Tip of the Day – 3/6/2013

This should go without saying, but when you’re diving on wild reefs, treat the corals as if they were the ones in your tank. You know, the ones you’ve just paid $50 an inch for. Corals in the wild can be quite hardy, often riding out bouts warm weather and predation from all sorts of coral eating fish and inverts. Unfortunately, they don’t fare well against human interaction. Divers, both SCUBA and snorkel, stand on corals and harass other wildlife to the point that they become stressed and die. Add in a healthy dose of sunscreen, and you’ve got a formula for disaster. So, when entering the ocean, have a look but don’t touch mentality and avoid bumping into corals, especially because so many other divers are probably already tearing the reefs up as it is.