Went diving recently and was mortified to see that the dive boat was anchored to a coral head! Spoke to captain, who did not respond verbally. Later spoke with owner of shop, who said that this wasn't done deliberately but that it is difficult to anchor at that site. Has anyone else had such an experience? Is it unusual? How have you handled it? Personally I would rather not dive at all than contribute to the destruction of reef.
Anchor on the coral head!
- Thread starter jomcclain
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What is wrong with a live boat drop? No need to anchor.
I've been fortunate enough to never have dealt with this situation. My opinion is that it is very unusual, and that most dive ops understand that the health of the reef is important for the health of their business. I'm sure other dive ops in the area would be concerned (or more) to know that the owner you spoke with thinks it's just too "difficult" to drop an anchor without destroying part of the reef.
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I have read that normally boat Captains in tropical areas know where they can drop anchor without damaging a reef, though I would guess it's not an exact science. As far as a live boat drop, there are probably places where this is not desirable--such as anchoring near a wreck, etc. But I'm not an expert in either case.
Scuba-Blue-13
Contributor
How many times a day/week is that boat going to that site and anchoring on a different part of the reef because they have customers coming through the door that want to dive?
It doesn't sound like this is an isolated incident, so how much additional damage is being done each week / month / year?
Maybe outing the shop that doesn't care about the health of our reefs will keep people from using them, which in turn means they're making less trips to that dive site, which means less damage being done in the process.
By knowing, and not sharing, you're doing a disservice to the other divers on this board that would prefer to not patronize an op like this, a disservice to the reef by allowing them to continue their destructive behavior, and a true disservice to the sport by allowing an op to go out and provide cannon fodder for those who believe we are a contributing factor to the decimation of the world's natural reefs.
Of course - this is just my 2 cents - your opinions may vary.
There is a forum called Thumbs Down on here which is for this exact purpose. Also, I could not agree more completely with @Scuba-Blue-13
R
redacted
Guest
In the location where you experienced this, it is the normal method of anchoring.
Believe me, I have lain awake and agonized over this. There is a personal situation that is keeping me from telling. If and when that changes, I will tell. This may seem cowardly, but it's what I have to do for now.
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