Earning your first scuba diving certification is always exciting! Now that you are qualified for scuba diving, suddenly half of the world that previously lies hidden is opened up for you. Amazing things exits beneath the veil of the water. No matter whether it’s your first or hundredth time, going down there will always give the excitement of discovering a mesmerising, totally different life and creatures than we have in the world above. Arrays of colourful sponges and corals, schools of tropical fishes, pelagic patrolling the sea, to the weird little critters of all shapes and colours crawling between the sands—everything is so fascinating to watch. All of these are the treasures of the ocean we must protect. Unfortunately though, taking care of the ocean might not be taught in your scuba diving for beginners courses.
Scuba diving for beginners guide on respecting the ocean:
It takes our awareness to keep the ocean and its creatures healthy, really. Now is the time to take a step for being a responsible diver. This is how you could improve as a diver and be a good friend for our dearest ocean.
Be aware of your fins
It’s easy for scuba diving beginners to get carried away especially during their first dives. If you are not careful with your fins, however, you could harm the marine life. Soma corals are fragile and a careless swept of a fin could break the corals. This could cause injury and the death of the coral, even if you don’t intend to.
Scuba diving beginners frequent mistake: touching the marine life
The marine animals is not your pet dog or cat. They are essentially wild animal, no matter how cute. Touching can lead to stress and scare the animals away, leaving nothing to see to other divers. Most marine animals also have slimy films on their skin that mainly protects them from infections. Touching the animals could remove this layer of film which could lead them to infection. We still see so many scuba divers get attempted to touch underwater animals especially exotic creatures like Manta Ray, dolphins, blue shark and many other. This ethos might not be something you learnt during your scuba diving for beginners lessons, but this is something you should be aware of for the rest of your scuba days.
No human food allowed for the marine animals
Leave your burgers on the land. No fish wants to eat what you eat, human. Just, what’s wrong with you? Giving human food to the marine animals also create unhealthy dependency for them. Keep them wild and keep the food for yourself.
Don’t leave anything on the ocean
You are the guests of the marine life. And good guests will never leave anything in their host’ home. Respect the animals by not throwing plastic bottles, straw, and anything, really. No excuse for trashing the home of the fishes that we love so much.
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What You Need to Know Before Having Scuba Diving Nusa Penida
Scuba diving beginners, watch on your sunscreen
This is something that not many scuba diving beginners is aware of. Your sunscreen might contain some chemical components that are damaging to the coral reefs. If your sunscreen still contains Oxybenzone (Benzophenone-3), it’s time to switch to a coral-friendly sunscreen.
Never, ever take anything from the ocean
You should not call yourself a scuba diver if you still get attempted to take any “souvenir” from the ocean. Dead or alive, anything from the sea belongs to the sea.