gzscuba
Contributor
Hi all,
My buddy and I (both recently certified) have been diving at Devil's Lake, WI (one of the local lakes). We've just been doing some practice on buoyancy control in the shallows, since there isn't much worth seeing below 15 ft. The first set of dives we did got me pretty frustrated. I just ended up bouncing off the bottom and the surface. I'm sure anyone watching would have been very amused.
Anyway, we went back last weekend with some slightly more positive results. I had read the PADI Peak Performance Buoyancy section of my AOW book and really tried to focus on using my lungs to fine tune my buoyancy. It seemed to really help. After a bit I wasn't bouncing off the surface and bottom There was still a noticeable change in depth between breathing in and out, though.
I did hit a little snag though. At one point, I was 15 feet down and I needed to flood & clear my mask (it was fogged). So I stopped - I think I was hovering at the time. I closed my eyes, flooded,took a deep breath, blew out and cleared..... and oops, I was almost at the surface. I dumped a bunch of air from my BC and got back down.
Should I have tried to mask clear with multiple smaller breaths? Should I have dropped some air from my BC to get slightly negative?
At the end of the dive, I was able to pretty much control my ascent with lung volume, and a bit of BC dumping - I tried to get it so that I only rose when I my lungs were mostly full.
In all, I'm feeling a lot better about my limited dive skills. Right now, staying at a consistent depth without a reference keeps me pretty task-loaded, but I can do it (I have stare at my gauges).
I'd appreciate any comments, suggestions, or critiques.
My buddy and I (both recently certified) have been diving at Devil's Lake, WI (one of the local lakes). We've just been doing some practice on buoyancy control in the shallows, since there isn't much worth seeing below 15 ft. The first set of dives we did got me pretty frustrated. I just ended up bouncing off the bottom and the surface. I'm sure anyone watching would have been very amused.
Anyway, we went back last weekend with some slightly more positive results. I had read the PADI Peak Performance Buoyancy section of my AOW book and really tried to focus on using my lungs to fine tune my buoyancy. It seemed to really help. After a bit I wasn't bouncing off the surface and bottom There was still a noticeable change in depth between breathing in and out, though.
I did hit a little snag though. At one point, I was 15 feet down and I needed to flood & clear my mask (it was fogged). So I stopped - I think I was hovering at the time. I closed my eyes, flooded,took a deep breath, blew out and cleared..... and oops, I was almost at the surface. I dumped a bunch of air from my BC and got back down.
Should I have tried to mask clear with multiple smaller breaths? Should I have dropped some air from my BC to get slightly negative?
At the end of the dive, I was able to pretty much control my ascent with lung volume, and a bit of BC dumping - I tried to get it so that I only rose when I my lungs were mostly full.
In all, I'm feeling a lot better about my limited dive skills. Right now, staying at a consistent depth without a reference keeps me pretty task-loaded, but I can do it (I have stare at my gauges).
I'd appreciate any comments, suggestions, or critiques.