Hello from Tulsa, Oklahoma!

[Diverlady13]

Check this thread out it may help.

Optimal Buoyancy Computer

Thanks so much for that! I'll give it a try for this trip. When we dove in December, I used Scuba Otter's calculator, but I was a bit too floaty at the end of the dive. I think adding one more pound would have been perfect, but unfortunately I got some bad advice from my son's instructor about how much extra to add for my new wetsuit... and was over-weighted. It was a good learning experience though. It really hit home how having too much weight affects the dive. In Akumal we'll be with a much smaller group (only 4 people max per guide), so I'll be able to take an extra minute or two to ensure proper buoyancy instead of settling for diving with the wrong weight.

 

[Diverlady13]

Welcome to scuba board. 10killer is often very low vis, 2-3 feet I’m told, although quite a bit warmer than Beaver. Beaver current conditions near the dam are about 43f from the surface to 100’ and vis from 10 to 30+ feet depending on depth and location. Summer temps will get as high as 80f on the surface and about 50f at 100’ with a good thermoclines.

Thanks! I'm very interested to try fresh water diving. I don't think I'd mind a bit of limited visibility (though 2 feet doesn't sound very fun) as long as there's room to move. When we dove the Blue Heron Bridge the weather had been bad (which is why our ocean drift dives were all canceled). Vis was very low and there were so many divers out there due to other cancellations that people were bumping into each other just to try to get out of the crowd.

 

[Diverlady13]

Hi Michelle, the Tulsa area has a lot of great divers. I am in Owasso. I help out with Okiescuba. I know we would love to have you guys join us whether its in the pool, at the lake or on a trip. We are more than happy to help out configuring new gear or to just BS about diving. Don't hesitate to reach out if you would like.

Fred

Awesome! Thank you so much! We'll definitely check out Okiescuba when we get back into town! I just bookmarked the website.

 

[Diverlady13]

Welcome Diverlady13 checkout the Oklahoma Aquanauts dive club if you haven't already. We have over 1700 members and have someone diving every week or weekend year around. We have several experienced divers that are willing to help anyone out. Oklahoma Aquanauts

Fantastic! Thank you so much. I just bookmarked that page as well. It's nice to find such a welcoming community!

 

[Diverlady13]

Welcome! Controlling your orientation in the water is easier if you have a weight distribution that makes you not head heavy or fin heavy but rather balanced. Otherwise, you will struggle, and gravity will likely tip you to be fins down every time you stop. Moving the tank can help, but it is more complex as it is moving both your center of buoyancy, because of the large volume of the tank, and moving your center of mass, because of the weight of the tank.

Simpler is moving weights, as their volume is small so they do not move your center of buoyancy much. What that means is often putting some weights on higher up tank bands, adding ankle weights to the tank neck, or to trim pockets that are actually significantly higher than your hip pockets instead of being mearly on your back. Alternatively, if your BC allows it by having slim shoulder straps, you can add weights to pockets on the rear shoulders.

Two recent threads you might peruse are:
Buoyancy question how do you maintain a sitting hover?
THE "PERFECT ( being horizontal ) TRIM" HOAX
(having a balanced weight distribution so you can easily hold any orientation did not seem a 'hoax' to many)

I'm not saying they are the best threads, but they are recent ones that touch on this. They may give you some help. Congratulations on the weight loss.

Thanks for those links (and for the congrats). I'll read them before we dive on Saturday. I bought my own gear in November and find that with my new BC (back inflate) it's very easy for me to stay horizontal. I did play with tank height on the last trip and I think I found good placement, but I'm sure there are other tweaks I can make. I haven't tried using back trim yet, but my BC does have back trim pockets.

 

[Diverlady13]

Use your safety stops to dial in weighting. Make sure all the air is out of your BC and see what happens when you just hang. If you talk to your dive guide prior to the dive, they might let you hand off weights to help you get the right weighting.

Thanks for that advice! I'll do this on our first dive Saturday morning.

 

[Diverlady13]

Hello, Buoyancy is one of those things that comes with time and comfort underwater, but everything from tank placement to how far away your fins are from your trunk play into the puzzle. I am using buoyancy and trim together in what I'm saying before I get the hammer smacked on me.

Thanks for that. I felt like I was doing pretty well with my buoyancy until I added the wetsuit. It's just a shorty and I'm sure I overcompensated with too much weight. I think I'll feel more comfortable practicing on this trip since our group will be very small. The last dive company we went with was running at half capacity, but still had about 25 people in a tight space on each boat with a total of 2 guides. There was a lot of pressure (literally commands) to just hurry up and get under the water. Since I haven't been diving very long, I was just trying to not be "that diver" that was holding up the group. (That was a mistake also. I'm usually outspoken and should have insisted on doing proper buoyancy checks. It doesn't take that long.)

 

[Diverlady13]

Welcome! Controlling your orientation in the water is easier if you have a weight distribution that makes you not head heavy or fin heavy but rather balanced. Otherwise, you will struggle, and gravity will likely tip you to be fins down every time you stop. Moving the tank can help, but it is more complex as it is moving both your center of buoyancy, because of the large volume of the tank, and moving your center of mass, because of the weight of the tank.

Simpler is moving weights, as their volume is small so they do not move your center of buoyancy much. What that means is often putting some weights on higher up tank bands, adding ankle weights to the tank neck, or to trim pockets that are actually significantly higher than your hip pockets instead of being mearly on your back. Alternatively, if your BC allows it by having slim shoulder straps, you can add weights to pockets on the rear shoulders.

Two recent threads you might peruse are:
Buoyancy question how do you maintain a sitting hover?
THE "PERFECT ( being horizontal ) TRIM" HOAX
(having a balanced weight distribution so you can easily hold any orientation did not seem a 'hoax' to many)

I'm not saying they are the best threads, but they are recent ones that touch on this. They may give you some help. Congratulations on the weight loss.

That horizontal trim thread was very educational. With my limited experience I have found that I prefer to be just slightly tilted head up, but have been making an effort to be more flat because that's what we have heard is "right". Interestingly, on one of our dives there was a young woman who was diving almost vertically with her legs bent. It looked very strange and she was mostly hand swimming...almost doggy paddling...but she did zoom through the water. (Of course the point isn't to go fast, but I was really surprised at how fast she did go considering the odd technique.)

 

[Diverlady13]

I wanted to thank everyone for their help! Just got back from Mexico and your advice was so helpful. Due to weather we ended up cenote/cave diving for our first two days. Between the advice I got here and our extremely knowledgeable guide, I was able to work on my weighting and buoyancy in both salt and fresh water. (BTW, I loved caved diving!) We had 3 dives on our last diving day. The first two were drift dives and I think this is the first time I've really been able to just hover without any effort to keep myself afloat. The last dive was a bull shark dive, so we were really weighted down. Even with the extra weight, I was able to tweak my bc and hover for the safety stop. Again, thank you everyone!

 

[RedFeatherDiver]

Hello everyone! I'm Michelle and I'm currently living in Tulsa. I (along with my husband) did my OW and AOW certifications about 18 months ago in Kauai. I'm totally hooked! Looking forward to learning a lot from this board and improving my skills. My husband and I retired in October and are hoping things will open up so that we can do a lot more diving around the world. We're off to Akumal, Mexico on Friday. Right now our biggest focus is improving our skills and having a great time underwater!

I'm really working on buoyancy right now. I was doing great, but then we bought our own gear and I lost 45 pounds, so I have to figure out proper weighting and trim all over again! I'm always open for tips and suggestions on all aspects of diving.

Hello neighbor