Written by Gil Zeimer
Ever since the 1950s, Black Friday has been an American tradition to hit the shopping malls on the day after Thanksgiving in search of holiday gift bargains. In fact, it’s now celebrated in over 120 countries.
But hold onto your shopping bag. Now in its fifth year, “Blue Friday” is a healthy alternative to Black Friday with its slogan, “Don’t Shop. Dive.” Instead of chasing discounts, divers around the world are jumping in the water, and this movement is gaining more traction each year.
Why Blue Friday Matters for the Ocean
This shift isn’t just about swapping shopping bags for scuba gear. It’s about rethinking how our choices impact the planet.
The ocean provides half the oxygen we breathe, regulates the climate, and supports millions of people worldwide with food and livelihoods. Coral reefs, in particular, are home to a quarter of all marine life and act as critical buffers protecting coastlines from storms. But reefs are under serious stress from pollution, overfishing, and climate change.
By dedicating a day to diving, exploring, and even cleaning up our waters instead of consuming more, Blue Friday reminds us that the best gifts we can give are time, awareness, and action for the ocean. Every dive is an opportunity to witness beauty worth protecting and to contribute to healthier oceans for future generations, whether through community science, reef monitoring, or beach clean-ups.
A New Holiday Tradition
The First Blue Friday
Since 2021, the Marin Scuba Club and the Dive Club of Silicon Valley, both in Northern
California, have embraced Blue Friday, the brainchild of Kenneth Carter of Mill Valley, CA.
He said, “I was inspired by REI closing its stores the day after Thanksgiving. That’s why the members of both clubs are avoiding the malls to go diving at Point Lobos State Natural Reserve in Carmel-by-the-Sea, 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,” added Ken. “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 annual trip the next year, and have tried to dive every year since.”
Varying Visibility at Point Lobos
The Second Blue Friday
Ten hearty divers from the two dive clubs braved the chilly Point Lobos waters, rough seas, and varying visibility for the second annual Blue Friday in 2022.
Their logbooks reflected encounters with rockfish, kelpfish, and a small herd of sheepshead. Sadly, they discovered that purple sea urchins had destroyed large portions of the preserve and the kelp forests.
High Tides and Churned Up Water
The Third Blue Friday
For 2023, unfortunately, Mother Nature did not cooperate. On the Monterey Peninsula, Jim Van Gogh of the Dive Club of Silicon Valley reported: “My buddy and I ascertained that the conditions were less than stellar. So, we bailed on the dive and just hiked.”
But Kerwin Lewis, a Marin Scuba Club member who lives on the Big Island of Hawai’i, and Natalie and Shannon Shuman, the American co-owners of Sun Divers Roatan, enjoyed the opposite—warm water, calm seas, and excellent visibility.
Finally, A Global Finprint
The Fourth Blue Friday
Blue Friday 2024 saw its biggest turnout yet, with divers joining in from more corners of the globe:
- In the southwestern Pacific, Terry and Cathie Cummins of Dive Queensland spent Blue Friday in the Coral Seas, Australia, to dive Ashmore Reef and Raine Island.
- In the mid-Pacific, Kerwin Lewis, chartered a boat out of Kawaihae Harbor in Hawai’i. He exclaimed, “Ideal diving conditions. Surface temperature 83, water temperature 80. Visibility was the best I’ve seen in months––about 100 feet!”
- Here in California, Jami Leslie Feldman of “#UnderwaterPaparazzi” dove in San Diego. She added, “Treated to beautiful blue water, excellent visibility, and calm waters!” Meanwhile, Mike Smith of Marin Scuba Club, and Chris Cervellone of Sea Divers Scuba Dive Club in Redondo Beach, chartered the Peace Dive Boat for three days to the Channel Islands, CA, with 15 others. They encountered clear skies, good visibility, above-average temps, and exceptional conditions for lobster hunting and diving.
- In the Western Caribbean, Heiko Goetze of Amigos del Mar, dove at Banco Chinchorro and Mahahual Reef. He reported, “Water temp was 84 F. Viz was 50-100 feet. Saw nurse sharks, eagle rays, turtles, and lots of tropical fish.”
- About 550 miles south, Natalie Shuman of Sun Divers Roatan created a video focused on “Changing Black Friday to Blue Friday by swapping the shallowness for something deeper. Water temp was 82. We didn’t find a single piece of debris, but we did find a hammerhead.”
Join Us for Blue Friday 5.0 on Friday, November 28th
As always, members of several Northern California dive clubs will convene at Point Lobos in Carmel, California, for some shore dives.
In addition, our colleagues are again poised to get wet on the Big Island of Hawai’i… our Amigos del Mar amigos will do some drift dives in Mahahual, Mexico… Our mates at Dive Queensland will again dive in Australia’s Coral Sea, as will our new connections at NECO Marine in Palau, with more participants to come.
Most exciting of all, Sun Divers Roatan will host a “Dive Against Debris” at its PADI Adopt The Blue dive site. The day will wrap up with a beach clean-up that evening in Half Moon Bay, a reminder that Blue Friday is about both joy and stewardship.
Stateside, Marin Diving Center in San Rafael, CA, will host training classes in its pool, and I’ll get wet there. In the Midwest, the 216-member Chicago Underseas Explorer Society (DiveCUES.org) will be using Roosevelt High School’s facilities for a Blue Friday celebration.
Or Organize Your Own Blue Friday Event
We invite you to organize your own Blue Friday celebrations. It’s this easy to become a Blue Friday Ambassador.
For divers: Go diving the day after Thanksgiving, or anytime that week, then send an email to [email protected] to let me know you participated, attach a photo or two, add a description of where you went and what you saw, or include a link to your social media. I’ll include it in a follow-up story.
For dive shops, 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 group Blue Friday dive event to a pool, beach, or lake near you.
Wherever you are, warm or cold water, great viz or not, start planning your Blue Friday 5.0 dive for the last weekend of November. Invite your dive group, shop, club, and buddies to join you. And if you can’t get wet, at least visit and support your local shop during its holiday sale.
With your expanding global participation, Blue Friday can continue to grow as an evergreen holiday event each year.
About The Author
A PADI-certified diver since 1985, Gil Zeimer has written more than 300 scuba articles, blogs, and newsletters that have appeared in over 25 magazines and websites. His first book, “Scuba Storyteller: Mostly Humorous Diving Tales by an Addicted AquaNut” is now available for pre-orders at www.ScubaStoryteller.com and will debut at DEMA. He lives in San Rafael, California.
