Diving in Curacao and Thailand, the story of becoming a more conscious diver.
So yesterday I watched the documentary Chasing Corals. Really an amazing documentary depicting the state of our corals; a must watch for everyone who loves nature, oceans and really for anyone who’s interested in what is going on in this seemingly hidden world.
When I saw all these beautiful organisms flourish and provide all the necessary shelter and food for all kinds of fish, I was reminded of all the diving I did in Curacao. Where in between the corals, fish without end would live and could be observed. Even turtles would live there. It was such a lively ecosystem that I never thought it was under any kind of threat.
The picture above I took during a dive in Curacao in January 2016. Corals and a turtle in quite good shape, it truly was an amazing experience to see this world first hand.
In July 2016 I went to Thailand. I travelled around the country and the last week I spent on Koh Tao. I was really excited about this because it was supposed to be one of the best places to dive in Asia. So when I got there, I went full of enthusiasm to a dive center and booked a dive for my girlfriend and I. Now, I was really excited to go and dive here because I had heard many great stories from my friends and other divers around. So full of good hope I went on the boat, put my gear together and off we went into the blue. We descended and I was surprised. There was a lot of coral but also it was white, and as much life I had seen in between the corals in Curacao, as little there was here. I just couldn’t place these white skeletons and the lack of life. We continued the dive and the guide made it interesting by leading us through a small cave and showing us what remained of the reef. When we surfaced I actually started to forget about these white corals and actually only thought about them again when I saw the documentary. On the picture below you can clearly see the white parts next to the healthier looking corals.
These white corals, I saw, were a direct consequence of the warming of our oceans. These dying organisms were trying to save themselves and I didn’t know about it. There is a huge problem of unawareness and divers as well as other people just don’t know how much their actions are influencing the world. I mean the rise of the ocean temperature has a direct influence on everything that lives in it. This just shows that we have to take human influence on climate change serious. And the evidence is so clear between the healthy full of life systems in Curacao and the bleached corals in Thailand.
In the following video you can see how the fish are actually staying with this one coral that still seems alive and how the rest of the bleached corals are empty.
Bleached vs living corals thailand
Well guys if you made it this far thank you for reading this post. I just had to write a post about this because this issue became so evident and personal that I just wanted to share it with everyone. I will continue diving and finding out more about it and when I do I will share it with all of you.
