What is "basic scuba"?

[TSandM]

It's the students who put in the effort to learn, and in effect train their bodies to perform these skills.

This is SO true . . . I don't think you can TEACH buoyancy control, but you can learn it. It's similar to riding a bicycle -- you can explain to some degree what's involved, but the person riding has to learn all the little tiny adjustments that go into keeping your balance while the bike is moving.

But you can certainly tell students that they SHOULD be able to do what I described, and even better, you can model it. I've watched students in my husband's OW classes watching me, and trying to do what I do. The nice thing is that, in the pool, nobody carries much weight, so balancing the equipment is not as big an issue as it is once they get into our cold open water.

I totally agree that too many people finish their classes without being given any goals, or seeing any good examples. I still remember swimming desperately after my OW instructor and watching his big fins kick up clouds of silt.

 

[DiveMonkeyEZ]

Many good points. For me the finesse maneuvers came with time in the situations. I did take the PADI Peak Bouyancy Course on the way to AOW, and that added a LOT to my ability in this area, but mostly it was practice.

 

[RJP]

This is SO true . . . I don't think you can TEACH buoyancy control, but you can learn it.

The main thing you need is an instructor who EXPECTS it.

 

[fisheater]

This discussion reminds me of those seeking perfection in cooking.

Many an aspiring chef seeking to work/train at a Michelin Three Star restaurant has been tasked by the executive chef to "fry me an egg." Sure, you and I can fry an egg. It's easy to fry an egg.

What's damned hard is to fry one perfectly.

Some chefs will separate the egg and cook the yolk and the white portions separately, as each is perfect only with different temperatures. Then, they will cleverly reassemble the egg for serving.

To do something simple is easy. To do something simple perfectly takes lots of concentration, will and practice.

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

Did any of you catch the PBS TV broadcast of Shark Mountain a couple nights ago?

Experienced technical trained divers with "years" of bottom time, rototilling and standing on the reef. Great video footage but I had to laugh and cringe simultaneously a number of times!

 

[noreastDIVER84]

My husband and I met a friend yesterday for a night dive. We spent an hour in the water, with a max depth of 20 feet. We were exploring a bunch of eelgrass patches, looking for Spiny Lumpsuckers, which are small, incredibly cute fish which can be found this time of year. The three of us would spend five or ten minutes on a single patch of eelgrass, maybe ten to twenty feet across. We would float quietly and methodically examine the grass and the sandy bottom, looking for interesting critters, and finding both lumpsuckers and other great things, like market squid.

Ten minutes in a 20 foot radius, and not a single bit of silt raised. No problems hovering for that long. Constant passive communication -- each of us knew where the others were at all times.

To me, these are basic scuba skills. But how many people who would term themselves basic divers have been taught how to do this?

Well I would say I was not taught how to do that, and would like to be able to float that way. There is an exception that comes with why I haven't learned; Most of the places I go diving are in a strong current and are either drift dives, or the current is that strong that you actually have to move your way along by holding to the rocks and the various ropes that we have strung up. I would like to try to get into the quarry that my dive shop has, and just spend a whole day working on my buoyancy. I can now do it since I have a drysuit, but even by the end of August the surface water temperature is only about 65, and when you hit the bottom you get to about 40, so it is very cold, but refreshing on a nice hot day. The issue is that I can only go there with them, and that usually means the place is mobbed with students, so you know what that means.

 

[Blackwood]

Some chefs will separate the egg and cook the yolk and the white portions separately, as each is perfect only with different temperatures. Then, they will cleverly reassemble the egg for serving.

I prefer brute force: scramble it.

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

I don't think you can TEACH buoyancy control

Well I for one hope others here on SB, and many others world wide do successfully teach buoyancy control. I don't think some people are able to learn buoyancy control easily.

 

[TSandM]

Halemano, what I meant was not that instructors don't discuss buoyancy control and even give some tips on achieving it. But I think buoyancy control is like balance on a balance beam -- the diver has to learn how to read the signals from his body and from his gear, and from his environment, and how to adjust his breathing and his air spaces accordingly -- how much, how fast, and which. It comes faster to some than to others, but I think everybody has to learn it for himself.

 

[RJP]

This discussion reminds me of those seeking perfection in cooking.

Being able to hover neutrally without silting up the dive site isn't exactly "seeking perfection" but rather a relatively baseline level of skills.