Should Dive Students Be Allowed to Touch the Seafloor?
Touching the Seafloor?
For decades, scuba students around the world have learned diving skills while kneeling on the bottom. It creates a stable platform, makes it easier for an instructor to organize a group, and allows students to concentrate on one skill at a time.
But once we move from the swimming pool into the ocean, should we still teach this way?
At Oceans 5 Gili Air, we believe we shouldn’t.
Our philosophy is straightforward: in the ocean, we teach scuba skills neutrally buoyant.
The swimming pool is a controlled training environment. We use it to introduce and practice skills and help students become comfortable underwater. But the ocean is different. Once we enter open water, we want our students to behave like divers.
Certified divers don’t normally swim to the bottom, kneel down, solve a problem, stand up again and continue their dive. They deal with situations while diving.
So why should we teach open-water skills differently?
There is another important reason behind our philosophy. Oceans 5 operates inside the Gili Matra Marine Conservation Area, surrounding Gili Air, Gili Meno and Gili Trawangan.
For us, the seafloor isn’t a classroom floor.
It is part of an ecosystem we have a responsibility to protect.
The Traditional Way of Teaching Scuba Skills
Many certified divers will recognize the traditional underwater classroom.
Students descend to the bottom and kneel in a semicircle around their instructor. The instructor demonstrates mask clearing, regulator recovery, air sharing or another skill. One by one, the students repeat it.
There are understandable reasons why this method became popular.
The bottom provides stability. Students don’t need to think as much about depth control while performing a new skill. The instructor can easily keep everyone together.
It makes teaching easier.
But there is an important question:
Does making something easier to teach automatically make it better training?
Once students become certified, we expect them to maintain neutral buoyancy, control their depth, stay with their buddy and avoid unnecessary contact with the underwater environment.
If those are the behaviors we want from certified divers, we believe those behaviors should already be encouraged during their open-water training.
The Pool Is for Learning, the Ocean Is for Diving
At Oceans 5, we make an important distinction between confined-water training and training in the ocean.
The swimming pool is a controlled learning environment.
It is where students become familiar with scuba equipment, learn how breathing underwater feels and practice the different skills required during their course.
Depending on the exercise and stage of training, instructors can use the pool environment in the way that best supports the student.
We have two large training pools at Oceans 5, which gives our instructors plenty of space and allows students to practice without being rushed.
But once we enter the ocean, our philosophy changes.
At Oceans 5 Gili Air, open-water skills are taught neutrally buoyant.
We don’t take students to the seafloor simply because it creates a convenient platform for performing skills.
The reason is simple.
The ocean is where students learn to become divers.
In the pool, we teach you the skills. In the ocean, we teach you to perform those skills while actually diving.
Buoyancy Is Part of the Skill
Imagine a student performing a mask-clearing exercise.
If the student is kneeling on the bottom, there is very little need to control depth. The bottom is doing that job.
Now imagine performing exactly the same exercise neutrally buoyant at 10 metres.
The student needs to clear the mask while continuing to breathe, maintain position, control depth and remain aware of the instructor and buddy.
That is much closer to what would happen during an actual dive.
The same principle applies to regulator recovery, air sharing and many other diving exercises.
At Oceans 5, we therefore don’t see buoyancy as something completely separate from the other skills.
Buoyancy is part of diving.
And once students are in the ocean, we want them to combine their skills with actual diving.
Students Are Still Students
Does this mean an Oceans 5 student is never allowed to touch the bottom?
Of course not.
Students are learning.
Their buoyancy isn’t perfect yet. Sometimes they will descend too far. Sometimes they will become vertical. Sometimes a fin might touch the sand.
That is part of becoming a diver.
Safety also always comes first. An instructor may need to stabilize or assist a student.
There is an important difference between accidental contact while learning and deliberately taking an entire group to the seafloor because it is easier to conduct a lesson there.
Our objective isn’t to punish students for touching the bottom.
Our objective is to avoid teaching them that the bottom is the normal place to perform scuba skills.
The Seafloor Is Not an Underwater Classroom
This becomes especially important when we are diving inside a protected marine area.
Gili Air, Gili Meno and Gili Trawangan are surrounded by the Gili Matra Marine Conservation Area, managed within Indonesia’s national marine conservation framework.
The area contains coral reefs, seagrass habitats and an enormous diversity of marine life.
Some organisms are obvious.
Everyone recognizes a coral colony, turtle or large sea cucumber.
Others are much harder to see.
What appears to a diver to be an empty patch of sand can contain small organisms or form part of a much larger ecosystem.
This is why we don’t believe the ocean floor should automatically become a classroom just because it is convenient.
One group kneeling on a sandy area may appear harmless.
But multiply that behavior by thousands of students, hundreds of instructors and many years of dive tourism.
Small impacts can become cumulative impacts.
More importantly, training creates habits.
If divers learn from their first open-water dives that sitting on the bottom is normal, we shouldn’t be surprised when they continue doing it after certification.
Gili Matra Is a Marine Conservation Area
Oceans 5 isn’t simply a dive center located next to some beautiful dive sites.
We operate inside a marine conservation area.
That creates responsibility.
The coral reefs, seagrass ecosystems, turtles, fish and other marine life around the Gili Islands are a major reason people travel here.
They are also an important part of the local tourism economy.
A dive center earns money because people want to experience this underwater environment.
We therefore believe protecting that environment cannot be separated from running a dive operation.
Conservation isn’t something that should happen only during an organized cleanup or special conservation day.
It should influence everyday decisions.
Where we take divers.
How we brief them.
How our guides behave.
How instructors demonstrate skills.
And how we teach students in open water.
Working Together With BKKPN
Oceans 5 works together with BKKPN, the Indonesian government authority involved in managing and protecting the Gili Matra Marine Conservation Area.
This relationship has helped Oceans 5 become more involved in understanding what is actually happening underwater around the Gili Islands.
Marine conservation isn’t simply about telling divers:
“Don’t touch the coral.”
Real conservation requires much more.
It requires observation.
It requires data.
It requires research.
It requires long-term monitoring.
And it requires cooperation between government authorities, scientists, local communities, conservation organizations and tourism businesses.
Dive centers have an interesting position within this network.
We are underwater almost every day.
Our instructors and Divemasters see the reefs continuously.
We notice changes.
We see areas becoming healthier.
We can also see when something doesn’t look right.
That makes cooperation between dive operators and organizations responsible for marine management extremely valuable.
Our Partnership With the University of Mataram
Oceans 5 also works closely with the University of Mataram (Universitas Mataram).
This relationship connects diving with marine science and education.
Marine-science students need more than classrooms and textbooks.
To understand marine ecosystems, they need access to the ocean.
They need to observe reefs.
They need to collect data.
They need practical experience.
But underwater research requires infrastructure.
Researchers may need boats, diving equipment, tanks, experienced divers and people with detailed knowledge of local conditions.
A professional dive center already has much of this infrastructure.
Oceans 5 believes that infrastructure can be used for more than tourism.
We can also use it to support science.
By supporting students and marine research, we help create stronger connections between tourism, education and conservation.
And we learn from them as well.
Scientists help us understand the environment we dive in every day.
That knowledge can then influence how we operate and how we educate our divers.
It creates a circle:
Science → Understanding → Conservation → Education → Better Divers → Less Impact
Working With Marine Conservation Indonesia
Our conservation philosophy also includes cooperation with Marine Conservation Indonesia and other organizations working to protect Indonesia’s marine ecosystems.
No single organization can protect a marine park on its own.
BKKPN has an important management role.
Universities provide scientific knowledge and research.
Conservation organizations can support monitoring, education and practical conservation activities.
Local communities have generations of knowledge and depend directly on healthy marine resources.
Tourism businesses interact with visitors and the marine environment every day.
Each has a different role.
The strongest conservation happens when these groups work together rather than separately.
Oceans 5 wants to be part of that cooperation.
Conservation Shouldn’t Be a Separate Dive Course
Within the diving industry, conservation is sometimes treated as an additional activity.
First you learn to dive.
Later you might take a marine ecology specialty.
Maybe you participate in a beach cleanup.
Perhaps you join a coral restoration project.
Those activities are valuable, but we believe environmental responsibility should begin much earlier.
It should start during your first scuba course.
A diver doesn’t need to complete a marine ecology course before understanding that standing on coral isn’t acceptable.
A student shouldn’t need an advanced buoyancy course before discovering that controlling their position above the reef is important.
These behaviors should become part of normal diving from the beginning.
And instructors play an enormous role in creating them.
Students copy their instructors.
If an instructor kneels on the bottom, students learn that kneeling is normal.
If an instructor touches the reef unnecessarily, students see that behavior.
But if the instructor remains neutrally buoyant while demonstrating skills, students see something different.
They see what a diver should look like.
It Starts With Instructor Training
This philosophy becomes especially important during our SSI Instructor Training Courses at Oceans 5 Gili Air.
An instructor candidate isn’t simply learning for themselves.
They are learning how to teach hundreds or potentially thousands of future divers.
That means teaching habits multiply.
Imagine an instructor who teaches 500 Open Water students during a career.
Those 500 divers may dive all over the world.
Some may eventually become Divemasters.
Some may become instructors themselves.
They will take the habits they learned during their first courses with them.
This is why Oceans 5 places so much emphasis on realistic teaching during our SSI Instructor Training Courses.
In open water, our instructor candidates learn to teach skills neutrally buoyant.
We don’t want to train instructors simply to pass an Instructor Evaluation.
We want to prepare them for their future jobs.
Realistic Teaching Techniques
Our instructor training is based around a simple question:
How would this situation happen during a real dive?
Take an out-of-air exercise.
In reality, an out-of-air situation probably isn’t going to happen while two divers are conveniently kneeling next to each other on a sandy bottom.
It could happen while swimming over a reef.
There may be current.
The divers need to communicate.
They need to establish an alternate air source.
They need to remain together.
They need to control their buoyancy.
And they need to deal with the situation safely.
That is what training should prepare divers for.
The same principle applies to many other skills.
We want training to resemble diving.
Not an underwater examination.
Why We Use Video Analysis During Instructor Training
During our SSI Instructor Training Courses, Oceans 5 also uses video analysis.
Instructor candidates can watch themselves teaching.
Where were you positioned?
Could you see all your students?
Where was your Divemaster?
Did you maintain neutral buoyancy?
Were your students positioned correctly?
How did you react when something unexpected happened?
Did you actually solve the problem?
Seeing yourself on video can be very different from remembering what happened underwater.
Instead of an Instructor Trainer simply saying that someone’s positioning could have been better, the candidate can actually see it.
The objective isn’t to create a perfect demonstration purely for an evaluation.
The objective is to develop a better instructor.
Neutral Buoyancy Is Also About Safety
Our neutral-buoyancy philosophy isn’t only about protecting the environment.
It is also about creating more capable divers.
A diver who can comfortably maintain depth has more mental capacity available to deal with other situations.
Imagine an unexpected problem at 15 metres.
The diver may need to communicate with a buddy, solve the problem, monitor depth, control breathing and maintain awareness of the surroundings.
If maintaining buoyancy already requires all of the diver’s attention, everything becomes more difficult.
Good buoyancy gives divers more capacity to think.
They aren’t constantly fighting to stay up or down.
They can concentrate on what is happening.
This is why buoyancy isn’t simply an environmental skill.
It is one of the foundations of good diving.
But Isn’t Kneeling Easier?
Yes.
Kneeling is easier.
And that is part of the reason it has been used for so long.
But we should ask another question:
Easier for whom?
Sometimes it is easier for the student.
But it can also be easier for the instructor.
A group sitting on the bottom is simple to organize.
Teaching a group while everyone maintains position in the water column requires more instructor awareness and control.
At Oceans 5, we believe instructor convenience shouldn’t automatically determine how open-water skills are taught.
This is also one of the reasons we believe in small training groups.
Smaller groups give instructors more time to watch individual students, correct problems and allow people to progress at their own pace.
If someone needs additional practice, we would rather give that student more time than simply use the bottom to make everything easier.
Protect What You Came to See
People travel thousands of kilometres to visit the Gili Islands.
They come to see turtles.
They come for coral reefs.
They come for tropical fish.
They come because they want to experience an underwater world that is completely different from life on land.
It would be contradictory if the way we teach people to experience that environment contributed unnecessarily to damaging it.
Most divers don’t intentionally damage reefs.
They simply repeat the behaviors they learned.
That is why good training matters.
If neutral buoyancy and environmental awareness become normal from the beginning, divers don’t constantly need to remind themselves:
“Don’t touch the bottom.”
They simply don’t need to touch it.
They are diving.
Conservation Is Not a Marketing Tool
At Oceans 5 Gili Air, we don’t believe conservation should be something a dive center talks about only on social media.
It needs to be reflected in everyday decisions.
Our cooperation with BKKPN matters.
Our partnership with the University of Mataram matters.
Our work with Marine Conservation Indonesia matters.
Supporting marine research matters.
Monitoring changes to our reefs matters.
Beach cleanups matter.
Education matters.
But conservation should also be reflected in something as ordinary as how an instructor conducts an Open Water course.
We cannot tell people that coral reefs need protection while unnecessarily using the seafloor as a classroom.
Our teaching methods should support the same conservation principles we promote outside our courses.
Conservation starts with behavior.
So, Should Dive Students Be Allowed to Touch the Seafloor?
Students are students.
Accidental contact will happen.
Sometimes an instructor may need to stabilize or assist someone.
Safety will always come first.
But should sitting or kneeling on the seafloor be the standard method for conducting open-water scuba skills?
At Oceans 5 Gili Air, our answer is no.
In the swimming pool, students learn and practice their skills in a controlled environment.
But once we enter the ocean, we teach those skills neutrally buoyant.
Because that is how divers dive.
Because it creates more realistic training.
Because it develops better buoyancy.
Because it prepares students to solve problems while actually diving.
And because we operate inside a marine conservation area that deserves our respect.
Better Training Creates Better Divers
Ultimately, scuba education shouldn’t be about completing a checklist of exercises and receiving a certification card.
It should be about creating a diver.
A diver who is comfortable underwater.
A diver who can control their buoyancy.
A diver who can solve problems.
A diver who remains aware of their buddy.
A diver who respects marine life.
And a diver who understands that entering the ocean means entering an ecosystem—not an underwater playground.
At Oceans 5 Gili Air, our teaching philosophy, instructor training and conservation activities are all connected by this idea.
Working with the University of Mataram helps connect us with science.
Working with BKKPN connects us with the management and protection of Gili Matra.
Working with Marine Conservation Indonesia connects us with broader marine conservation efforts.
And teaching our students to remain neutrally buoyant in the ocean connects conservation directly to everyday diver education.
Because conservation doesn’t always require a major project.
Sometimes it starts with something much simpler:
Don’t use the seafloor as your classroom.
Learn to dive in the water column.
Better training creates better divers.
And better divers help us protect the underwater world we all came to enjoy.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Oceans 5 teach all scuba skills neutrally buoyant?
Oceans 5 specifically applies its neutral-buoyancy teaching philosophy to open-water training in the ocean.
The swimming pool is a controlled environment where students first learn and practice their scuba skills. Once training moves into the ocean, however, we teach skills neutrally buoyant rather than routinely taking students to the seafloor.
For us, there is an important difference between learning a skill in a swimming pool and demonstrating that skill while actually diving.
Are Oceans 5 students never allowed to touch the bottom?
Students are learning, so accidental contact can happen. Safety also comes first, and an instructor may sometimes need to assist or stabilize a student.
Our philosophy isn’t about criticizing a beginner for accidentally touching the sand. It is about not deliberately using the seafloor as the standard classroom for open-water skills.
Why does Oceans 5 teach open-water skills neutrally buoyant?
Because it more closely resembles real diving. If a diver experiences a mask, regulator or air-sharing problem during an actual dive, they will normally need to manage the situation while maintaining depth and buoyancy.
Isn’t neutral-buoyancy training harder for beginners?
It can initially be more challenging, which is why students first learn and practice their skills in the swimming pool. Small groups and individual attention also allow instructors to give students additional time when necessary.
Is Gili Air inside a marine conservation area?
Yes. Gili Air, Gili Meno and Gili Trawangan are surrounded by the Gili Matra Marine Conservation Area. This is another reason Oceans 5 believes dive operators have a responsibility to minimize unnecessary contact with the underwater environment.
Why does Oceans 5 work with the University of Mataram?
Our partnership helps connect dive tourism with marine science and education. Oceans 5 can provide practical diving infrastructure and local underwater knowledge, while researchers and students help improve our understanding of the marine environment around the Gili Islands.
What is the role of BKKPN?
BKKPN is involved in the management and conservation of Gili Matra. Cooperation between marine-park authorities, researchers, local communities, conservation organizations and tourism operators is important for understanding and protecting the area.
Why is this philosophy important during SSI Instructor Training?
Because instructors multiply behavior. One instructor may teach hundreds or thousands of divers during a career. If we teach future instructors to use realistic, environmentally responsible teaching techniques, those practices can be passed to the next generation of divers.
References
[1] Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries of the Republic of Indonesia (KKP) — information and management framework for Indonesia’s marine conservation areas, including Gili Matra.
[2] Balai Kawasan Konservasi Perairan Nasional (BKKPN) Kupang — information, monitoring and management activities concerning the Gili Matra Marine Conservation Area.
[3] BKKPN Kupang — coral reef and ecosystem monitoring within Gili Matra, including monitoring around Gili Air, Gili Meno and Gili Trawangan.
[4] Universitas Mataram — Faculty and marine-science activities related to marine ecosystems, research and conservation in West Nusa Tenggara.
[5] Marine Conservation Indonesia — marine conservation, research, education and ecosystem-protection activities in Indonesia.
[6] Scuba Schools International (SSI) — diver education standards and training philosophy relating to buoyancy, environmental awareness and responsible diving.