Suntan lotion and diving in Cozumel

[scubajen]

I thought I had read somewhere that said you should not wear
suntan lotion when you are diving because it can hurt the coral.
Is that true and if so is there any suntan lotion products out there
that someone can recommend that would be safe to use?

 

[Tropics Diver]

scubajen once bubbled...
I thought I had read somewhere that said you should not wear
suntan lotion when you are diving because it can hurt the coral.

It also hurts you when it comes off inside your mask and irritates your eyes. Just put it on well before diving and it will have soaked in before you hit the water.

Another alternative is to just skip the sunscreen and use a hat and a coverup such as a diveskin.

 

[Diver Kat]

I had also heard that some places were getting a bit ugly about too much suntan lotion ending up in the water, although nothing was said when I was in Coz. We use Bullfrog - which is a sunscreen gel rather than a lotion. You put it on before you go out, it dries almost instantly on your skin and has no oily greasy residue. I have had no problems with it coming off and irritating my eyes in my mask, as it's waterproof. You have to wash it off with soap & water. I just got back from a week in Coz, and had no sunburn what-so-ever - and I'm normally an easy burner. I heard about it years ago - supposedly it was developed or used by the Marines, and it used to be hard to find, but now is pretty much in any drugstore.

(Hopefully no one will come back, burst my bubble and tell me it's terribly harmful to the enviroment .....)

 

[Diver Lori]

I don't know about Coz, oceans and sunscreen, but I do know that the different guides doing the cenote snorkling trips will not allow you to wear sunscreen in the cenotes.

I've cave dived the cenotes the last 2 years and have overheard the snorkling ops really going up one side and down the other with the tourist and their sunscreen.

 

[mofosaurus]

developed for the marines?

first time I've ever heard that.

as far as I know bullfrog has been readily available here in Orange County since the early 80's=-)

 

[rjdiver]

Bullfrog was available in Dallas in the mid-80's. It was great while playing in a lot of grass volleyball tourneys. Check out their website at http://www.bullfrogsunscreen.com/home.asp

Great stuff!!!

 

[SCUBAKristey]

For bringing this up. I cannot remember the brand it is, I only know it when I see the bottle, but I buy a type at REI that's environmentally friendly. Sunscreens of ALL kinds hurt the reef systems, which is why last year, when I did my first OW dives down in Akumal, I skipped sunscreen as I had forgotten to throw it in my bag. (It had been a couple hours since I put it on that morning.)
If in doubt, the stores down there also sell types of sunscreen you can use. (I do remember seeing Sea & Ski down there...along with a BullFrog.) The bottles will say something specific if it's coral friendly- otherwise it's not. (This is what I learned from emailing the dive op before I ever went down there as I remembered reading it on a few Riviera Maya websites!)