Starter Kit. Idea 252 of 500. Cluster 13
Diving schools at the wrecks of Trincomalee and the reefs of the east, certified to international standard
The mechanism, from the book
An ocean eight times the size of the land, and a fishing fleet that sells its catch on the beach. The Maldives built a tourism industry on water Sri Lanka has more of.
The first step
Ask the dive shops already working at Trincomalee which wrecks they cannot take students to, and why: kit, boats or qualified instructors. Then post an offer in diving groups abroad for a 5-day certification course on the wrecks at a stated price, and collect deposits or written reservations. Deposits from 10 divers tell you the course sells before you buy a single tank.
- Who pays first
- A diver from Europe or the Gulf who has already done the familiar reefs and wants wreck dives with an internationally recognised certificate at the end.
- What leaves today
- Divers certify elsewhere and treat the island as a side trip, so the course fees, the certificate and the repeat bookings stay with schools abroad.
Ask first
- Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority. Ask whether a diving school must register, and with which body.
- Department of Wildlife Conservation. Ask whether diving at marine protected sites needs a permit.
Check before you spend
Whether your instructors hold certificates recognised abroad, what insurance covers students, and whether diving at each site needs a permit.
Find out these three numbers
- What do divers pay for a course at Trincomalee now?
- How many students are turned away because no instructor is free?
- What does a dive boat and kit cost for a season?
A comparison from the book
The Maldives. Chapter Five
"The Maldives earns roughly 1.75 times what we do from every visitor who steps off a plane."
The Maldives earns more from each visitor; certified diving is part of how a visitor is worth more.
The test
Does it keep value that now leaves the island, or build the proof that lets somebody else do so?
From the appendix of Why Not Sri Lanka? by Dr Maheshika Halbeisen. The idea and the mechanism are the book's; this kit was written for the site.