Course overview

Take charge of your own dives with the SSI Navigation specialty in Port Blair and learn to find your way underwater using compass and natural references. On the reefs around Chidiyatapu you practise plotting courses, estimating distance and relocating sites so you can dive with independence and confidence. The certification is among the most practical add-ons for any diver in the Andaman Sea.

What you’ll learn

• Navigate reliably with a compass
• Read and use natural underwater references
• Estimate distance using time and kick cycles
• Swim accurate patterns and reciprocal courses
• Run basic search patterns to relocate a site
• Plan a dive around a navigation objective

Prerequisites

• Minimum age 10
• SSI Open Water Diver or equivalent certification
• Comfortable with basic buoyancy
• Diver medical clearance signed by a physician

What's included · What's not

Probability of sightings · month-by-month

What you're likely to see each month, based on historic operator logs.

Day-by-day itinerary

1. Day1
   Compass & natural navigation

   Study navigation theory and complete the compass, natural-reference and pattern dives on the reefs near Chidiyatapu, finishing with a search-pattern exercise to certify.

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Frequently asked questions