With the festive season closing in I do find it quite helpful to look at lists of gift suggestions on websites to get some ideas, even more so at the moment with little opportunity to browse shops. Having that in mind here are some suggestions and sources for diving, marine life and sea related gifts.
Diving Kit
Fairly obvious that diving equipment might be a suitable gift for divers, so we’ll start there. I’m not going to linger on it as any dive shop can give you some ideas in this area.
In fact diving gear to not buy for divers unless they’ve asked for it is probably a better list to give you here. Don’t get masks, suits, boots, gloves or BCDs unless the giftee has already tried them and tells you what they want. Those are things that need to fit and be right for the person.
And never buy rattles or tank bangers for a diver even if they ask for one as they are annoying as hell!
In my opinion, (not just because we sell them) good gifts in the kit market are dive lights as most people know what a torch is, you don’t have to make sure it fits and any size of light has some sort of use whether as a back up, main light or for focusing to do photography. There’s also a broad price range with the cheapest we sell being only £39.95 going up to over £2000 for the biggest video lights!
The 220 lumen Divepro D1 is an ideal little torch to keep in BC or Drysuit pocket as a handy back up. It’s only £39.95 and we can supply it. Drop us an email to order.
Anyway enough of the sales pitch and on to some different ideas for gifts, starting with a bit of art.
David Allen Marine Life Art
If you are looking for a marine creature picture to go on your wall and want something different to a photo print, have a look at what former dive guide David Allen produces. His pictures are hand drawn using white pencil on black paper and then he sells them as limited edition prints.
David worked for many years as a dive guide. Anne and I first met him guiding on the Maldives liveaboard boat Sea Spirit. We have one of his prints of an eagle ray drawn from a picture taken at Rasdhoo, an awesome dive site that’s a favourite of ours.
Chilly’s Bottles Sea Life Range
We’ve had one of the earlier Chilly’s bottles since fellow underwater photographer Saeed Rashid recommended them in a video on his YouTube channel and they are great at keeping your drink cold when in hot places like Egypt. With most dive resorts and liveaboards providing drinking water from coolers bringing a proper refillable bottle with you on a trip is the way to go. A bottle from the Sea Life range is going to be the ‘Eco chic’ accessory to have when diving travel gets going next year. Options are turtle, orca, clown fish and seahorse.
10% of sales of the Chilly’s Sea Life range is going to the City to Sea charity who aim to reduce plastic pollution at source.
Jewellery for Divers
Anne’s a fan of all sorts of jewellery and there are some great designs out there for any budget. Personally I’m a fan of cufflinks and have a slowly growing collection.
Alison Moore Designs Rockpool Collection
Alison is an Alphamarine customer and has a workshop in the Orkneys where as well as making lovely jewellery she scuba dives, snorkels and takes underwater images. The rockpool collection includes designs based on shells, starfish and sea urchins. Prices start at under £40.
Limpet Shell Bracelet in silver by Alison Moore.
El Camino
If you’ve not come across El Camino before, the concept is that you buy a bracelet or necklace and then add ‘steps’ (beads/rings) to it based on your travels and adventures. As a gift idea for your other half it’s ideal as it gives you an ongoing present option as long as you keep travelling. What makes it stand out for divers is the inclusion of ocean and sea steps made from coloured glass alongside country and continent steps. Bagging the full set of five ocean and five sea steps may take a bit of travelling but if you are a Brit you can manage the Atlantic and North Sea without leaving the country (sorry no Irish Sea one). Bracelets start at £21.99 with steps between £8.99 and £15.99.
As well as glass ‘steps’ for oceans, seas and continents you can also buy stainless steel ones for countries, small steps (mainly cities), adventure steps with pictures to represent activities and custom made ones.
Reef Jewellery
Like the previous two jewellery makers Reef are a British company. We first found them at a Dive Show some years ago and they’ve come through with gift ideas for me to buy on several occasions. Plenty of iconic marine creatures including turtles, seahorses and mantas are represented in there range and the pricing is very broad with some top end options for very special occasions alongside some lovely stuff for smaller budgets.
Unfortunately for Anne, under our house rules she can’t have this very cool hammerhead shark pendant (£49) until she’s seen some on a dive.
Books, books and more books
I’m not going to put a huge list here despite the subtitle, just some of the ones I fancy getting myself. If you want some more ideas have a look at my Diving and Underwater Photography Book Chat and Books for Divers Part Two both of which include links to buy some of the books from Amazon.
Books are a major feature of my list to Santa every year. Eventually I might finish reading all the ones I already have, but probably not.
On my to read list at the moment are:
Into the Planet: My Life as a Cave Diver by Jill Heinerth
The Underwater Photographer by Martin Edge and Stuart Gibson
Diving the Thistlegrom: The Ultimate Guide to a World War II Wreck by Simon Brown et al
Underwater Photo Calendars
We keep saying we should make one of these, but until we do here are a few to choose from.
Bite-Back 2021 Calendar
This charity’s calendar has been a pretty regular feature in our kitchen. Images are all by well known figures in underwater photography with an emphasis on sharks. Worth checking out their shop for other pressie options such as T shirts and mugs.
MCS Sea Change Calendar
Another UK based marine charity, MCS’s offering in the pictures with dates underneath them market also includes tips on how to reduce your plastic consumption. Their online shop has the usual merchandise but also some great marine life guides.
Marine Life of the South West Calendar
A collection of images all taken in the seas off South West England by up and coming underwater photographer Georgie Bull. Having won the 2020 British and Irish Underwater Photography Championships using a setup bought from us, we think Georgie is a name to watch out for in the future.
Not just for on a diver’s wall, an underwater photography calendar is a great gift to show non-divers what they are missing.
LDS or Brand Merchandise
Nothing says “I’m a diver’ like a themed T-shirt, whether it’s something your local dive shop has had printed up or one from a brand like Fourth Element. I’m a big fan of the diver’s T-shirt, especially the slightly subtle design that non-divers have to ask you about. But, my most worn bit of diving related clothing is my Fourth Element Xerotherm beanie. Not cheap at £26.50 (mine came with an undersuit set) but it does a good job of keep my head warm everywhere from on a dive boat to up on the snowy moors.
Got that warm water diving trip in your head for next year? How about a pair of Poseidon Flip Flops for £14?
Marine Charity Gifts
I’ve already mentioned a few of these in the bit about calendars but there are loads of options from merchandise to membership schemes from lots of conservation, environmental and diving charities.
Here are a few more suggestions to look at.
Ghost Fishing UK
Hoodies, bracelets and plastic free cotton wool buds. The last one probably isn’t going to win a prize for the best gift ever but it will be eco friendly.
Sea Shepherd
Loads of hoodies and t shirts, plus wallets, towels, bags and baby bibs. They also have some Christmas cards for sale.
Shark Trust
As well as gift memberships and adopt a shark packs on their website, you can also buy a range of sharky clothing from their Teemill store.
Before You Go
Hopefully this will have given you some inspiration. None of the organisations, companies or individuals mentioned on here have given us an incentive to promote their products. I’ve also tried to go easy on promoting ourselves much but if you’d like advice about underwater photography equipment or quotes for the same drop us an email at info@alphamarinephoto.com Use the same address for enquiries about our workshops and one to ones.
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