Entering the Water

Before approaching the dive platform, make sure you have checked over all your gear.

Don’t overlook the buddy check. Most things that go wrong with divers entry or descent are preventable with a bit of forethought, so it goes a long way to averting potential danger.

Once you’re all set and ready for your giant stride, grab your fins and head to the transom (back of the boat). Take note of the 2 lines in the water: a yellow Drift Line on the surface, and a down line to help with ascents and descents. You’ll don your fins on the platform, grab a shark safety pole and make a giant stride entry into the water. If you have a large camera system, the crew will be happy to hand your camera down to you after you jump in. If you prefer to jump with your camera system, that’s fine too.

When everything goes well, you would immediately start descending after jumping in. Please make sure your gear is well secured and that you don’t loose a mask, fin, GoPro, or any other piece of gear when you hit the water. Something this simple could quickly cascade into a real emergency.

We’ll follow a line to the bottom, which, on average, will only be about 30 feet (10 meters) down. Getting off the surface quickly is not the same as getting to the bottom quickly. Please utilize your BCD’s power inflator to add air to your BCD and slow your descent, clearing your ears as needed along the way. If you have any trouble with equalizing, then you absolutely need to be holding on to the down line, no exceptions. This will keep you safely tethered to the boat while you make your way to the bottom.

If you are held up on the surface because perhaps your regulator is free flowing or your mask popped off, you need to get to the yellow drift line immediately. There’s a lot of drag on a fully equipped diver on the surface of the water and even a slight current could get you far quickly. But at least with a slight current, you could probably swim back with some effort. In a strong current, there really is no chance of swimming if back if you get passed the line. We’ll get back to that in a bit.