January 2026: Shareable Trips, Map Filters, and Destination Partner Focus

I haven’t posted a Shiplog in almost a month, but I’ve been shipping nonstop.

This month was about improving the loop for new users and shop partners: better map discovery, surfacing countries/destinations on the map view - pulling it all together, massive speed improvements and prepping for LLM discovery push - and importantly - a full shift into dive shop onboarding + activation.

🚀 What Shipped

• Fixed spam and abuse issues in contact flows, and blocked sending from unconfirmed emails.
• Full rebuild of Dive Map filters, now with country + destination filters and map panels so you can explore what you’re actually looking at.
• Added a map welcome modal to guide first-time users toward logging their first spot/session/visit.
• Moving to full focus on dive shop onboarding and activation: paid plans now start with a free first month trial.
  • Free for the first month
  • No card required
  • If it doesn’t move the needle, cancel it. No games.
• Shareable trips upgrades: trip achievements, shareable recaps, and OG share flows.
• Featured destinations and Destination Partner Program upgrades, plus more focus on filling destinations with real operators.
  • If you’re a dive shop and want to be featured on the map, apply here (if slots are still open): https://divejourney.io/dive-shop-partners
  • Dive shop accounts + plans: https://divejourney.io/dive-shop-accounts
• Massive performance improvements across the site on shared pages.
• AI discovery optimization and site indexing upgrades:
  • llms.txt and llms-full.txt
  • Setup in collaboration with PhaseDrift AI
• Major country guide and destination guide expansion across Mexico, Thailand, Australia, and Brazil.

🌍 Community Features

Shareable trips, achievements, and recaps

Trips are expanded to be shareable and invite-ready. Create a trip and you'll get a shareable trip page where you can invite others to join. After the trip finishes you'll have a highlights page of all the dives you logged during the trip with a recap image share and achievements ready for socials.

Plan a trip: https://divejourney.io/dashboard/diver/trips

Trip Planning

Trip Shareable Invite

Map welcome modal (and first-log push)

A lot of people land on the map, scroll and visit the dive spots etc. but don't make a profile - with the welcome modal i'm hoping more people will contribute to the platform to make it better for everyone.

Product Features

Dive Map filters rebuilt (country + destination filters)

This was a full rebuild.

The map now has a cleaner filter experience, and the new country + destination filters pull the country/destination panels directly into the map flow so exploration feels intentional instead of random.

Dive shop trial experiment (first month free, no card)

I’m going all-in on onboarding and activation.

Paid plans now start with a free first month trial (no card required) so shops can feel the product before deciding. If it doesn’t work, cancel it. Simple.

Featured destinations and partner program upgrades

I’m actively reaching out to dive shops to fill destination featured slots in return to help improve the accuracy of listings they guide.

If you’re a dive shop and want to be featured on the map + destinations guides and help improve the dive spots that you operate, apply here (if your destination slot is still open): https://divejourney.io/dive-shop-partners

Performance upgrades (map + destinations + shared pages)

This sprint included a big sweep to make shared pages fast, and keep the map + destination pages moving as the dataset grows.

AI discovery optimization

I’m upping the game for AI discovery and using PhaseDrift AI on DiveJourney to track visibility and improve how DiveJourney shows up in AI answers. So i'll be implementing some of those changes and see if I can bring in more inbound traffic.

️🏝️ New Destinations

Major destination expansion across Mexico, Thailand, Australia, and Brazil. A few highlights:

Mexico

• Akumal
• Cancun
• Cozumel
• Playa del Carmen
• Los Cabos

Thailand

• Phuket
• Khao Lak + Similan Islands
• Koh Lanta
• Koh Lipe
• Pattaya + Samaesarn / Sattahip
• Chumphon

Australia

• Cairns - GBR
• Brisbane + Moreton Island
• Ningaloo
• Sydney
• Perth + Rottnest Island
• Byron Bay - Nguthungulli Julian Rocks

Brazil

• Arraial do Cabo
• Búzios
• Ilha Grande and Agra dos Reis
• Florianopolis
• Paray
• Recife

Browse all destinations: https://divejourney.io/destinations

🔥 What’s Next

This next sprint is pretty much focused on shop onboarding/activation and making this the best platform to list your dive shop on for discovery.

• Outreach to shops for the destination partner program (aiming to fill the majority of the current list by end of month)
• Remove friction for onboarding and account activation
• Keep expanding destinations and country coverage

Vote here or submit feature requests, if enough people vote for it i'll build it: https://divejourney.io/feedback

🤝 Let’s Connect

If you want to keep up with what’s shipping (or connect by email), sign up for the newsletter below.