Reef hook or not?

[chillyinCanada]

I was on a liveaboard in Raja Ampat and they didn't have any extra reef hooks ergo i didn't have one and had to make do with my pointer. There were a few dives that had dome kicking current but we werent trying to stsy in one place on a number of those dives. However, on one dive that everyone else was hooked in on, I just couldn't hold on any longer and was swept away up and over the top. As it turned out there was a large "herd" of huge bumphead parrotfish up on the flat top, munching away, as peaceful as a "school" of cows. I managed to get my pointer horizontal around a desd piece of coral, might have been a rock, and hung on with one hand on either side to be able to watch them. It wasn't pretty up top but I still enjoyed the heck out of it. If I'd had a reef hook, would have been below watching for sharks that didn't come by.

On the dives with a lot of current, wouldn't have been able to take a picture without a hook. A pointer wouldn't have done the trick.

In any event, better to have and not need than need and not have. I agree with Luko, contact the resort, find out what they recommend and ask if they sell them.

 

[abernat]

We dove with Sorido Bay. On some dives even the dive guides used reef hooks. The operation provided the reef hooks but you had to ask for one. I definitely saw damage done due to their use despite everyone's best intentions and care.

Andy

 

[Luko]

I definitely saw damage done due to their use despite everyone's best intentions and care.

On the other hand it's difficult to see the damage done for ...not using them, but gloves or even bumping into corals.
it's like everything : a reef hook is a piece of equipment you need to master, like the own diver's buoyancy, those fin kicks that ruin muck dive sites or cover corals with sand/rubbish, the use of a pointer or even the hands.

It's not the reef hook that is doing damage, if you secure the hook in a convenient hole/asperity, there will be no harm : it's the diver who uses it. As long as there are divers underwater there will be damage done, reef hook or not.

 

[gypsyjim]

On the other hand it's difficult to see the damage done for ...not using them, but gloves or even bumping into corals.
it's like everything : a reef hook is a piece of equipment you need to master, like the own diver's buoyancy, those fin kicks that ruin muck dive sites or cover corals with sand/rubbish, the use of a pointer or even the hands.

It's not the reef hook that is doing damage, if you secure the hook in a convenient hole/asperity, there will be no harm : it's the diver who uses it. As long as there are divers underwater there will be damage done, reef hook or not.

As always, it is not really the tool itself that does damage, but the skill and care with which the tool is applied. In the Maldives I remember one dive in particular where we hooked into dead coral, just slightly over inflated the wings, and hovered in a row above the edge of a ledge as shark after shark, and an occasional ray or three passed by in front of us. That dive would not have been possible using just a pointer, not if you wanted your hands free, and you wanted to stay above the bottom.

I could definitely see where the hooks could do some wicked damage to living coral, if used carelessly, but that would not be the fault of the hook, but the hook-er.