TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin REEF SAFE Sunscreen

This may not be news to many, but something I recently became aware of. Oxybenzone, which is in over 3,500 sunscreen products worldwide, is contributing to the death of our coral reefs.
A Washington Post article cited a study showing over 14,000 tons of sunscreen end up in the oceans each year.
As I am getting closer to my next trip at the end of June, I am currently trying to decide what brand of safe product to use.
Hopefully this post will get others to think about this also.
David K <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/duh.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/duh.gif" alt="" />

Your best bet is to go to a Scuba shop. You'll find reef safe sunscreen very easy there.

Most people prefer to get this kind of stuff before they leave home, so they don't have to worry about it. Do regular retail stores not carry reef safe sunscreen?

It's very hard to find sunscreen without oxybenzone and avobenzone in stores, but Amazon carries the Elta MD brand. I've used it and it works well, without the white haze that most non-chemical sunscreens impart. It's not cheap.

I have never seen reef safe sunscreen in the regular big box stores.

Thanks for the info, Georgia and wilson. I learned something today. Thanks to the original poster for bringing up the topic.

We use "Ocean Potion" sunscreen. Until recently it was produced right here in East Central Florida. It says right on the label "oxybenzone free". It's all we use and it works great. I buy it at Walmart for around 6.50 per 8 oz. tube.

Note: we only use the "lotion" so I can't comment on the spray type.

We first discovered Ocean Potion on SXM. Love it. Nice fragrance, not greasy. Can't find it on SXM anymore. We now get it from Amazon.

I have never heard of this before, that's a ton of sunscreen to end up in our oceans, probably bad for all of sea life, not just reefs. Wish that anywhere you went swimming where there is reef or sea life, this would be much more prominently noted at shops that sell sunscreen.

..and from the other side

Interesting article . Although it says other factors like climate change are more responsible for damaging reefs than sunscreen, it still says in the last paragraph:
"Next time you go to the beach, consider a sunscreen without all of that oxybenzone, but more importantly, lobby your local politicians for better agricultural practices and action on climate change."
So thanks to the OP for posting and I will definitely be looking for new sunscreen!

Agree

Saw reef safe at Aqua Mania this morning. Wasn't very expensive for a generous container.