Dive Your Way to a Healthier Planet!
Being a responsible scuba diver is important wherever you are diving and there are many actions that responsible divers can do from home, in their day to day lives too! The great news about being a responsible scuba diver is that it has a major feel good factor, and together we can make a difference and raise awareness – all of which leads to healthier dive sites, a healthier planet and happy divers!
Here are some tips for responsible diving underwater and some actions you can take from home too:
1. Have an appropriate certification to dive
If you are not already a diver, find a good dive centre and get certified to dive! If you are a diver, keep learning and getting trained. Don’t stop at the Open Water Course. The more you learn, the more confident and competent you become.
This not only increases your personal safety underwater, it also means you’ll learn about how to dive to limit your impact on the coral reef and marine life. The dive sites you visit will stay preserved for you and other divers to enjoy dive after dive.
2. Don’t touch the coral reef or marine life
Did you know that corals are living animals? Corals need to be treated with the same respect you would give other creatures. Touching corals can lead to nasty stings and, as humans, we can actually infect the reef by having different natural bacteria and micro-organism on our skin. Contamination from humans can be deadly for coral reefs, and for the fish living there. Hard coral is often covered with a thin layer of live tissue which protects it, but when touched by humans, this layer is damaged and no longer functions.
The basic rules of sustainable scuba diving are:
- don’t touch the corals
- don’t take any coral or shells out of the ocean
3. Be in control of your movements
Being in control of your movements makes you look more accomplished underwater and you’ll be ensuring the longevity of the reef by not making contact with it. As an ‘in control’ diver, beginners will look up to you and follow your example.
Having good control underwater comes through proper training and supervised practice.
4. Control your buoyancy
Divers with good buoyancy control are looked up to wherever they dive. Be a good role model with excellent skills and you’ll gain the respect of your buddies in no time and help preserve our reefs. Good buoyancy control also means that your air will last longer so you can dive for longer. You’ll be able to avoid crashing into the reef or making contact with the bottom. You’ll also be able to manoeuvre better meaning you can get up closer to the marine life and corals. You’ll reduce your stress and anxiety level in the process – meaning more relaxed and comfortable dives. If you want to use an underwater camera and take home great images when you dive on the Similans, then good buoyancy control is essential.
If you are not sure about your buoyancy control, or struggle with neutral buoyancy, take your Advanced Open Water Course with us in Khao Lak, or book a personalised refresher with one of our experienced instructors.
5. Wear the appropriate equipment properly
If you want to look and feel great underwater, you have to have the right equipment, and it has to fit correctly. Oversized gear or a ‘too-snug’ fit is both uncomfortable and unsafe. Ask us about what gear you should have and how it should fit to give the best performance. If your gear isn’t right for you, you’ll struggle with buoyancy and are more likely to damage the reef as your focus becomes on your gear and not on your surroundings.
Make sure that all gear is tucked away and that nothing is trailing or dangling which can cause to damage to the reef or even lead to entanglement.
Check out equipment in our on-line dive shop, order items in advance and they will be ready for you to collect when you join us!
6. Don’t pollute the water
For the sake of both land and marine species, it’s increasingly important today to be responsible and try your best to reduce your environmental footprint. Never throw any litter or trash, even organic, in the ocean. Pick up any trash that you see while diving and others will follow your example. Role model good behaviour at home too. Try to reduce your use of plastic by using eco-bags for your shopping and think twice about buying items that are overly packaged. Be a trailblazer and get active on social media about what you are doing to reduce your own plastic consumption.
7. Educate yourself – and tell others
The more people know about something, the greater their interest in protecting it. Learn about corals and marine life and share your findings with others. Not only will you impress them with your knowledge, you’ll be helping to create the next generation of educated scuba divers who, like you, want to protect our amazing underwater environments.
8. Be an Ocean Advocate
Being a scuba diver is not just about what we do when we are diving. It’s about our behaviours at home too. Be a better diver every day by becoming aware of global issues such as climate change and overfishing. Join online conservation groups and be a leading voice on social media. Join us in contributing to the growing wave of awareness and change!
9. Promote Scuba Diving and the Underwater World
Share your underwater pictures and talk with your friends, family and neighbours about your adventures and experiences when scuba diving. The more people that are interested in diving, the more powerful our collective voice becomes.
Are you ready to put these points into action? Get started and give yourself something to look forward to when you can travel again by booking a PADI Dive course, or your next trip to go diving in Khao Lak now! Contact us via our online contact form in the footer below, or send us an email to: info@go2similan.com
Scuba Diving with Go2Similan
At Go2Similan we follow all recommendations regarding health and hygiene standards when diving and we have new procedures in place to ensure that gear is disinfected and all recommendations are being met. Our priority is always your comfort and safety.
- If you’d like to learn to dive
- if you are a certified diver and you’d like to join a dive trip,
- find out about a diving liveaboard or
- if you have any questions about diving, health or corona virus and diving
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