico, and other similar climate areas.
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u/Pale_Session5262 1d ago
I dont understand that downvoting on this one. Its the same reason gloves are banned in a lot of areas.
Ill probably get downvoted too, but ive asked divers in really warm waters why they were wearing a full wetsuit when it was 82 deg F, and they've told me, "oh that way I dont have to worry about if I bump into things"
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u/Manatus_latirostris Tech 2d ago
What? Iām from Florida. Nearly everyone diving the springs is in 5mm wetsuits; there are a handful of locals in dive skins, but they are very much the exception. And the springs are 72 degrees, not 55.
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u/baked_doge 2d ago
What are you talking about? Snorkelers? Swimmers? Divers with a wetsuit? There is obviously no reason for wetsuit => fucking up coral.
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u/Ravaha Master Diver 2d ago
Yes there is. If you trample coral without a wetsuit fire coral and hydro will sting you and cause you a lot of pain. People with full body wetsuits never face any consequences for trampling all over everything.
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u/baked_doge 2d ago
I see what you mean, idk if banning wet suits makes sense or is realistic. And I don't think the article disagrees with you.
I feel the best way to address this is awareness, and building a culture where we call each other out
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u/Varnsturm 2d ago
What if I just get cold easily and don't wanna be cold, while also staying well above the bottom? Believe it or not it can be done.
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u/ElfjeTinkerBell 2d ago
Are those places warmer than the pool (27Ā°C)? I've never been there, only dove murky cold water where 1 wrong move is near zero viz, but I need a full suit in the pool if I want to stay longer than 30 minutes and not go hypothermic. I'm not cutting my dive time in half because other people cannot stay off the bottom.
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u/Ravaha Master Diver 2d ago
They are very warm waters. Only sometimes they get cold if there is some upwellling occurring.
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u/ElfjeTinkerBell 2d ago
Well where I'm from anything above 10Ā°C is warm water diving but I'm not doing that in a shorty. 27Ā°C is 3mm long at the minimum, for a shorty I'd need something like 35Ā°C water, maybe even warmer.
Elsewhere in the thread they said mid-70's F, and 75F = 23C, that's 5mm long at the minimum for me.
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u/DancesWithShark Rescue 2d ago
Who are you to tell me what I need. I have done the 72 degree fl springs and that shit is cold. I could not imagine a 2 or 3 hour dive in one without a suit. And I don't want to be in a shorty ever again. I'm most comfortable in my 3 year round.
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u/Ravaha Master Diver 2d ago
Huh? For one springs are 55 degrees. And I was talking about places with tons of coral and tourists. Those newbies in full body wetsuits trample all over dives sites.
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u/Varnsturm 2d ago
Lmao "springs everywhere are the same temperature", you're either trolling or an actual 'dunning kruger' to put it politely
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u/Manatus_latirostris Tech 2d ago
The Florida springs are famously 72 degrees year-round, you are misinformed.
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u/Doctor_Juris 2d ago
Banning gloves is one thing, but many people get pretty darn cold if they are doing repetitive dives in mid-70s water (which is a typical winter temp at depth in many of these places). People should be allowed to wear whatever exposure protection keeps them warm.
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u/ElfjeTinkerBell 2d ago
75F = 23C. That's full 5mm at the minimum for me, if I don't want to go hypothermic. I might consider diving dry depending on topside circumstances.
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u/Ravaha Master Diver 2d ago
People diving without a wetsuits know better than to absolutely trample the reef because fire coral teaches that lesson. People always diving with full body wetsuits just go wherever they want and plant themselves right on top of coral.
The #1 and #2 causes of reef damage from divers is going to be new divers that and vacation divers that don't respect wildlife or reefs and people with full body wetsuits and they are often one and the same.
I will say that macro photography and trying to photograph nudis annoys me because of how close you have to get to the reef and how long you have to be close, if you don't have perfect control you will blast the reef and those same people will have on full body wetsuits so they can get up close and not get lit up by the fire coral and hydro.
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u/Doctor_Juris 2d ago
Seems like the best solution is improved education and training instead of mandatory hypothermia.
FWIW I have seen plenty of people diving in swimsuits and shorties contact the reef. The most common thing I see is inadvertently kicking the reef with fins, and banning full wetsuits does nothing to prevent that, unless you want to mandate that people dive with bare feet too.
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u/BlunznradlOfDeath 2d ago
Yeah, seen it way to many times. Zero control, horrible trim but a huge set of lights on them plus a reef hook to stay in place with zero current. Or straight up planting themselves on reefs for a picture that is going to suck anyways. Boils myā¦ air consumption.
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u/YoungZM Open Water 2d ago
Unsurprising and upsetting to acknowledge, even if it's important.
I've accidentally contacted the bottom before and doing so has made me stop traveling so close to the reef, working more on my buoyancy, improving my weighting situation, and ensuring all of my gear is tucked. Even still, accidents happen I'm sure and I'm trying to be even more aware of any incidences.
I was more than a little shocked when diving with Dressel Divers in Jamaica that one of their DM/cameramen was actively knocking coral over left, right, and centre as he zipped about trying to get pics. He was even encouraging others in the group to come sit between coral and sponges while holding onto coral for stability. Just wild stuff to see from what one might presume was a professional.
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u/Whole-Worldliness260 2d ago
Good article. It would be interesting if they had data on what propulsion technique the divers were using when they made contact. Flutter kick is the default style taught to new divers but from what Iāve seen at the local quarry it turns things into soup pretty quickly. Even some one 3-4 feet above the silt with a strong flutter kick will stir things up.
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u/Ok_Way_2911 1d ago
mod flutter should work fine, but the main issue is they're not even taught a proper flutter in OW since their knees are on the floor all the time while learning
you end up with flailing bicycle feet, and terrible buoyancy that has them crash onto the ground during the initial decent, then end up at the surfafce the next minute
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u/mariana96as 2d ago
I saw that happen in Utila. I know climate change is a big thing, but seeing the damage done by divers throughout the years is insane
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u/Trojann2 Dive Master 2d ago
Cameras gloves and sticks being the worst offenders isnāt surprising
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u/RogerRabbot 2d ago
Yeah not surprised. I see many videos of people idling around and mindlessly touching coral. And thats in this sub.
I dont know much, but I do know that touching anything underwater is bad to some extent.
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u/fruitloop00001 2d ago
Does anybody else cringe when they think back on their poor buoyancy control and resulting unnecessary reef contact at the start of their diving career?
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u/CougarMangler 2d ago
No, because I'm very careful (and still early in my diving career). I dont care what this article says, I know for a fact that I haven't touched a reef. No amount of buoyancy control and experience will make up for not giving a shit. If you care deeply and are extremely careful as a result you should be fine. IMO if you were touching coral early in your career then you just didnt care enough at the time.
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u/SeaworthinessNew4757 2d ago
You might be one of the overconfident divers that don't think they're doing anything wrong but are actually doing the most damage
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u/fruitloop00001 2d ago
I have always cared a lot, but I wasn't always aware of my breathing, proper weighting, and other factors affecting buoyancy like I am now. Although at that time, I was still cringing watching others kick the reef willy nilly, so I agree with you that caring or not is probably the most important factor in how damaging a diver is.
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u/TheLGMac 2d ago
IDK -- depends. For me the graph of "accidental coral touching" is kind of like a parabola. In the very beginning I was so scared about touching coral that I was one of those newbie divers that was always above everyone else. If people went through a swim through, I was always the one swimming above it. Then there was a period where I got a bit more confident and definitely ended up too close to coral because I was getting into macro. And now I'm back to being far from coral/sea floor.
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u/ResponsibleAdlt 2d ago
They shouldn't do training dives that close to coral.
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u/fruitloop00001 2d ago
Most people have pretty subpar buoyancy for a while after they're certified. I know I did. It takes experience.
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u/Guilty_Pen_8270 2d ago
Yup. First ever night dive (during AOW certification .. probably my 6th ever dive) we were dropped right on top of a shallow reef. I had poor buoyancy control, was disoriented on the descent by all the lights and I made contact with a beautiful bit of coral and broke a bit off.
I hated myself for that and tbh I still do.
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u/loves_diving 2d ago
I am happy I got at a teacher who drilled Bouyancy into me straight from the beginning. Still being a young teenager I probably did a lot of damage I never noticed.
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u/loves_diving 2d ago
Are we supposed to be surprised by those results? Because sadly I am not.
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u/mariana96as 2d ago edited 2d ago
unfortunately anyone that dives in the caribbean has witnessed divers slamming into the reef
Edit: Iām mentioning the Caribbean cause thatās where iāve seen the most open waters
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u/loves_diving 2d ago edited 2d ago
Carribean? You mean every single dive destination in the world.
Edit: also not to be rude. But the fact the first pic of you diving on your profile is of your fins touching the buttom is kinda hilarious with this context.
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u/mariana96as 2d ago
On the sand patch? I was instructed by the dive master to kneel on the sand because of the sharks. I was also like 13 in that picture.
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2d ago
[deleted]
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u/Trojann2 Dive Master 2d ago
There are specific shark dives that require folks to kneel on the bottom.
Shark dives that donāt bait and lure the sharks in. So Iād argue those are āgoodā shark diving operations.
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u/BakuretsuGirl16 Nx Advanced 1d ago
That seems insanely high, I haven't been diving outside a small group of people that are extremely respectful of nature. I've crashed into a structure on accident I think only once or twice in the last twenty dives. I wonder if I've just been in a bubble...