Scuba Monster
Contributor
We just got back from Maui and did 18 dives while we were there. All of my experience diving until last week has been in different places throughout the Caribbean. I am not a "fish" according to scubaboard standards, but we do have quite a variety of places we've dived over the past 5 1/2 years and logged a quite a few dives for "vacation divers." In Maui, I noticed many of the divers grabbing the reef, not by accident but just a full on grab of healthy coral, constantly, to do whatever ... stop, look at something, take a photo, pose for one, take a brake from the "current," etc. Also, many divers wore gloves, but they were not necessary. The majority of the divers I observed grabbed hold of healthy coral (not dead) whenever they wanted ... bad, good, and experienced divers.
Just curious ... has anyone else noticed a difference regionally vs. the Caribbean with reef grabbing? Many of the divers I spoke with on the boat were used to cold water diving, hence the gloves. My theory is that it might be the glove thing. Again, we were diving with all kind of levels of dive experience, so I don't think is was the newbie thing.
I've seen this in the Caribbean too, but not this noticable and frequent. A few dive trips ago a guy diving with gloves manhandled a remora off nurse shark that ended up attaching to my leg and wouldn't get off! Many places ban gloves in the Caribbean, such as Cozumel, for the exact reason that they don't want you to be tempted touch and our skin oils potentially kill the reef if you touch it. Anyway, grabbing the reef drives me so crazy when I see it!
Just curious ... has anyone else noticed a difference regionally vs. the Caribbean with reef grabbing? Many of the divers I spoke with on the boat were used to cold water diving, hence the gloves. My theory is that it might be the glove thing. Again, we were diving with all kind of levels of dive experience, so I don't think is was the newbie thing.
I've seen this in the Caribbean too, but not this noticable and frequent. A few dive trips ago a guy diving with gloves manhandled a remora off nurse shark that ended up attaching to my leg and wouldn't get off! Many places ban gloves in the Caribbean, such as Cozumel, for the exact reason that they don't want you to be tempted touch and our skin oils potentially kill the reef if you touch it. Anyway, grabbing the reef drives me so crazy when I see it!