Shore entries

[Nemrod]

There is no reason generally to have any air in the BC, suck it flat. Walk out, flop over and start swimming. Dolphin duck under breakers. N

 

[TSandM]

I really loathe starting a dive in waist-deep water. I usually swim out to where it's deep enough that I can at least start my descent vertically. Otherwise, it seems like I never do an elegant job of getting underwater.

 

[Land Fish]

Glad I found this post...doing my first shore dive in two months. Thanks for the tips!

 

[Divetech99]

Seriously??? Properly weighted, every diver is negatively buoyant with a full tank and no air in the BC. Aluminum tanks (most) become positively buoyant when empty while steel tanks (most) are negative throughout. All are very negatively buoyant full. I have yet to see a tank spec that is positive when full.

If you have to do a hard exhale at the beginning of a dive or fin your way down you are underweighted - perhaps severly. You should have to do no more than exhaust air from your BC to descend. If you have to fin down and are not diving steel, negative at zero, tanks you are taking a real chance of uncontrolled ascent.

Yes seriously. We're talking new divers here. Common mistake is they breathe in heavily, unconsciously, while on the surface before descending. Partly due to mild stress (first open water dive), partly due to the physical effort of carrying all that gear and swimming with it to the drop point.

A simple reminder to them to relax and exhale slowly and steadily as they descend makes a big difference.

 

[Russoft]

I get to chest height water, then start swimming face down as if I'm snorkeling. Grab my rear dump valve and start venting air. Usually the bottom slopes away so slowly that there's no rush to start sinking. I prefer shore entries (at least in relatively calm water) to boat entries. I've had people try to put on my gear because they don't remember what their rental gear looks like. I've had friends smacked on the head because not everyone rolled into the water at the same time. And the frantic rush to suit up on a crowded rubber dingy, swaying crazily on ocean swells, is less than pleasurable by my standards.

 

[divin'dog]

Pretty much what everyone else said previously... And if you walk into the water with BC deflated, hold your regulator in hand at the ready or be breathing off it in case you don't see that big round rock that happens to be under foot. Waist deep is pretty shallow to start a dive but it depends on what you and your buddy want to do. If I'm doing a "right from shore" dive, no swim out, I'll get to about chest deep water (or slightly deeper) if possible, hover, do a minor "recheck, get comfy" and actually get any trapped air out of my suit, then go under.

The way I vent all my air is to hold my inflator above the water and release all the air while doing a few kicks (vertically of course) to keep my head above the surface for a second or two. This keeps any water from entering the inflator as the last bit of air is released and provides some extra inertia to "break" the surface and drop down. I stop kicking and exhale at the same time once the air is out of my BC and descend vertically to get down faster. If I'm in chest deep water, I'll just bend my knees going under (cause it's shallow) and then stretch out into a kick to get going. In shallow water, you will hit the bottom pretty quickly this way, so moving will help keep you "on plane" (slightly head up, fins down) long enough to adjust your buoyancy. Not really conventional but that's what I do.

Last note to OP is that the air should be venting out of your BC easily... Maybe more air is trapped in your suit than you think.

 

[FinnMom]

There is no reason generally to have any air in the BC, suck it flat. Walk out, flop over and start swimming. Dolphin duck under breakers. N

Do not suck air from your BCD, you might inhale spores from a nasty mold, mildew or other impurity. Those inner sacks are not that clean and possibly not kept that dry. Don't risk getting anything nasty into your lungs.