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<\/p>\nBuoyancy is one of the most fundamental aspects of Scuba Diving. Not being able to control your
\nbuoyancy can be frustrating to you and to the reef that you keep crashing into. Not to mention it
\nmakes your dive far less enjoyable and the constant struggle of adjusting buoyancy makes you
\nfrazzled, directly affecting your air consumption. Without buoyancy the art of Scuba Diving would be
\nvery different. Therefore, why is one of the most important parts of this sport, the hardest to master?
\nHere are my top tips for mastering your buoyancy and becoming the best neutrally buoyant diver in
\nthe group.<\/p>\n
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Proper weighting is one of the biggest factors that determines the ease of buoyancy. Many people
\ndon\u2019t take the time to learn about proper weighting. They just put an extra few kilos in so it\u2019s easier to
\nget below the surface, right?. Wrong. Every extra kilo you add to make it easy getting down at the
\nsurface, only makes it harder for buoyancy control at the bottom. If you add 1KG of extra weight, it
\nrequires 1 Litre of air to compensate for the weight and make you neutrally buoyant. You can simply
\nperform a weight check at the surface. Emptying all the air from your BCD and holding a full breath,
\nyou should float at eye level on the surface. If you pass the weight test you have enough weight to get
\ndown, even if it doesn\u2019t seem like it. The rest is just technique.<\/p>\n
Techniques like breathing is fundamental to your buoyancy control. The difference in your buoyancy
\nwith no air in your lungs VS a full breath is massive. Next time, before reaching for your inflator
\nmechanism to swim over top of the reef, try taking a nice deep breath and watch yourself slowly rise
\nup without having to adjust your BCD at all. Also making sure that you are breathing in a slow, relaxed
\nand consistent manner to not only help with air consumption but keep a steady baseline for you to
\nmeasure your buoyancy against.<\/p>\n
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Another technique that helps significantly is remaining as still as possible. Only kicking and not
\nswimming with your arms. The less flailing around and tipping from side to side will not only help the
\nvisibility, but it can lift you up and raise closer to the surface without you even realising. Therefore
\nmaking you think you need more weight. Try to keep your hands locked together in front of your chest
\nand just swim in a slow and relaxed manner. Small, deliberate movements are the way to go!<\/p>\n
Many divers hear the word trim but have no idea as to how it can help them in the water. Trim is all
\nabout how you are positioned in the water, and how that affects your buoyancy. If your upper body is
\ntilted higher above your fins then, yes, you will be swimming forward but you will also gradually be
\nswimming upward. You\u2019ll then notice yourself too high in the water, thinking it\u2019s your BCD when in
\nreality it is your positioning. Try to ensure that you are positioned in a horizontal straight line, with
\nShoulders, Hips and Feet at the same height. This will ensure you are gliding smoothly through the
\nwater just like the fish.<\/p>\n
Lastly, PRACTICE. The cliche \u201cPractice makes perfect\u201d couldn\u2019t be truer with buoyancy control. The
\nmore you experiment and get in touch with how your buoyancy is supposed to feel, the easier it
\nbecomes. Once you become properly weighted, your trim is perfect, you\u2019ve stopped flailing about and
\nyou\u2019re more focused on your breathing the rest will follow and it will become second nature.\u00a0 Get out
\ndiving and give it a go! Good Luck!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Buoyancy is one of the most fundamental aspects of Scuba Diving. Not being able to control your buoyancy can be frustrating to you and to the reef that you keep crashing into. Not to mention it makes your dive far less enjoyable and the constant struggle of adjusting buoyancy makes you frazzled, directly affecting your […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/divehq.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/565"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/divehq.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/divehq.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/divehq.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/divehq.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=565"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/divehq.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/565\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":568,"href":"https:\/\/divehq.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/565\/revisions\/568"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/divehq.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=565"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/divehq.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=565"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/divehq.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}