cirwin
Registered
Hi All,
After logging a dozen dives after my OW certification (pretty much one beach dive every sunday in Southern California), I went down to Bonaire to do my AOW and get in some serious diving. I started the week in a dive skin with 10 lbs, feeling like I didn't have enough weight on me. By the middle of the week I was using 6 lbs, and had no problems with my buoyancy, even at the end of an Al80. What changed? I realized that I was unconsciously holding a significant volume of air in my lungs. I am not talking about holding my breath. Rather, I was breathing deeply and slowly, but I was always keeping some air in my lungs. At one point during one of my dives with 10 lbs, I was really struggling to stay down (BC was empty), and I got into a vertical position and just relaxed. Suddenly, I felt a large volume of air to exhale and as I did, I began to plummet downward. I did a buoyancy check before the next dive and went down to 6 lbs and never had another problem. Suddenly getting neutral was so much easier and I was better able to hover above the reef and look for juvenile trunkfish without worrying about banging into stuff.
Anyhow, I thought I would share this with the new divers. People always say "relax." I always felt like I was calm as a cucumber, but apparently I actually needed to heed the advice and relax to let all of the air out.
Thanks also to all of the veterans who post helpful tips here. My save-a-dive kit that I compiled from posts here saved the day for a dutch family who needed a strap and a few o-rings.
After logging a dozen dives after my OW certification (pretty much one beach dive every sunday in Southern California), I went down to Bonaire to do my AOW and get in some serious diving. I started the week in a dive skin with 10 lbs, feeling like I didn't have enough weight on me. By the middle of the week I was using 6 lbs, and had no problems with my buoyancy, even at the end of an Al80. What changed? I realized that I was unconsciously holding a significant volume of air in my lungs. I am not talking about holding my breath. Rather, I was breathing deeply and slowly, but I was always keeping some air in my lungs. At one point during one of my dives with 10 lbs, I was really struggling to stay down (BC was empty), and I got into a vertical position and just relaxed. Suddenly, I felt a large volume of air to exhale and as I did, I began to plummet downward. I did a buoyancy check before the next dive and went down to 6 lbs and never had another problem. Suddenly getting neutral was so much easier and I was better able to hover above the reef and look for juvenile trunkfish without worrying about banging into stuff.
Anyhow, I thought I would share this with the new divers. People always say "relax." I always felt like I was calm as a cucumber, but apparently I actually needed to heed the advice and relax to let all of the air out.
Thanks also to all of the veterans who post helpful tips here. My save-a-dive kit that I compiled from posts here saved the day for a dutch family who needed a strap and a few o-rings.
