The Dive Hub’s Top Diving Christmas Pressies

My dive hub

I can’t believe its the 1^st December and its that time of year again when I start to search for dive related pressies for my lovely dive buddy. But what do you get a man who has more dive t-shirts than you can shake a fin at? This got me thinking about the top responsible diving presents I have been finding:  

Dive T-shirts that look good & they are for a good cause too!
Here are some awesome new t-shirts from Fourth Element, their new Plastic Ocean designs really caught my eye and £3 of each sale goes to Plastic Oceans. Their Shark Trust designs are great too with £3 of each sale going to the Shark Trust and related shark conservation projects. Bite Back also do some really snazzy t-shirt designs, as well as travel card holders, stickers and their stunning calendar.
Sea Shepherd have a big range of t-shirts and gifts, their iconic Jolly Roger t-shirts are great and are 100% organic cotton with Fair Wear Foundation audited manufacture.
Freebreather are selling Andrea Marshall’s Ray of Hope research t-shirts  (I have got my eye on one of these, if my dive buddy is reading this.. hint hint hint…)

Cuddly sharks
The Shark Trust has some cute cuddly sea creatures available in their online shop as well as lots of other bits and pieces which make great presents too. Membership to the Shark Trust also makes a great present throughout the year as members recieve a welcome pack full of information on shark projects, A4 poster – sharks in British waters, a bookmark, car stickers and the latest issue of Shark Focus, which goes to memgers three times a year.

Lush
Another huge favourite of mine is Lush - I know its not strictly dive related but they are very environmentally aware in how they design their products. For example they  invented the solid shampoo bar which saves millions of litres of water in its production. For those who don’t like the idea generating lots of plastic rubbish, many of lush’s products are the way to go. If you use one of their solid shampoo bars, you can save over 30 plastic bottles a year from becoming rubbish. Plus when you shower with their biodegrable products it prevents nasty preservatives and chemicals getting into the local water system, so if you are on a liveaboard they are a great idea – (more about this in later posts.)

Adopt a manta ray!

Adoption?

Lots of organisations have adopt a marine animal schemes, from mantas to whalesharks, turtles, basking sharks to and great whites, these schemes are a fun way to donate to conservation organisations. The money raised often goes towards purchasing new satellite tags for continued research on the movement and behaviour of sharks or other marine animals.  The best schemes are very clear on where your adoption money goes and give you loads of information about the animals you are helping to protect.

Fish Books
I love knowing what species of fish I have spotted on a dive and having a good fish book for the area you are diving in is a great way to learn about the creatures you are watching underwater. The more I know about what I am looking at the more I seem to enjoy the dive, (but I am a bit of a fish geek so it might be just me on that one!). I have the Helmut Debelius Red Sea Reef Guide which was recommended to me by my first dive instructor, and their version covering the Indian Ocean is also wonderful.

Calendars and Diaries
Companies like Photobox and Bonusprint have great ranges of ‘make your own’: Calendars where you can chose one of your own dive photos for each month, or a diary with a different photo for every week.

These are just a few ideas for you and your dive buddies, I would love to hear any other ideas?