When in rough water and heading for the ladder, stay under water and approach the ladder cautiously. If you watch the way it is swinging you can save yourself a lot of effort and possible damage to you or your equipment by letting it come to you.
I don't know that I would do this. First and foremost, I would follow the directions of the crew. Also, if you are under water, the boat might not see you, and it might engage the propellors if not at anchor. It all depends on the circumstances. Last, you might come up right under the ladder just when someone else is not clear of the ladder on the way out of the water, and that person could fall back on you just as you are breaking the surface. Ouch! 
THe boat will never engage it's propellars when divers are approaching. They know where you are under water by your bubbles. If not then you have picked the wrong boat. You will not come up under the ladder or on top of someone else if you are approaching it cautiously. The rough seas will seem calm from under water, you will be able to see the ladder clearly and when it is your turn you will approach it slowly making sure the person in front of you is off the ladder. Taking fins off if necessary is also easier by looking underwater instead of by feel with your head above water. All of this was learned in some really rough water and I hate to see people stress out when they don't have to
I respectfully disagree. On rougher days, or due to glare and the like, a boat will not see bubbles. There's a lot for the captain to watch, and you don't want to count on this.
Boats can be constructed in a way where the captain can't see well enough directly behind the boat. This might not allow the captain to see you unless you approach from far enough.
Current can blow bubbles far enough away that they won't surface right over you, and even if the boat could see the bubbles, they might not reflect where you are. Last, not all of us even make bubbles.
It is not you coming up on top of someone else that I am talking about. It is he or she falling in on top of you. That's my concern here. You can't see above the water and over the platform to know that someone is there or not unless you surface before coming to the ladder. If you arrive by coming straight up at the ladder, you won't see anyone on the platform, and someone might fall on top of you.
I agree with taking fins off in the water. I just hold the ladder with one hand, do a figure-four with my leg, taking off the fin and then holding it while I do the same thing on the other side. However, this is done after approaching and getting hold of the ladder. I don't start climbing up until after fin removal.
There have been plenty of incidents where people have fallen on top of people that are attempting to move to the ladder while the person ahead is not clear of the platform even where the diver approaches the ladder on the surface. (Please wait until the diver ahead is complete aboard before moving in.) So, approaching from below without being able to check what is going on with the person that might just be exiting ahead of you would seem risky to me.
Again, that's just my feeling. You are entitled to disagree.
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