Negative Entry

The excitement of a tiger shark passing under the boat is sure to get all the gears in motion. It’s the moment we’ve been waiting for, and time to jump in. Put on your gloves, do your final gear checks, and head to the dive platform. Here, the crew will double check your air and hand you a shark safety pole, which we’ll discuss in an upcoming section.

Our plan is a negative entry. Simply put, a negative entry means that you’re getting below the surface as quickly as possible. Normally, when you make a giant stride entry from the boat, you’ll have air in your BCD and hang on the surface for a moment to get yourself situated or wait on a dive buddy. With a negative entry, you’re jumping in with no air in your BC and making your way to the bottom.

Doing a negative entry requires confidence and comfort in the water

SCUBA Diving Magazine (June 6, 2017)

So why do we do this? First off, we often have to wait for the reef sharks and lemon sharks to clear a path for us so that we can get off the dive platform. There are loads of sharks hanging around the surface and it’s a good idea to get down right away. Often times, when divers are lingering at the surface, they are distracted and not looking in the water. That’s where the sharks are!

During the dives at Tiger Beach, we can occasionally experience strong currents. This means that the longer a diver spends at the surface, the further down current they will end up before hitting the bottom. Getting off the surface and down to the bottom quickly helps ensure that you end up as part of the dive group and not a lone diver down current having to struggle to make your way back to the group.

Here are some tips:

Once you make your way off the surface, you should have your left hand on your BCD’s power inflator and be ready to add air. Since you’re carrying extra dive weight, you will have a rapid descent if you don’t add air as you go down. This is even more important if you have trouble clearing your ears. The good news is, with a few quick bursts of air from your power inflator and a down line to guide you, you’ll be on the bottom in under a minute. Our dives are shallow!