“Blue Friday,” a grassroots initiative that was launched in 2021 is celebrating its fifth anniversary through an alliance with The Reef World Foundation and dive shops in various countries.
The day following Thanksgiving in the US has come to be called “Black Friday” when millions of shoppers seek holiday gift bargains, with the tradition spreading overseas in recent years to over 120 countries worldwide.
The “Blue Friday” tradition started with Marin Scuba Club member Kenneth Carter of Mill Valley, California, who began urging his dive buddies to partake in a healthier alternative to shopping with a slogan, “Don’t Shop. Dive.”
According to Carter:
“I was inspired by REI closing its stores the day after Thanksgiving. That’s why the members of Marin Scuba Club and Dive Club of Silicon Valley have been giving back to the Earth by skipping plastic consumerism and going diving at Point Lobos Natural Reserve in Carmel-by-the-Sea, in Northern California.
“It started as an excuse to take my son, who had just gotten his Open Water certification, diving in California waters throughout the year. I woke up one morning and booked all of the reservations at Point Lobos in 2021. Because we had such a great time with excellent visibility and virtually no other divers the first year, we decided to launch a second trip the next year, and have done so annually ever since.”
“Blue Friday” will again be celebrated on the day after Thanksgiving, with more divers and more organizations participating than ever before, including dozens of countries spanning four continents.
Marin Scuba Club has formed an alliance with Sun Divers Roatan and the Reef World Foundation to broaden participation even further. Green Fins, internationally managed by the foundation, is a global initiative that has reached over 1,500 marine tourism operators that protects coral reefs through sustainable tourism.
Reef-World Foundation Programs Manager Dev Albao said:
“Blue Friday perfectly embodies the true value of the Green Fins community. It transforms awareness into powerful, collective action. This event emerged from the collaborative environment of Green Fins Hub’s Community Forum, with Sun Divers Roatan sharing its own involvement and championing members to join the cause. Our vital online platform where dive operators actively share and learn environmental best practices. It proves that when our global network pools its expertise, we can move beyond consumption and lead the dive industry towards tangible positive impact on the reefs and connected ecosystems worldwide.”
Further abroad, Terry and Cathie Cummins of Dive Queensland in Australia will be in the Coral Sea, and DivePlanit Dive Travel will urge clients to join, as will Dive Pacific in New Zealand.
Additionally, NECO Marine and the Black Pearl in Palau will host some drift divers, and Kerwin Louis of Marin Scuba Club will charter a boat with Jack’s Diving Locker on the Big Island, Hawai’i.
In Northern California, two local dive clubs will go shore diving at Point Lobos, while Jami Leslie Feldman of #UnderwaterPaparazzi plans to dive in San Diego, and Jeffrey Bozanic will get wet in either Southern California or Florida. Meanwhile, High Plains Scuba Center in Colorado will sponsor a cold water lake dive, and divers from the 216-member Chicago Undersea Explorers Society will be using a local high school’s facilities for a Blue Friday celebration.
Sun Divers Roatan will host its third annual Blue Friday Dive Against Debris event at its PADI Adopt The Blue dive site, followed by a community beach and bay clean-up with the Roatan Marine Park. Amigos del Mar will participate in Mahahual, Mexico, while author Carlos Lander will dive at Chichiriviche de la Costa in Venezuela, and Sameer Chettri will join in the warm waters of the United Arab Emirates.
In addition, CORAL.org is now on board, NAUI Worldwide will reach out to its instructors and dive centers, as will PADI.
You can also organize your own Blue Friday celebrations:
- For divers: Get wet the day after Thanksgiving, or anytime that week, then post your photos, videos, and descriptions of where you went and what you saw on Marin Scuba Club’s Facebook page. All Blue Friday activities will be recapped in a follow-up post.
- For dive shops, liveaboard boats, and resorts: Kick off your holiday sales a week earlier or all week long, from Monday through Sunday, to free up divers who want to “Dive… Then Shop!” Or lead a Blue Friday group dive event, even if it’s in your training pool or a nearby body of water. Use the Blue Friday 5.0 toolkit to promote your event.
For more information, visit MarinScubaClub.org/blogs.
