Short answer: you unlock diving during Final Fantasy XIV: Stormblood’s MSQ (Main Scenario Questline). Just keep chipping away at it and you’ll get there eventually.
How to Unlock Diving in FFXIV
You unlock diving via the level 63 MSQ “In Soroban We Trust”, which rather ironically starts in a town situated at the bottom of the ocean called Tamamizu. You’ll make your way there via an underwater cavern during a level 62 MSQ called “Under the Sea”.
After rendezvousing with Alisaie on the western island of the Ruby Sea, round the bend to find a cave entrance surrounded by green lights. Enter the cave and drop down into the water below. Follow the path forward and you’ll come out in the underwater village of Tamamizu.
Once you find your way to the town under the sea and reach the MSQ “In Soroban We Trust”, you’ll finally unlock the ability to dive underwater.
How Diving Works
Now you can explore under the sea by either walking out of one of the portals in the underwater towns or by using the Flying/Diving - Descend key (Default: Ctrl + Spacebar). On PS4 / PS5, it is the O button. If you happen to be flying, you can even dive straight into the water if you hit it at a certain angle.
There is no breath meter, so feel free to swim around and explore the depths for as long as you like. Additionally, when you learn how to dive, all of your flying mounts gain the ability to swim underwater as well. You could even throw all logic out the window and ride your Flying Cumulus cloud underwater.
That’s it for how to dive in FFXIV, which will certainly come in handy now with the new spear fishing and Endwalker MSQ. If you found this guide helpful, take a look at our other FFXIV guides.