New diver - noob question on maneuvering underwater

[dive900]

Hi guys

Im new to diving and to the site. Can i please ask the more experienced divers a really noob question.

Lets say im underwater and i am just hovering around. I see a nice fish lets say 5 feet below me, i fully exhale to bring myself down 5 feet and now i have to shallow breathe so i dont go back up to where i started. if i wanna stay at this new depth do i just continually shallow breathe? i dont think ill last 5 mins shallow breathing LOL.

Ill venture a guess
i can let out air from the BCD to keep me at this new depth....but wouldnt that mean me playing around with the BCD throughout the dive if i want to keep moving up and down based on the depth of the items i want to observe? this would obviously use up air faster.

thanks for the help.

 

[buddhasummer]

Hi and welcome to SB, you will find lots of great info here and always someone willing to assist.

Generally using a "normal breath", don't shallow breathe, you shouldn't move up or down. When fully inhaling or exhaling you should then move. If I want to descend a little I exhale more if I want to ascend a little I more fully inhale once Im where I want to be I resume normal breathing and will stay in position. If you are unable to hold your new position and can only do so by "shallow breathing" I would guess that perhaps you have a little too much air in your BC and are not fully neutral. Once neutral at depth I very rarely if ever use my inflator. I must admit it took what seemed like ages for me to get my buoyancy under control. New divers often use their inflator like an elevator button, and you are right this will use more air more quickly. Breath control is the key. Practice more and play around with taking deep breathes in and out to see how it affects you. With more diving it will come. Good luck and welcome to SB

 

[griffon]

Yep add or release a bit of air to remain neutral, if you are properly weighted it should be a minor adjustment and really only needed now and again depending on depth. Once you drop down you can breath normal unless you are really shallow though.

 

[farsidefan1]

Once you get your weighting correct you can do all your adjustments via breathing. I almost never put air in my BC. Just always leave your glottal unstopped (open with at least a trickle of air comming out). If I want to go up over a coral head I take a deep breathe and slowly let it out as I rise (dribbling the air out) once up where I want to be breathe normally. reverse process to drop or of course use your fins. Funny, to explain it I feel like there is a lot I'm leaving out. Just practice and it becomes second nature. Of course on the surface I put air in my bc and so when I first enter the water there is still some in it, which I immediately remedy to drop down. Air in your BC = air you don't have to breathe.

IF I see a fish or critter I want to photograph on the bottom, on a shelf or in a crack I invert and let out all my air so I drop straight down to where I can get the shot then take large breath of air and rise vertically without needing to brace myself with the oft seen finger on the reef. Of course I also don't spend a lot of time fiddling with the camera. Drop down take shot rise up and let others get their shot/look. If you are just with your buddy then no need to rush.

But NEVER hold your BREATH

 

[Diver0001]

Hi guys

Im new to diving and to the site. Can i please ask the more experienced divers a really noob question.

Lets say im underwater and i am just hovering around. I see a nice fish lets say 5 feet below me, i fully exhale to bring myself down 5 feet and now i have to shallow breathe so i dont go back up to where i started. if i wanna stay at this new depth do i just continually shallow breathe? i dont think ill last 5 mins shallow breathing LOL.

I would think that if you exhaled in order to sink 5ft that you would need to inhale more, not less, in order to avoid sinking even further.

I think your question is a very good one but thinking about it behind your computer will only get your part way there.... Take the time to experiment with it during a real dive.

Also, to address your other question, if you are unable to breathe normally because you are either too positive or too negative then make an adjustment with your BCD. You'll find that you will use your lungs a lot for small adjustments but you shouldn't be subjecting yourself to uncomfortable breathing in the process.

R..

 

[fdarden]

I know for me when I first started diving this was one of the trickier things to master, I think because I kept getting close to neutral but didnt really understand what true proper weighting and control felt like. I discovered it on my own basically by constantly adjusting my weight. I went from about 18LBS of lead (Default PADI instructors choice) to 6. It helped me tremendously to reduce my lead weight, and put less air in my BC. As others have said you should not need to take a breath and hold it to rise. You should not be shallow breathing or skip breathing. Not only are these bad habits for a scuba diver, but they could wind up being dangerous techniques. Hope that helps!

Frank

 

[dive900]

THANKS SO SO MUCH!!!! i will practice more but at least knowing the proper technique i know im building correct habits. thanks again so much for all the help!!

 

[The Chairman]

Its amazing how you can affect your buoyancy greatly by adjusting your breathing patterns. 5 feet takes just an eensy adjustment. I have breathed my way to the surface from 100 ft just as an experiment. I never touched my BCD and achieved the ascent by adjusting how I breathed and where I paused on my breath. No, I never "held" my breath and was prepared to use my BC if needed. I have even gone 8 pounds light (donating weight to another diver) and have adjusted my breathing to stay down. BTW, this uses more air in the long run and I try to find a down line to hold onto for my safety stop. I do a fair amount of guiding here in the Keys and my clients don't always weight themselves appropriately. I refuse to overweight myself so sometimes I have to work at staying down when I pass off weights.

 

[dive900]

thanks for your input pete....hopefully i would be able to say the same thing maybe 1 to 2 years down the line hahaha!