Sipadan. No more corals = no more sushi/sashimi.

[eugene73]

Well all considered Im happy that there is a 120 limit in Sipadan. Despite what others may think. Imagine the wanton destruction that would happen if there wasnt a controlled figure.

if everyone who dives there are considerate and takes care of the environment (or are made accountable if something is destroyed), there won't be a need for the 120 limit...

i for one am disappointed i get to dive Sipadan only one out of the 3 days my gf and i were there. Unfortunately for us, there were strong winds the night before, and visibility dropped to below 10m on the morning of our dives.

Also the risk to life as the amount of boats increased.

this might sound like a stupid question to all the experienced divers, but, does anyone use SMBs in recreational diving?

we bought a set each for our AOW back in August, brought them along for the dives, but noticed the DMs (and other divers) not using theirs, so we didn't deploy ours...

Lack of education and coral destruction happens at many oher sites too. There is a responsibility of all divers and Dive Ops operating near fragile coral reefs to ensure the environment is protected. And there should be accountability if this is not adhered to.

more legislation means more situations like the Sipadan permits etc. i sincerely hope it doesn't get to that for other dive sites in the region. raying:

 

[gee13]

In Crystal Bay, Nusa Penida there can be 25 boats all in one area, so if you can imagine the number of divers and boats... diving with divers en masse is not enjoyable, esp when everyone is out to spot Mola, once they are seen they dissapear fairly quickly because of this. The Op I dived with the Dms launched a DSMB before ascent. SMBs were in hire bcs but you'd use this if you got lost out at sea. They are not designed to be deployed at ascent. Even then, with the number of boats coming in and out it can be dangerous. In Sipadan we would ususally have a dive site all to ourselves, bar drop off/ barracuda pt. If you want to visit and dive Sipadan, then it makes sense to book for a longer period. 3 days and you cant expect much, you're lucky to even get a day. I was there for 5 days diving and had 3 full days on Sipadan that's 9 dives. On the other 2 days I managed to get an afternoon seat from someone that had pulled out. So all in 11 dives about 10 hours bottom time was great.

 

[LeoS]

This thread reminds me of a DC promotional video I saw the other day..

YouTube - Amazing Killer Octopus eats a scuba diver in Sydney Australia!!!

It's almost like they're promoting animal harassment =(

 

[giorgiana]

I just saw this video and the comments... it's so sad that DM's are doing that to the octopus, they attract the wrong kind of people and give a very bad idea of diving to everyone who's watching.
I think that they should be contacted by their organization -PADI as they are the winners of 'Outstanding dive center '
All the organizations whether PADI or others should have responsibility and obligations to reinforce good standards. The courses are not very cheap and I'm sure a large part of the money goes to the diving organization, so they should make greater efforts to keep standards high for dive centers as well as for divers. I saw comments on other threads in which more experienced divers than me complaint that these organizations, even if they know that inappropriate things happen in some dive centers, they do nothing about it.
I see that they ( this Abyss DC) advertise even 2-day courses which seems to little time if you ask me to learn everything and have the ability to dive without endangering yourself or the coral.
I've dived in Sharm el sheik and have seen similar problems . Large parts of dead coral and many divers who are not aware of the things around them and not have any buoyancy control so they are smashing into the coral
They should be kept away from it until they learn how to control themselves, but diving seems to be more and more commercial and accessible to everyone , and the need for money I think, leads to more and more destruction on diving sites
I will go to Sipadan and Mabul in the second week of February and i hope i will not witness problems like these :signofcross:

 

[mrdohc]

imo, this is even worse: YouTube - Shark Bites Diver
i will never stereotype. there are same type of people all over the world: Asian, American, European... in this example, he was even "proud of himself" sad!!

 

[ScubaSteve]

What a friggin' moron. He is living proof it has been too long since we added chlorine to the gene pool.

 

[Pony]

There ARE all kinds of divers and races that do not have any regards for the reef or marine life. The only way to deal with these divers is through education AND then a good ass chewing on the boat afterwards.

The older I get the less I care what they might think of me for doing so. I personally told a women (with her son) that if I seen her standing on the coral or breaking off pieces to steady herself for a camera shot one more time; I would personally take her camera and sink it to the abyss. Her husband became I little irritated with me so I told him he could also join the camera She did NOT take the camera with on the rest of the dives and stayed away from the coral. The dive master was very greatful to me as he could never to that to a "customer" no matter how badly he wanted.

We need to be proactive in dealing with divers of this nature; nicely first, and if that doesn't work something a little harsher.

 

[ScubaSteve]

.....and if that doesn't work something a little harsher.

Like a shark bite

 

[eugene73]

Why are there dive operators offering such trips where you can harass marine animals? I cannot imagine any of the agencies condoning such business practices..

 

[ScubaSteve]

Why are there dive operators offering such trips where you can harass marine animals? I cannot imagine any of the agencies condoning such business practices..

In this case it is nothing to do with an agency....it is just something stupid that an operator decided to do in order to make more profit. I hope the lawsuit (assuming there was one) closed him down for good. The world is a better place with fewer operators doing such things.

I went on a SIMILAR dive in St. Maarten but it was only similar in that there were sharks around and there was food. Basically, 20 or so divers were overweighted and dropped in 65 feet of water and we all held onto cinder blocks in a semicircle surrounding a diver in the center with a box of fish parts and a long feeding rod. The sharks were black tip reefs and the biggest was about 6'. The guy would sit for a while with sharks buzzing him, then feed one (food on end of "long" pole) and then he would sit again. There were times when he interacted and touched the sharks but we were not allowed to move until we had to surface. He was not stupid enough to put a shark forcefully anywhere his face.