Lessons to be learned-Death in Palau

[Scuba]

On Reef Hooks - -
If you have never been there and dove a reef hook get off the tree hugging environmental banner. Witout hooking in you can cross off about 1/4 of Palau's dives (and the best dives at that). The alternative is to crawl along the bottom in gloves like most Asian divers do, or not do the dive at all. All said and done there is about a 10yd x 40yd area of Blue Corner effected. Only the hook touches, and the diver floats like a kite above the reef. Compare the growth on Blue Corner to anywhere on the west side of Grand Cayman and talk to me about reef damage.

Would this 1/4 of Palau's dives be the worst if a reef hook is not used. How would you rate them as a drift dive?

Good photo, Diver Dennis. It makes it easy to see how a newby can have problems if he looses his balance on a strong current.

If an area of 10 yds by 40 yds is already heavily damaged, and some divers hold on to and crawl on that part of the reef as the picture shows, what is the point in using, what certainly appears to me, to be the more dangerous practice of utilizing a reef hook?

 

[Diver Dennis]

Well, one is photography and it is easier on the hands. That reef hook has a handle which most people use. I would not recommend tying yourself off until you get used to currents.
The other cool thing with a reef hook is that you can float up and be in the middle of ig schools of barracuda, jack and some times a few sharks that come close.

Using a reef hook with a handle is not dangerous if you are careful and it does not take much to get used to.

 

[Diver Dennis]

Who brought this thread back to life, and how the heck did this turn into the bash PADI olympics?

If you are not going to say how your agency would have done better, than lay off the PADI bashing nonsense. I am a PADI instructor, I lived and worked in Palalu for a year (and not on a live aboard), I'll be more than up front about that.

There was more then enough blame to go around in this case. Recreational diving does not imply NO RISK or guaranteed safety. People seem to think if you are not GUE with a BP/W setup you are a knucklehead. Peleliu is some serious diving. Doing that dive on the second day of these people's outing, with a 13:1 ratio was pure insanity.

Do we even know if the guide/instructor was PADI or NAUI? There is a fair smattering of each out there. Just because the Agressor pitches itself as a PADI 5 start doesn't mean there are not instructors from other agencies onboad. Is there a PADI standard that covers how to bring 13 people into ripping current? Not likely. Would common sense have dictated otherwise, heck yes.

On Reef Hooks - -
If you have never been there and dove a reef hook get off the tree hugging environmental banner. Witout hooking in you can cross off about 1/4 of Palau's dives (and the best dives at that). The alternative is to crawl along the bottom in gloves like most Asian divers do, or not do the dive at all. All said and done there is about a 10yd x 40yd area of Blue Corner effected. Only the hook touches, and the diver floats like a kite above the reef. Compare the growth on Blue Corner to anywhere on the west side of Grand Cayman and talk to me about reef damage.

enough said.

I agree with everything you said here. Peleliu can be VERY serious.

 

[SassyScubaGal]

Kevin,
You cannot possibly belive that only the hook touches the coral. What about fins, hands, the line from the hook etc. I was only there for 7 days and personally witnessed serious damage from all of the above on virtually every hook-in dive and I was with mostly "expert" divers. OK, maybe it is only an area the size of a football field at Blue Corner. I must be brainwashed into thinking we shouldn't destroy coral. Your comment about the damage to Grand Cayman is the exact reason we should be tree huggers and try to save Palau. If you are a dive professional and you don't even care because it is not that large of an area, the reef is screwed.

What if we could not dive some or all of the sites in order to protect the environment? That is EXACTLY what I am advocating. The sites in Palau cannot be visited by the scuba industry without destroying them so people should not go. Once again, I wish I didn't and I am never going back and I am never diving anywhere that requires me to damage a reef.

And, Dennis, believe me I understand how the reef hook is supposed to be used. As you know, the damage occurs when you hook in and touch the reef and then when the line leads away from the hook and rubs on the front and top of the coral head you hooked into. Not once you have inflated your BCD after hooking in and are 2 meters away. You know that. The proof is in the reef. It is already damaged. Anyone with the exprience you have must be able to think this through. If scuba divers of varying degrees of skill are descending upon the reef, day in and day out, hooking into dead or sometimes partially dead coral under a stressful diving situation, there is going to be significant contact with the reef. Compare Blue Corner to the other less-frequented sites. It is more dead.

Lastly, your photo perfectly illustrates my point. We as divers who think we can do this without damaging the reef are still part of the problem even though it may be painful for us to admit. I admit it. I damaged the reef by spending 10K in Palau and making the economics viable for these companies. You did it too even if you didn't touch the reef except with your reef hook. The person behind you grabbing onto the reef is the proof that the diving community should stand up and say this is not working. We cannot continue to dive in Palau on these sites that require a reef hook or holding on and have the reef live. It is a choice. Entertainment for people and a dead reef or we go another way. The choice is yours and ours.

I gotta weigh in with Ilikeair on this one guys... I HAVE been to Palau and AM familair with reef hooks... And I am not a "tree hugger" just because I believe that divers have a personal responsibility to and stewardship for the under water environment. So you can only see approx 1/4 of Palau's sites with out a reef hook? So what. Do you really think it's OK for divers to trash the coral just because they want to "see more"? (This goes for holding on to it too!)

Btw, I was in the Maldives last year & some on our live-aboard used hooks, some didn't... We came up a wall onto a plateau where the current was just ripping over it... 2 buddy teams were on the top with hooks hanging on for dear life... We just dropped a couple of feet below the ridge for some protection & enjoyed a nice drift dive... Shot a bag for our stop & came up when finished. No complaints that we didn't see enough of the reef... How great it was to cruise with the current & fish & feel like you were part of the environment instead of just camping out on top of it to "watch the show."

And KevinK, sorry but I can't buy your damage comparison of Blue Corner to the west side of Grand Caymans... It's not apples to apples. In Palau (as you know) it's not only less crowds but more experienced divers... In Caymans you have the whole I-dive-off-the cruise-ship-once-a-year crowd and a gaggle of other divers with varying levels of skill & control... Put that many divers reef-hooking it all over Palau & you would see the results... Like Ilikeair says, "Your comment about the damage to Grand Cayman is the exact reason we should be tree huggers and try to save Palau. If you are a dive professional and you don't even care because it is not that large of an area, the reef is screwed." Well said Iilkeair.

 

[Diver Dennis]

Kevin,
You cannot possibly belive that only the hook touches the coral. What about fins, hands, the line from the hook etc. I was only there for 7 days and personally witnessed serious damage from all of the above on virtually every hook-in dive and I was with mostly "expert" divers. OK, maybe it is only an area the size of a football field at Blue Corner. I must be brainwashed into thinking we shouldn't destroy coral. Your comment about the damage to Grand Cayman is the exact reason we should be tree huggers and try to save Palau. If you are a dive professional and you don't even care because it is not that large of an area, the reef is screwed.

What if we could not dive some or all of the sites in order to protect the environment? That is EXACTLY what I am advocating. The sites in Palau cannot be visited by the scuba industry without destroying them so people should not go. Once again, I wish I didn't and I am never going back and I am never diving anywhere that requires me to damage a reef.

And, Dennis, believe me I understand how the reef hook is supposed to be used. As you know, the damage occurs when you hook in and touch the reef and then when the line leads away from the hook and rubs on the front and top of the coral head you hooked into. Not once you have inflated your BCD after hooking in and are 2 meters away. You know that. The proof is in the reef. It is already damaged. Anyone with the exprience you have must be able to think this through. If scuba divers of varying degrees of skill are descending upon the reef, day in and day out, hooking into dead or sometimes partially dead coral under a stressful diving situation, there is going to be significant contact with the reef. Compare Blue Corner to the other less-frequented sites. It is more dead.

Lastly, your photo perfectly illustrates my point. We as divers who think we can do this without damaging the reef are still part of the problem even though it may be painful for us to admit. I admit it. I damaged the reef by spending 10K in Palau and making the economics viable for these companies. You did it too even if you didn't touch the reef except with your reef hook. The person behind you grabbing onto the reef is the proof that the diving community should stand up and say this is not working. We cannot continue to dive in Palau on these sites that require a reef hook or holding on and have the reef live. It is a choice. Entertainment for people and a dead reef or we go another way. The choice is yours and ours.

You just said that it was a small area , and no where near the size of a football field, on Blue Corner. A small price to pay to illustrate to divers that the Oceans need to be saved. There is far more damage done to reefs by divers with poor skills in water with NO current.

If you really want to do something for the oceans, take a look at the raw sewage that is dumped into Palauan waters everyday. What about the damage from all the boat traffic. Target the real causes.

 

[Ilikeair]

That is quite possibly the weakest argument for supporting reef damage for human entertainment/education I have ever heard. Buy a DVD player and get off the reef!

 

[Ben_ca]

Who brought this thread back to life, and how the heck did this turn into the bash PADI olympics?



The alternative is to crawl along the bottom in gloves like most Asian divers do,

enough said.

Let's not bash PADI just bash Asians!!!! :shakehead :

 

[Diver Dennis]

Supporting reef damage? Hardly. Keeping it confined? Yes. Blue Corner is a magnificent site, It does something to divers. You realize how magnificent the ocean can be. I've seen people so awed they can hardly speak on the boat ride home. Education? You bet.

So lets get rid of all diving. Contrary to what Sassy says, I have seen very poor divers there and many other places trashing reefs in calm waters. What about them? Look at the entrance to Chandelier Cave. What about all the smashed staghorn coral there? There is no current and there is a far larger area trashed. Why aren't you pointing that out?

So if you really believe what you say, you will be quitting diving. There will be damage where ever people dive, where ever people live near the water. What is your solution to that?

 

[SassyScubaGal]

"If you really want to do something for the oceans, take a look at the raw sewage that is dumped into Palauan waters everyday. What about the damage from all the boat traffic. Target the real causes..." Ha ha ha Well at least this is getting entertaining. Diver Dennis, kudos on the bait & switch.

Guys, I think we can all agree on one thing: We love the oceans & the sea life in them. We are not made for that environment but get to go there thanks to scuba. I know that reefs gets kicked, bumped, trashed, where ever divers go (calm waters, rough conditions, expert to novice divers). I am just saying that there ARE things we can do... Like limit our impact. I think reef hooks are invasive. You take an foreign object during a ripping current & literally grab the reef like a claw. Most of the time, the current is pushing you so fast that you don't even have time to be discerning about where you grab-- as long as it hooks & holds on to something. This is intentional. Quite different than the occasional touch of a fin tip. And it's done so that we get to be cowboys, see more of the reef & take more magnificent photos. Ya, that's responsible stewardship of the marine environement!

Yes, divers kick the coral-- so lets worry about bouyancy & help newer divers to fine-tune their own. I learned about perfecting trim & steamlining & different kick techniques from other divers... Now lets speak up & gently help others to minimize their impact-- In Palau and other places.

We talk about the negative impact of diving on the environment & even have organizations like REEF Check & Project AWARE to enlist divers in support of healthy oceans...Its just baffling to me that divers talk about trying not to kick the coral one minute & the next minute they whip out a bad *#@ reef hook & plunge it onto a live coral head... Well, a once live coral head...

 

[Diver Dennis]

We are talking about hooking into Blue Corner here. It has been pointed out that there are areas that divers hook into that have a lot of dead coral. I was never plunging my reef hook into live coral. Talk about a bait and switch.

There is far more than an occasional touch of a fin tip. What about the Chandelier Cave area? No reef hooks used there and far more damage. You guys don't seem to want to address that area. Is it OK to trash the reef there?

Divers do more than just kick coral. Look around the board for a while to read a lot of horror stories about bad divers. Not only new divers, most recreational divers do less than 10 dives a year. How will you make them better? Will you spend your dive time in Palau doing buoyancy classes?

In my opinion, there should be check out dives where someone with poor dive skills or buoyancy would have to take a class or some practice dives before they can dive on a pristine reef. How do you think that would go over when someone has just traveled across the Pacific to dive?

I agree it's a good idea to help divers tune up their skills but when I have spent a lot of money on a dive trip, the last thing I need to be doing is babysitting.