Toys (Not Just) for Boys!
18 Dec 2016Longer smartphone battery life, dramatically improved camera, anti-aging skin care that we bet our bottom dollar on so we can stay here in the Maldives forever – what new wonders with sky-high promises can we possibly still wish for?
Here’s one: scooter diving!
Though not that new anymore, underwater scooters can easily top off your diving adventures with Prodivers by allowing you to get all the big fish action with very little effort. Lhaviyani Atoll is known for its reef channels or kandus (that’s where the water flows in and out of the atoll) and the remarkable amount and variety of pelagics that rush to these areas to feed on marine life a layer below in the food chain. In other words: you may see fish such as reef sharks, eagle rays and barracudas – all in large numbers!
The main advantage of underwater scooters (sometimes referred to as DPVs – diver propulsion vehicles) is that they take away the hassle of fin kicking to these big fish hot spots. In fact, the best big fish action takes place when currents are strong and flow in a particular direction, making these dive sites virtually impossible to dive without a little help from our scooters.
Besides upping your chances of seeing squadrons of eagle rays and dozens of reef sharks on the channel’s edge, scooter diving is also incredibly fun, and with a bit of practice, you can quickly be ready to buzz past the reefs yourself!
Here’s how to get started:
– Sign up for the Scooter Introduction, which takes places on the house reef, and is already the first dive of the PADI Scooter Specialty Course. Add one dive and a little bit of theory and you’re a certified PADI DPV Diver, qualified to use a toy like ours anywhere in the world.
– Once you learn how to safely ride the scooter on the house reef, you’re good to go! You can join our ‘Scooter 2 Tanks’ – boat trips that cater to scooter divers in particular by going to dive sites where the most thrill can be expected.
It is very common that divers ascend from their dives and the first thing they say is that this was the best dive of their life. What may sound to you as a slight overstatement is very likely to be the very same reaction after your first scooter dive.
Give it a try – we only make sky-high promises when we know we can keep them!