SSI Boat Diving Speciality

seahawksscuba.wordpress.com/2021/07/10/ssi-boat-diving-speciality

An exciting way of exploring the oceans is boat diving. Even though you get some basic knowledge about scuba diving from a boat during the days of your open water diver course, extensive knowledge and intensive practice sessions about boat diving let you gain more experience and become a SSI boat diving speciality diver. This course offers you two dives especially designed for the boat diving speciality and lets you learn to plan and execute a boat dive safely and successfully.

The dive centres world wide use different types of dive boats as per their mode of operation, local weather conditions, local rules-regulations and their customers requirements. Usually we use a single hulled dive boat with a maximum of ten divers capacity for scuba diving in Andaman. We customise our boat in such a way so that it suits well to cater to the beginners as well as certified divers.

A successful boat dive starts with a pre-dive check of your equipment as well as packing your each pieces of equipment safely with care. It is strictly recommended to carry a few mouth pisces, one spare mask and fins along with defogging solution. Once you are onboard, start listening to the instructions of the boat captain and boat crew for a safe journey to the dive site and insist on checking with the safety equipment such as medical kit, emergency oxygen cylinder, life jacket and fire extinguisher.

Most of the dive sites are little more or less than one hour’s journey from the port and you should use the time to make a safe boat diving plan with the assistance of your instructor. The plan includes an entry and exit method ( which your instructor will explain to you ),

safety stop, starting and ending of the dive and control descend-ascending procedure. Do not forget to ask your instructor about the dive site topography, marine life and any special consideration for scuba in Andaman.

Arranging dive equipment onboard

You might feel mild or strong sea sickness depending on the choppiness of the sea surface. You should know and carry a few medicines so that you can recover quickly and enjoy your dive. However we do keep pills in our medical kits and your instructor can get you one as early as you need them.

It is strongly recommended to wear full slip t-shirt/rash guard, shorts and a cap instead of a full wetsuit while the boat journey so that you can avoid sunburn as well as overheating yourself. Keep an eye on your equipment and do not open your bag pack before instructed.

Proper entry and exit procedures Step In or Giant stride, Controlled Seated Entry and Back Roll entry arethe most common and well suited entry procedures to get in the water. The best way to exit the water is put off all the scuba equipment one by one and pass them to the boat crew, wait for your turn and exit the water.

Step In or Giant stride

We recommend this type of entry, if the dive boat has a well constructed platform so that you can stand comfortably after wearing all the equipment to make the giant stride entry. You should perform a pre-dive safety check and be standby with your fins and mask to enter into the water. The boat crew assists you to put on the gear.

A diver making a giant stride entry

Just before the entry you should inflate your buoyancy compensator fully, put your mask on and place the regulator in your mouth. Your right hand palm should be on the primary regulator and the fingers to support your mask with left hand on your weight belt buckle. To make a step in or giant stride entry you should stretch your right leg little ahead and jump in the water. Once you come to the surface, signal the boat crew that you are ok. Stay calm, switch to the snorkel, wait for your buddy to start the descent.

Back Roll entry

The dive boats we use for scuba diving at Havelock island are well suited for back roll entry. Once the dive boat reaches the dive site the boat crew tells you to get ready. You should put on the wetsuit and weight belt, perform a pre-dive safety check of your equipment and wait for your turn to enter the water. Boat crew supports you with your equipment while you sit on the edge of the boat and wear your gear.

A diver is making a back roll entry

Make sure you inflate your buoyancy compensator fully, place the mask strap on the right place while putting on the mask, keep the primary regulator in your mouth and inhaling steady long breaths. Once your boat crew gives you clearance to get in. You should put your right hand palm over the regulator and fingers on the mask. It is recommended to keep your left hand palm on the mask strap just behind the head and keep both your legs together to make a safe back roll entry. After you buoyant up at the surface, signal the boat crew that you are ok. Again switch to snorkel, stay calm and wait for your buddy.

Controlled Seated Entry

Control seated entry

If the surface of the sea is very calm and the dive boat has a strong platform, this type of entry is the best way to get into the water. You can sit comfortably on the platform and put on your gear one by one while performing a pre-dive safety check. Keep your buoyancy compensator inflated, regulator in your mouth with mask and fins on. Lift yourself a little up by your hands and spin slowly around the hands lowering yourself into the water. The entry lets you get into the water gently with a non-disorienting transition.

Exit the water and safely boarding the dive boat

We generally put off all our equipment at the surface of the water and pass them one by one to the boat crew. After that we wait for our turn to get in the dive boat safely, by using this technique you don’t have to lift extra weight of your gear while getting onboard during your diving courses. There are bigger dive boats available fitted with useful ladder so that you can exit the water by using them along with your equipment. Either way you need to be very careful while exiting the water because most of the time you get tired after the deep dive and any wrong move can hurt your.

Boat diving speciality certification

Post dive, You should collect all your equipment and recheck them visually for any damage before you pack your gear bag. Make sure that you put every single pieces of your gear with care. While coming back to the shore, you can use the time to log your dive with all the details including a short story. After both the dives your instructor presents a nice and descriptive debriefing about how you did it and what are the things you should improve for your future dives with a big hug and congratulations. Thank you so much. We hope you enjoyed reading and will be enjoying your scuba diving days with us soon. The next blog will be coming about Deep diving speciality courses soon. Stay tuned.

Published by Debal Deb Das

It's Debal from the Andaman Islands. I am a dive instructor and the owner of Seahawks SCUBA View more posts