Help a old lady out

[fishfood]

I'm looking for suggestion and not quite sure where to put it so i will put it with divers with disabilities .
My mom has turned 70+ years old and after 2 knee surgery and then 2 years off diving because of covid I finally got her back into the water again.

I recently took her on a liveaboard dive trip and discovered she can handle everything about diving other then the dive ladders.
After her surgery she does not have the best range of motion but can get up a good set of ladders .
She almost gave up diving mid way through are last trip because the dinghy had one of the worst dive ladders i have seen.


Im looking to get her back into the water soon but need suggestion of places to dive that would be great for her.. Planning a trip to the Philippines ( she has been 4 times already ) i feel they have some of the best day boats to dive off with the ladders being actual more like stairs. I fell kind odd asking for photos of the dive boats and ladders they use but i will before booking trips in future

Warm water 3mm shorty to no suit ( she is stubborn and will dive no suit when most people are in 3mm or shorty's )
Prefer to not diving from a dinghy unless its well built
and easy load unload is most important .
Prefer diving in asia but open to other areas

Yes we remove the BCD and weight before getting back on the boat

 

[Marie13]

Has she tried taking her BC off in the water and handing it off to the DM or boat crew? If she had good results with that, then I’d look for places that offer “valet“ diving.

 

[fishfood]

Has she tried taking her BC off in the water and handing it off to the DM or boat crew? If she had good results with that, then I’d look for places that offer “valet“ diving.

Yeah I normally remove her bcd and hand it up or go onto boat drop my rig and jump back in being hers up.

 

[NW Dive Dawg]

My suggestion is to take her to Little Cayman BR for some ""valet" boat diving that is pretty flipp'n good.

 

[Ross19966]

I drop my BC in the water and pass it up. Wife is 65 and just getting certified now and she has started doing the same thing in her pool dives. There is just no need to haul all that weight up a ladder on your back. The other option is to ask if the boat you are booking has an elevator. Some of the charter boats around here have them.

 

[rongoodman]

Perhaps look for a boat with a lift, although from what I hear they’re more popular in the U.K. than the tropics.

 

[FishCity]

I have the same issue as your mother. I do ask for pictures of the dive ladders on the boats, tenders, dinghies. Some are just no-go ladders, such as ones where the lowest rung is only a foot or so from surface and/or there is no place to reach up and use arms to pull myself up.
Sometimes lobs have different tenders and they agree to use the "good one " for my party. Ask for photos!

 

[FishCity]

There's a whole thread on ladders Boat ladders and upper body v leg strength

 

[Gareth J]

Perhaps look for a boat with a lift, although from what I hear they’re more popular in the U.K. than the tropics.

I am more than happy to promote UK diving (and boats with lifts is generally the norm' here), but the waters are a little cool, so drysuits are the norm' here.

Places like the Red Sea, although they still have ladders. De-kitting in the water, and then climbing the ladder, and the crew/dive guides lifting the gear out does seem the way to go.

 

[Damselfish]

Im looking to get her back into the water soon but need suggestion of places to dive that would be great for her.. Planning a trip to the Philippines ( she has been 4 times already ) i feel they have some of the best day boats to dive off with the ladders being actual more like stairs. I fell kind odd asking for photos of the dive boats and ladders they use but i will before booking trips in future

We found dive boats in the Philippines to have some of the worst ladders. Often they use large bangkas with the outriggers and ladders built of bamboo. The geometry of the whole thing often results in a ladder that barely got into the water. Mr. Damsel has limited flexibility and had a heck of time with those ladders. Pictures can be helpful, but that is one case where the problem wom’t be obvious from a picture. (Between 4 resorts and a LOB with RIBs in the Philippines, not sure we’ve ever seen a good ladder.)

No need to give up on liveaboards completely, there are liveaboards that do all their diving off the mothership, or have large fancy dinghies. Does tend to be a regional thing, like places with lots of currents tend to use dingies. I do think I think modern metal boats seem to make fewer accessibily compromises than whatever the local traditional style boats do, so that might be something to look for.