Periods & Boats without Toilets
Staying Warm, Gloves and Blisters
Climbing into Boats without Ladders
How to Stay Stationary Underwater
Climbing Into Boats Without Ladders
Some boat dives take place on little boats which have no ladders. Getting into the water before you dive shouldn't be a problem. Either you do a backroll entry, or the boat is big enough for a giant stride (just that they forgot to build a ladder), or you jump in first then put on your equipment. It's getting back into the boat after your dive which can be a little traumatic for people like me. Here's how:
1. After your dive, unclip your BCD (and weight belt if you're wearing one) when still in the water and hand it to the boat-man who will put it onto the boat.
2. Holding onto the edge of the boat in an upright position, fin as if your life depended on it. Fin the water under you until the water lifts you naturally.
3. When the water lifts you to a height you're comfortable with, heave yourself onto the boat using a combination of natural bouyancy and arm strength.
For my first time, our guide had to push me up from the water, and my buddy had to pull me up from the boat. But with practice I know this can be done without assistance because I met a petite lady who told me how to do it, and if she can do it, so can all of us. She learnt it the hard way in Thailand, where the dive operator forced her to do it without assistance until she got it right. (That rules out Thailand for me, till I learn the art of getting onto a boat this way).
4. Another way to get on is to submerge yourself completely and then give a few powerful strokes of your fins. Then grab the edge of the boat and climb on.
