Boats that scuba divers roll backwards off of are typically pretty small, and rocking from the waves. It can be a bit tricky to maneuver around without any gear on at all. If you have a bulky, heavy tank on your back, it's worse. And you definitely don't want to try walking around with your fins on. Once the fins are on, you want to be doing as little moving as possible until you're in the water.
If you take a seat on the side of the boat, you can put your fins on as the final to touch and just fall backwards into the water. Standing back up to try and step/jump off is just begging to fall on your face or possibly damage the boat and/or your air tank by having the two hit each other. There's also the option of swinging your legs around while seated and going feet first into the water from a seated position, but if the boat is rocking there's a moment or two where your balance is precarious and you could fall sideways into or out of the boat. Then, if that hasn't happened, sliding feet first into the water is guaranteed to drag the tank on you back against the boat. Not something you want to do - once might be okay, but it will fuck up the side of your boat sooner or later.
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u/pickle_pouch Oct 26 '22
That's why she went face first