No. Way no. Using my breathing, I stay neutral during the whole dive. Neutral. There's always a little air left in your BC to remove if I need to. Usually, adjust my breathing is sufficient.
I see the BCD as a gross adjustment and my breath as the fine tune for my dive. I descend in this manner if I'm wearing a bladder: (sorry, but this is uber detailed)
- On the surface, with a full, or partially full BCD, I float vertically in the water
- Lift my inflator/deflator high out of the water with my left hand
- I depress the deflator
- I keep the deflator depressed until I feel the water just cover my head (awash)
- One smooth deflation
- No pumping of the deflator button
- Releasing is a matter of timing, so adjust as necessary on subsequent dives
- Do a super exhale
- Get into the scuba position (horizontal)
- Adjust my descent rate using my profile and angle of attack
- Horizontal with limbs extended for the slowest descent
- Head way down with arms and legs streamlined for the fastest descent
- I may flutter kick to get there faster
- Inhale when needed
- This will stop your descent
- Exhalation resumes your descent
- A sharp inhale a few feet from the bottom stops my descent immediately and completely
- If you're about to hit the bottom, arrest your descent with a single finger on something hard and dead
- You won't need this once you get the hang of it all
- Establish neutral buoyancy
- Establish a hover
- Add or remove tiny amounts of air and breathe once or twice to recheck
- Repeat until I'm comfortable
- I take my time and won't rush this process!!!
- From here on out, I adjust my depth using my breathing
- To ascend horizontally, I take a super breath, being sure to keep that glottis open
- I want to feel/hear/see bubbles coming from my reg as I ascend due to Boyles' Law.
- At my safety stop I exhale to stop and then let out any air that might be in my BCD, usually a quart or so and get vertical.
- This allows me to recheck my buoyancy on every dive
- I casually spin looking for boat traffic, other divers, fish and fun...
- Sometimes, this is the best part of the dive!
- On my final ascent, I take another spin, barely add air to my lungs while keeping that glottis open, and slowly work my way to the surface.
- Air allowing, my minimum stop is 5 minutes
- Air allowing, I usually begin when I see the last diver just start to get on the ladder
- Once on the surface, I inflate my bladder (if I have one) and grab the tag line
- On the tag line, I remove my fins before I get to the ladder
- Fins go on either wrist
- I don't give them to any crew
- In case I fall back into the ocean
Amen, brother, amen!!! Control makes and keeps you safe. Having to continually add and subtract air to achieve neutral buoyancy is too much mental work, especially when you're narced. I don't let my students out of the pool until they can accomplish this super easy task.