We’re A Part of SSI Blue Oceans
We are living in a time on our planet where our oceans are in distress. As divers and ocean lovers, we have an innate pull to blue water. Therefore, we believe we have a duty of care to act and protect the life within our oceans.
By committing to SSI Blue Oceans, we are making it our mission to produce strong and environmentally conscious divers in our wake. We want to share with you our Responsible Diver Code which we believe will help us all to critically think and take positive action. We believe by embracing this code into our daily lives, we will create the change we hope to see in our underwater world.
What is our Blue Oceans commitment?
As Responsible Divers, we pledge to have Environmental Awareness
- Commit to personally protect the environment
- Inspire and motivate others to adopt environmentally conscious behaviours by being a positive role model
- Support projects and organizations dedicated to marine protection
- If possible, collect garbage on your dives – but only if you are certain to not cause more damage to the environment (e.g. do not hit into coral).
- If possible, cut hanging ropes and fishing lines and collect nets and plastics
- Inform your buddy or the crew on the surface if you require help to remove large nets
- Never use or consume products from endangered species (e.g. shark fins, squalene, whale meat)
- Report immediately violations of the ban on marine animals as souvenirs and decorations.
As Responsible Divers, we strive to Avoid Garbage
- Never throw waste into the ocean – especially plastics which leach toxins, risk ingestion and entanglement, and degrade into microplastics.
- Minimize the production of garbage: use our reusables, avoid single-use products
- Dispose of your waste in the proper and responsible way: recycle, compost?
- If you smoke, dispose of cigarette butts in a designated receptacle.
As Responsible Divers, we will be Underwater Role Models
- Only use a swim-through if you can do so
without touching an marine life - Don’t swim or snorkel too close to the reef
- Don’t touch or break corals
- Use designated entrances/exits for the water
- Don’t disturb the sand or bottom sediment, as it reduces visibility and smothers corals
- Don’t chase, hunt or bother animals
- Don’t touch animals, unless properly trained
- Don’t feed animals – natural diets help keep balance and control within ecosystems
- Don’t take souvenirs from the sea – broken coral pieces or empty shells still serve as habitats
- Only place a reef hook where it will not damage or disturb the reef
- Do not disturb animals or the environment to improve your photo opportunity
Our nature is precious, we will Use Resources Responsibly 
- Rinse and shower only as long as required to get clean, especially in areas with minimal freshwater opportunities
- Wash your equipment in the provided container, and only when necessary – often it’s enough to clean equipment thoroughly at the end of the dive trip
- Turn off the lights when you aren’t using them
- Use alternative transportation or walk instead of driving
- Avoid food waste – meal plans and shopping lists help save you money and prevent purchasing unnecessary food that may spoil
- Learn to how to compost!
How is our dive center proactive in conservation?
Our dive center is dedicated to limiting our business footprint.
Our Diver Certification Cards are all digital. The best way to view your certification collection is on your personal SSI account on the app, we love to see your dive accomplishments when you come to our center!
If you wish to collect the physical cards, they are made from biologically derived PVC. They can compost into harmless entities within 40 months.
We give you digital learning for life, to reduce our paper use.
On our boats at Hawaii Kai, we leave directly from the shop. No need to travel far to get to our local bay dive sites.
We offer online ALL of the SSI Ecology courses, plus reef dives with our knowledgeable instructors to learn more about the wondrous and unique Hawaiian waters.
Register for free online or on the My SSI app (iOS Android), and you can work through the FREE Blue Oceans Program. Plus, you will have access to the try scuba and freedive materials.
If at any point you want to learn more about our commitment to protecting our aquatic environments, future cleanup events, and our ecology courses, please send us a message.
Island Divers Hawaii history of environmental stewardship
Before Island Divers Hawaii even had a dive shop to its name, in 2001, Island Divers Hawaii was awarded the 2001 Partnership Award. This award was from Coastal American – a partnership for America. The program was a push by the Bush administration. It was awarded for our efforts to help clean up an invasive algae that was plaguing Waikiki beaches. An effort that was widely considered to be successful, as we haven’t needed to go back in over a decade.
While we were still actively promoting PADI courses, Reef.org helped us train our divers with their Hawaii based materials. We were able to contribute to their database by doing fish counts.
In 2003 and 2004 we were active in the REEF CHECK program for Hawaii and it was during this period that we started to do our first clean up dives on “China Walls”, near the Portlock neighborhood. These cleanups along the shoreline continue today. Since 2017, when we started partnering with the non profit Ocean Defenders Alliance, it has been a monthly dive. This area is a beautiful local reef, but since it is easy to cast a fishing line over it from shore, it continues to accumulate fishing line and lead weights. That’s okay, this is our beautiful corner of the world, and we’ll just keep cleaning it up.
Along the way Island Divers Hawaii has been recognized by the Nature Conservancy for contributions to the environment. The owner Matthew Zimmerman served on the Reserve Advisory Council for what is now the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument as a tourism industry representative.
See why we are joining the SSI Blue Oceans movement to support the conservation and sustainable use of aquatic environments.