It is common to find scuba-diving equipment on superyachts, used both for guest enjoyment and by crew for maintenance issues. However, a lack of crew training and knowledge can mean such resources are not always taken advantage of. Oceans Pro – Global Superyacht Scuba has grown out of Diamond Diving, a PADI 5* Instructor Development dive centre based in the south of France.  The aim is to create a dedicated brand to service leisure scuba diving requirements for the superyacht market, with the mission to increase the amount of safe and professional leisure scuba diving on board superyachts.

“There are so many superyachts out there with unused capacity for scuba diving,” explains Helena Widegren, co-founder of Oceans Pro. “The reasons that superyachts don’t tend to make use of diving equipment on board are many, including safety concerns, a lack of crew knowledge and the matter of time available during a busy season.”

As such, Oceans Pro wants to support superyachts in several ways, from crew training and consultations to equipment service. The company is also building up a network of some of the most experienced instructors and dive guides around the world, so that they can connect them with yachts whenever and wherever owners and guests want to go scuba diving.

“We have come to realise that scuba-diving equipment is available on a large amount of yachts, but often it is not being used,” adds Widegren. “Furthermore, a lot of deck crew are Rescue Divers or Dive Masters, but their skills are not being taken advantage of.  In our experience it is often a last-minute decision to go diving which often doesn’t result in the best possible experience. That is something that we want to change. It is good that captains are conservative and conscious about safety, but we can help them prepare and educate their crew so that they have everything in place to encourage safe and successful diving operations on board.”

Oceans Pro hopes to encourage the establishment of professional leisure diving procedures on board those yachts that have the resources to do so.  With an increasing number of boats utilising the winter months as an opportunity to invest in crew training and servicing equipment, the hope is to see leisure scuba diving as a more systematic and popular offering from superyachts.

Photo credit: Fabrice Drevon

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