Mar Hosted Trips

One tiny travel skill that says a lot about you: how you treat the local divemasters.

Divemasters can completely shape the feeling of a dive day.

They are reading the ocean, watching the group, carrying tanks, checking conditions, helping nervous divers, finding marine life, managing timing.

So here is something simple I wish more divers would do:

When a divemaster shows you something underwater, show them you care. Look. React. Give them the little underwater “wow” moment. That tells them you are engaged, and honestly, it often motivates them to keep looking for more.

After the dive, thank them by name.

Ask about their life outside the boat.

Listen during the briefing like your safety depends on it, because it does.

Stay aware when they are changing tanks or helping the crew. Give them space to work. Underwater, do not pass the guide or ignore their signals.

And if you hire a private divemaster or guide for a specific reason, be clear about what you need before the dive. Do you want help with confidence? Photos? Fish ID? Buoyancy? Someone to stay close because you are nervous? Say that early so they can actually support you.

This is part of being a better traveler and a better diver.

Local divemasters are professionals, guides, teachers, ocean readers, and often the reason we get to see the best parts of a place safely.

At MHT, we want our travelers to come home with beautiful dives, yes.

But we also want them to leave people feeling respected.

If this is the way you want to travel, follow Mar Hosted Trips.

Learn more about who we are and where we are going: www.marhostedtrips.com

Repeat travelers are the backbone of MHT!

I think people notice the trip leaders first, because we are the ones sending the emails, answering the questions, making the Trip Hubs, and trying to keep the moving pieces moving.

But on the actual trip, repeat travelers do something really special:

They help the group feel like a group faster because they know what it feels like to arrive alone.

So when they see someone new, they usually make space for them. They answer questions. They help someone feel less nervous on the boat. They remind people that you do not have to arrive with dive friends to leave with them.

That is one of my favorite things about this community.

MHT has grown because people come back, but also because they come back with care. They help protect the feeling of the group. They show new travelers what kind of energy we value here.

Kindness. Patience. Curiosity. Respect for the ocean, the crew, the local community, and each other.

So to our repeat travelers: thank you.

You are a big part of why new people feel like they belong here so quickly.

If this is the way you want to travel, follow Mar Hosted Trips.

Learn more about who we are and where we are going: www.marhostedtrips.com

JUNE 2026 RECAP

June was full.

Two Galápagos trips with Clarence. Each one different, both unforgettable. Liveaboard and a Land based.

Cozumel with Ross and Josey stepping in as trip leaders. Watching Ross grow from one of our OG clients into a leader has been one of the best parts of this year.

Two Tulum scuba retreats. Slower training days, cenotes, ocean diving, and a lot of steady progress underwater.

While all of that was happening, we were also planning ahead.

Madagascar and the Sardine Run are shaping for 2028.

Colombia’s Caribbean islands are in development for 2027.

Philippines liveaboard is in the works for end of 2028.

Galápagos is already extending into 2028 land-based and a 2029 liveaboard because those trips need long lead time.

This is the part people do not always see. Travel like this is built months, sometimes years, ahead.

If you were part of June, thank you for traveling with us!

If you are following along, this is your reminder that spots for these trips move early.

If this is the way you want to travel, follow Mar Hosted Trips on IG and join our FB groups:

Women only - Scuba Mar Maids
CoEd - Scuba travelers by MHT

Learn more at www.marhostedtrips.com

We are hosting a FREE Surface Interval Series ONLINE MEETUP with
Vicki Anderson this coming Tuesday, June 30 at 7:00pm Central.

Vicki will be teaching an Indo-Pacific Fish ID class focused on common fish and marine life from destinations we have coming up, including Fiji, Palau, French Polynesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines.

If you are joining one of those trips, this is a great way to feel more prepared before you go.

If you are not booked on those trips but love learning about the ocean, you are welcome too!

Grab your favorite drink and come talk fish with us.
The session will be about 40 minutes, with time for questions after.

Call details are in the Facebook event here:
https://www.facebook.com/share/1GvKYSKdy2/

“My family thought I was crazy for traveling with a bunch of strangers to go diving.”

We hear some version of this all the time.

About 95% of our travelers join alone, and usually the biggest worry is not the diving.

It is: Will I fit in? Am I too old? Am I experienced enough? What if everyone already knows each other?

Then they arrive and realize most of the group came alone too.

That first dinner can feel a little awkward. People are still learning names, figuring out where to sit, and wondering who they will connect with.

Then we go diving.

By the end of the week, people who were strangers are sharing snacks, checking on each other, helping with gear, laughing about something that happened underwater, and talking about where they should travel together next.

That is why MHT exists.

We want solo travelers to have a group they can trust. A place where you do not need to convince a friend, partner, or family member to come before you are allowed to go live your life.

We also try to make the personal side feel personal. We use our registration forms to understand rooming preferences, comfort levels, dive experience, AC temperature, and where someone may need more support.

The more you travel with us, the better we know you.

We remember who likes a quiet room, who needs the AC cold, who wants a little extra reassurance, and who will probably become friends before the trip is over.

So if you keep waiting for someone to go with you, maybe that is not the part you need to solve first.

Come alone.

There will probably be other people arriving with the same nervous feeling.

Booking the trip is only the beginning.

I think sometimes people imagine that once someone books an MHT trip, we add their name to a list and wait until travel day.

I wish. My inbox would be a very peaceful place!

The truth is, once you book, we start building the support around you and the group.

Rooming. Flight timing. Dive experience. Rental gear. Medical forms when needed. Airport transfers. Food needs. Trip updates. Payment reminders. WhatsApp groups. Trip Hubs. All the little details that help people feel like they know what is happening.

We are a small women-owned, family-run business. We are not a giant travel company with mystery people behind a call center.

We care deeply and we are real humans behind the screen managing a lot of moving pieces.

That is why group travel works best when everyone participates in the process too. Read the trip info. Ask questions early. Send what we need on time. Tell us if something feels confusing before it becomes stressful.

The pretty photos are the fun part but the emails, forms, reminders, rooming notes, flight questions, and WhatsApp updates are what help make the pretty part possible.

When you book with MHT, you are buying a spot on a dive trip AND stepping into a process we have built to help you feel prepared, connected, and part of the group before the adventure even starts.

That is a big part of the MHT feeling.

Learn more about who we are and where we are going: www.marhostedtrips.com

Regenerative tourism wasn’t a common word for me… until our community helped sponsor a reef in Malaysia.

When we took our MHT group to Malaysia, we connected with TRACC, a restoration project working to rebuild damaged reef habitat.

And our community showed up.

Together, we raised and donated $5,000 to sponsor reef restoration work.

That made me realize something big:

Suddenly “responsible travel” was not just a nice idea. It was a real reef. Real people doing the work and real money going toward something that helps the place we had traveled so far to enjoy.

That is what I want to understand more as MHT grows.

Regenerative tourism means we are not only asking: “Where can we go that is beautiful?”

We are also asking: “Who is protecting this place, and how can our presence support them?”

Sometimes that looks like reef restoration. Sometimes it looks like mangrove projects, turtle conservation, beach cleanups, local education, community-led tours, or choosing partners who are already doing the work before we arrive.

I do not want MHT to only bring divers to pretty places.

I want us to keep learning how to support the people protecting those places.

Because there is a big difference between traveling to only take what serves us (extracting tourism) and traveling with enough awareness to leave something better behind (regenerative tourism)

Even small things matter.

Supporting a local project. Donating when we can. Choosing better partners. Picking up trash when we see it. Learning from the people who live there. Asking where our money is going.

That Malaysia experience changed the way I see what our trips can do and now I want to keep finding more of those people, projects, and communities.

I would love your help for this!
Who do you follow that does community project or restoration work?

Tag a reef restoration group, local nonprofit, scientist, dive shop, conservation project, or community-led organization you think more divers should know about.

Especially if they are connected to places where divers travel.

I want to start researching more of them.

Our trips can do more than bring people somewhere beautiful.