I'm nearly at 100 Dives.. What next?

[SimonUnderwater]

Hi All,

I've been lurking on these forums for a few years now and want to say thanks to everyone who contributes. I've learnt a lot from this board as well as some good Instructors & Divemasters

I was hoping to get some advice from some experienced divers on what I should be planning next in my dive adventures. I've now clocked 80 dives and am working/holidaying in the Philippines so there is great potential to further my experience and enjoy a lot more dives.

I want to improve my diving skills and I have a few questions particularly around buoyancy and equipment. I have all the basic gear mask, fins, suit, computer and I'm looking to purchase BCD/Regs soon. I feel the main focus of my diving at the moment should be my buoyancy as I feel I should have a better handle on it now after 80 dives... I'm not bobbing all over the place or shooting up or anything but I just feel like I'm overweighted and using a lot of air to try and stay neutral. I want to try and master my buoyancy before I move on to my next planned adventure which is Wreck diving. I've recently started to become a lot more comfortable using different techniques with my fins but I certainly haven't mastered anything but the basic fin kick.

I tried dropping down some weights recently while diving in El Nido from 5kg to 4kg and I struggled to descend with no air in my lungs, I emptied them and I wasn't going down, I was just bobbing around the surface and my head wasn't going under the water all that much... I probably could have started kicking down at one point and started to descend but we had a 30m dive planned so I wasn't comfortable doing that in case I struggled to stay neutral towards the end of the dive. I took an extra Kilo from the boat and went down.

I have this problem where 4kg I feel too light to go down however 5kg feels too much! I'm often exhaling my air quickly to get another breath in before I sink too much. When I try and stay buoyant around something I want to look at I feel I'm using too much air as I am exhaling really quickly so I can get air in to go up slightly again.

I have done the majority of my diving while on Holidays with up to 6 month gaps between dives so I often need a few dives to get comfortable with the BCD and the weights I am using.

Sorry for the rant. I guess my question is: What can I do to improve my buoyancy from here? I'm looking to purchase a BCD/Reg so I can dive with the same equipment all the time and become familiar with it... What should I look for? What skills can I practice?

Thanks!

 

[Agility]

IMHO one or even two kg more or less will not make any difference, so I see no point in trying hard to shave off the fifth kg.
Diving your own equipment will help you become more comfortable, for me it is important to get one or two dives in every month all year round, my muscle memory seems to be suffering from dementia :blinking:

 

[mikeycanuk]

Not sure if this helps but I was always overweighted until my Dec dive trip to Grand Turk where the the DM was an old man of the sea and a wealth of knowledge. Not only do I use a LOT less weight, my back no longer hurts at the end of dives and my air consumption is to the point I easily use less air than my wife (he had great breathing tips too).

What I learned was:

You don't judge your weighting on if you can sink at the beginning of a dive. I dived with a 7mm suit and boots last 2 trips (Grand Turk and Coz), people laugh but I'm very lean and get cold easy (to the obese guy laughing at us, you have a 15mm suit built in dude!). The first dive the suit is dry, the 2nd dive not so. I found I have to kick to descend for the first 9'-10'. At the end of the dive I've zero air in my bcd and can control my safety stop with breathing only- and my back doesn't hurt. And the tip that you'll use less weight as your trip goes by is true. More comfortable, wetter wetsuit?

On Grand Turk the DM took weights out mid-dive, I was OK, but my wife wasn't comfortable. It wasn't an issue until we mixed up wetsuits (I thought it felt tighter than usual) and she did have an uncontrolled acent from 80'. On shore we figured out why, ooops.

Here at home in freshwater I was using 20lbs!!!!! I got to 8lbs in Grand Turk with neutral buoyant AL80's! in Cozumel I was using HP120 steel and started with 4lbs and probably could get away with 2lbs but there wasn't 1lbs on the boat. My wife however used 10lbs for over a week then 8lbs for the final few days (with the 120's), with the NB AL80's she used the same. Why she was so much more buoyant on this trip? Who knows.

I'm about the same level as you, just broke 100 dives last week. On the weighting it would be great if you could work with someone to slowly reduce weight and carry extra with them should you have issues around 15'. We do have our own gear and it sure helps.

I did take the Peak performance buoyancy course which helped for sure. Not sure what else other than practice, I am very un-buoyant, the floating in the pool for 5 or 10(??) minutes part of the OW course was murder!

 

[Searcaigh]

Try 4.5Kg

Once you have your own gear things change

 

[TSandM]

Here's an article on fine-tuning buoyancy, and there are a bunch more good articles on this same site: Fine Tuning Buoyancy | GUE Skills | Articles | DiveDIR

Where are you in the Philippines? If you are anywhere near Puerto Galena, stop by Tech Asia and talk to their instructors. They are affiliated with the same organization as the instructor who wrote the article above. There's a very strong focus on perfect buoyancy and trim, and maneuverability, in GUE classes, so I'm sure anybody there can help you with this issue.

 

[Bob DBF]

The best method I have found to get proper weighting is to do a shore dive and at the end of the dive with 500# in the tank, 15' depth and empty BC (sorry but I'm not metric), adjust your weight by placing weights on the bottom, or in a game bag on the bottom, until you can hover with normal breathing. That will be proper weight for that rig. Personally I will dive the rig with 2# additional in case I want, or need, to hover at less than 15' and/or less than 500# in the tank, it has come in quite handy. I wear a pocket type weight belt because I will switch between tanks and sometimes rigs, for convenience, but it also makes it quite easy to do a weight check.

Oh yeah, if you have a mind like mine, write it down.


Bob
--------------------------
All my life I've wanted an excuse to wear a knife, and here I have found a sport where it is actually encouraged~ Dave Barry

 

[DivemasterDennis]

My addition to the suggestions above is to log every dive, including the equipment used, the exposure suit you wear, and amount of weight used. Note any issues with weighting. Equipment varys a lot, and I agree when you have your own cosistent weighting, and accordingly, buoyancy control, is easier. Different sizes and types of tank makes a big difference in weighting, as do other variations in equipment, particular make and model of BCD. If you want a class to help you get this under controil, I personally thin the PADI peak performance buoyancy class is very worthwhile, if taught by a competent instructor. ANd by the way, if 1 kg equals 2.2 pounds, that is a big difference. I join searcaigh in suggesting you try 4.5 KG.
DivemasterDennis

 

[Qasar]

IMHO one or even two kg more or less will not make any difference, so I see no point in trying hard to shave off the fifth kg.
Diving your own equipment will help you become more comfortable, for me it is important to get one or two dives in every month all year round, my muscle memory seems to be suffering from dementia :blinking:

I agree with that. What is important is a good buoyancy control. Why do you care for 1kg less or more? Honestly, having one kg less could create pb at safety/decco stops, but one kg more will never harm you. Here I'm speaking of 1 or 2 kgs, not people with 10kg extra weihts (on the belt of course....)...
I'm not convince also that you will see the difference going down for one kg, the main issue is reaching 10m to have you wetsuit crushed enough to be less buoyant.

 

[SimonUnderwater]

Here's an article on fine-tuning buoyancy, and there are a bunch more good articles on this same site: Fine Tuning Buoyancy | GUE Skills | Articles | DiveDIR

Where are you in the Philippines? If you are anywhere near Puerto Galena, stop by Tech Asia and talk to their instructors. They are affiliated with the same organization as the instructor who wrote the article above. There's a very strong focus on perfect buoyancy and trim, and maneuverability, in GUE classes, so I'm sure anybody there can help you with this issue.

Thanks for the article, it really resonates with the way I dive at the moment. I'm living in Manila and Anilao / Puerto Galera are the easy weekend getaways for me so i'll get in touch them soon.

---------- Post added March 26th, 2014 at 04:55 PM ----------

Thanks for the advice everyone. I'm going to purchase a BCD soon so I have my own equipment to become comfortable with and I'll try 4.5 kg and see how that goes. Ultimately practice makes perfect

 

[Centrals]

If you are buying BP/W style BC and depends on the material used on the back plate. You might find 4.5kg is far too heavy if you opted for SS plate!!
PG is a lot cheaper than Anilao if you are a single diver. But you should be able to hook up with some divers from Manila for the weekend trip to Anilao to cut the diving cost.