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Get out more and EXPLORE but don’t stick to the beaten path. Here are our top tricks & tips for exploring the oceans and adventuring off the grid.
The Expedition Drenched project has always been founded on two key principles – marine conservation and adventure. All of the crews that have called the Sylfia home have been delightful little misfits that prefer to be out on the water (or wearing SCUBA gear below the water) over being stuck on land. We spend tons of our time sailing the oceans looking for interesting dive sites – from popular, mainstream sites to off-the-grid sites that are rarely seen by human eyes.
Over the years we’ve become pretty good at planning our adventures, but it wasn’t always so easy and breezy for us. This week we thought we’d share some of the tips and lessons we’ve learned while trying to cobble together a trip that’s exciting for everyone.
If you’re going to be diving off the grid you need to remember that you MUST be able to rely on yourself and your crew for all emergencies. Experience and proper training should always be the priority of any crew looking to dive remote sites. But of all the available SCUBA courses out there, which ones are the MOST necessary? Here’s our list of the five courses you should focus on before heading out on a remote SCUBA adventure.
Remote dive sites and sites that are further away from shore are almost always going to be better for advanced divers than beginner divers because of greater depths and highly volatile ocean conditions. The Advanced SCUBA course, whether it is PADI, SSI, or any other certifying agency, will give you a good foundation for dealing with more challenging underwater situations. You’ll learn the basics of underwater navigation and the added concerns associated with diving up to a depth of 30m, and you’ll practice and improve your buoyancy skills. These are all critical skills to have (and build) when you’re going to be diving off your own boat onto a remote site without a local guide or local professional.
The whole idea behind diving remote sites is to get out and explore a new place, but that means that you’ll always be diving at a completely unfamiliar site. Being able to navigate properly underwater is super important so that you can keep your bearings on new sites and surface close to your boat. A SCUBA navigation speciality course will teach you how to navigate using an underwater compass and also using natural landmarks and visual cues. It’ll fine-tune your observation skills and make you the natural leader of your adventure dive team.
A heavy battle ensued and the sub submerged itself to avoid the powerful guns on the two attacking ships. But, not only did the ocean not give her a safe place to hide, but the ocean also gave away her position. The large submarine was moving through bioluminescent plankton-filled water that lit up the underwater vessel for the attacking forces to clearly see. When done properly, SCUBA diving is a relatively safe sport. However, it is still considered an extreme sport and accidents can happen. When you’re on vacation and diving with a dive centre, your Divemaster and the dive centre are responsible for your safety. Off-the-grid diving means that you won’t have a team of professionals to help you if something does go wrong. Getting a rescue diver course under your belt would give you (and your dive team) good reassurance that you’re capable of managing accidents and emergencies that are commonly associated with SCUBA diving – like locating a missing diver, getting an unconscious diver to the surface, and providing basic first aid in the ocean and on land.
The oceans come alive at night. Millions of animals emerge from their hiding places in the deep oceans and shallow coral reefs alike. Nighttime is when most of the ocean’s creatures go hunting. A night diving specialty course will teach you how to navigate when you can’t see anything, how to use your underwater light to communicate, and how to safely ascend and descend in total darkness. Don’t be afraid – a night dive is one of the most magical ocean experiences out there!
Our last diver education course suggestion for diving remote sites is the drift diver specialty. Why is this one on our list? Easy. Remote sites often have much stronger currents than inland sites and the drift diver course will teach you how to be a confident diver even in strong currents. Beyond that, it will also teach you how to safely enter and exit the water in a strong current situation – a must if you’re going to be diving off the back of your own boat into the unknown!
Having the right safety equipment is extremely important when you’re diving off-grid for the same reasons that having the right training is important. When you’re out on your own without the support of a dive centre and a team of professionals, you have to have all the equipment that normally be carried by a divemaster or a SCUBA instructor, plus all the things that would normally be found on a professional dive boat.
When you’re diving off-grid, every member of the team should be carrying their own ‘safety sausage’ or surface marker buoy (SMB). This is extremely important. No matter how bright and colourful your dive mask is, you will not be visible if you drift too far from the boat. An SMB is a bright orange and about a meter tall and it’s clearly visible from a distance away. Divers should also always be carrying their own compasses and dive torches so that they can navigate independently (if needed) and have an additional way to signal for help.
The equipment that should be kept on the boat includes a dive flag that signals to others around that you have divers below, a save-a-dive kit with extra replaceable parts, and onboard emergency oxygen. Another important layer of safety is having surface cover from the boat. NEVER allow all the crew members to dive at the same time. ALWAYS leave at least one person aboard the boat to look out for divers with problems and things like incoming bad weather.
Finding your way to popular dive sites is easy because most dive centres around the world will actively advertise the best local dive sites and will build their day trip packages around these local favourites. The Expedition Drenched crew prefers to find our own dive sites to explore, sites that can teach us something or show us something new.
We’ve always found our off-the-grid sites using the internet and simple word of mouth. Searching through SCUBA diving blogs, online forums, and even Instagram feeds is how we find dive sites that most people have never heard of or can’t access. If we’ve decided to hit a completely submerged site, we’ll use our onboard sonar and depth finder to locate the underwater structure we’re looking for.
Sometimes, like when Expedition Drenched was travelling through the Solomon Islands, we even had to travel to land and speak to village elders to locate some underwater wrecks. In a lot of locations in the South Pacific, the exact locations of some of the older wrecks, like the World War II wrecks, are only known by a select few villagers.
Once divers become professionals or get enough experience under their belt, they can sometimes stop doing buddy checks before they jump in the water. They become complacent when they shouldn’t. Always make sure to do a proper buddy check before SCUBA diving, especially when you’re diving in a remote area. Take the time to check your gear and the gear of your dive buddy while you’re still dry on the boat. Make sure that any problems that could ruin the dive are found early.
How do you remember all the steps in a proper buddy check? It’s easy. Bruce Willis Ruins All Films. Or whatever other acronym you want to use!
BCD- inflate and deflate your buddy’s BCD while they do the same to yours
Weights – check that you and your buddy are carrying weights
Releases – double check to make sure that all releases (and safety strap) are attached
Air – breathe from your buddy’s alternate while you breathe from your primary
Final – final checks (compass, dive torch, asking if are we good to dive)
The ocean is a HUGE place and you can technically go SCUBA diving almost anywhere you want. If you’re lucky enough to have access to a private boat or happen to find yourself part of an awesome boat crew like us, don’t feel that you have to stick to the dive sites that are on the beaten path. Use your imagination and explore some completely new places that could offer some totally unbelievable experiences.
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Expedition drenched is a U.S. based marine educational non profit 501c3 made possible by our donors and patrons. If you love scuba, sailing, travel, adventure, exploration, conservation, and all things aquatic, we really hope you will continue to follow us on our journey. Our goal in making these videos is to show the world all the amazing, beautiful, and strange inhabitants of the ocean in the hopes that we will all be inspired to protect it.
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