Loose lines before using double buoyed mooring lines

As most divers know throwing your boat anchor on the reef is a big no go!  However, what a lot of people don’t realize is that mooring lines can also cause damage to the reef if not properly installed. Although not as bad as anchors due to it been limited to a smaller area, the damage can still be sufficient.

The damage is done due to the rising and falling tides in the oceans, as the tide goes out the mooring line goes slack and coils up at the bottom, it can then become entangled in the reef. Once the tides go back up it pulls on the line and in turn on the corals, breaking them or even completely detaching them from the reef.

To combat this problem there is a simple, yet effective solution “The double buoyed mooring line”. All you do is attach a buoy to the line that is below the low water mark, this buoy will constantly pull the line tight stopping it from wrapping around the corals and breaking them.

Recovery house reef after using double buoyed mooring lines! Amazing, right?

We have already successfully installed double buoys to some of the mooring on the Magic Island House Reef and we are already seeing the reef at the bottom of the mooring starting to make a recovery.

The other befits of the system is, the line on the surface dose not pull tight, making it easier and safer to tie off the boat it also stops the buoy on the surface been pulled down underwater due to strong currents at high tides. This can be quite dangerous for boats as they can not see the line just under the water and often get their propeller snagged.

We are looking to seek help from other dive centers in the area to make the modifications to all the mooring lines in the area.