Dive Trip

ECO-TIPS FOR YOUR NEXT SCUBA DIVING TRIP

As environmental pressure increases, it’s essential to try to travel eco-friendly. With that in mind, here are eco-tips for your next scuba diving trip. With today’s eco options, you can still go on vacation and be a good ocean supporter.

BE A CONSCIOUS SHOPPER

Today’s advancements give us various options when shopping for gear and clothing. Put the oceans first, seek out items manufactured using ethical materials, and avoid businesses that use harmful practices. Avoiding questionable shops and souvenirs is another way to shop while away.

CHOOSE A GREEN OPERATOR

Like shopping options in the fin aisle, take time to weigh your options on dive operations. Be an ocean advocate by aligning yourself with a business that has a strong eco-commitment. Educate yourself on sustainable practices to make an informed decision before your trip.

PLAN AHEAD

Plan your trip and stick to it like a dive plan. Think back on your last vacation — what do you need every day? Try to bring common-use items from home and plan so you can opt-out of receiving polluting plastic or styrofoam.

CONSIDER CARBON

Airplanes produce harmful gases, and the world’s carbon emissions are rising. Whether vacation locally or internationally, consider the distance you will travel and how you can offset your carbon footprint.

GO CHEMICAL-FREE

Don’t contaminate the ocean with unnecessary chemicals. As divers are in and out of the water all day, products easily wash off your body and clothing, spreading harmful, unfiltered chemicals. Go natural by avoiding make-up, detergents, and reef-damaging chemicals. Cover up if going natural isn’t possible. Choose “reef safe” purchases for gear, lotions, soaps, and hair treatments.

POLICE POLLUTION

Monitor pollution by being conscious of waste and collecting debris during your dives. You can request items with minimal packaging and put your rubbish into the trash with a lid or recycle bin. Wrappers, plastic bottles, cigarette butts, fishing lines, and forms of aluminum like cans are some of the biggest debris problems. PADI’s Project AWARE made it simple to police pollution by giving a free survey kit available for download. Enjoy a dive and do your part at the same time.

BECOME A DISCIPLINED DIVER

If not paying attention, a scuba diver with buoyancy control problems can damage coral with fin kicks.

Diving can be damaging to the ecosystem by disturbing sediments and damaging corals, even by accident. When almost two million scuba divers take vacations every year, their effects make dramatic changes without self-awareness. Streamline buoyancy, controlling your movements, weighting correctly, and keeping fins off the reef are just a few self-awareness duties you can do. Buoyancy and photography classes are suitable certifications to try. Bouncy changes your view on the ease of scuba diving when it’s easier to relax.

DON’T TOUCH ANYTHING

Sometimes we need a little reminder. As the saying goes, “take only pictures and leave only bubbles.” Don’t touch coral or reach out for marine life; encourage others to do the same by setting a good example. Lead your dive by example. Every fish, creature, and diver in the ocean plays a vital part in the balance of life in the sea. Easy, leave the dive site exactly as you found it.