Getting better buoyancy takes practice over the course of a series of dives and requires dedication.
How to Perform a Weight Check
To start, it’s important to be properly weighted. Perform a buoyancy check every time you dive in unfamiliar conditions or in a new place. When in the water, inhale a normal breath and hold, deflate your BCD and you should float at eye level with the water. If you exhale, you sink, this is the sign that you are weighted correctly.
Some people struggle to get down at the start of a dive despite being properly weighted. Breathing too much at the surface could be a reason for not being able to sink, remember to exhale as you descend. As you consume air in your tank, it becomes more buoyant, which means if it’s difficult to get down at the start of the dive you may find it difficult to remain below the surface during the safety stop.
Weighting for Better Buoyancy
When starting to dive, most instructors tend to overweigh their students to make it easier to swim in currents, perform skills underwater and to control their ascents. As you progress, you’ll find being properly weighted means you consume less air controlling your BCD during the dives. It’ll be easier to stay neutrally buoyant despite pressure changes.
Your weighting also depends on the type of water whether it be saltwater or freshwater. It’s important to log the dives with all relevant information including exposure suit thickness & length, amount of weight used and type of water. This will ensure that when you dive in a new location, you have a record of the suit thickness and amount of weights you used.
Maintaining good buoyancy will help you feel comfortable during the dive. How you distribute your weight will depend on the type of BCD you use and whether it has integrated weight pockets or you will use a weight belt. The main thing to remember is to distribute the weight evenly on both sides of the body, this helps you to remain horizontal underwater. Try your weights out in different positions to find out what is best for you. If your legs tend to float up making it uncomfortable to swim, consider ankle weights.
Trim and Positioning
Position and trim are extremely important to practice, the less resistant you are to the water, the less air you will consume and the longer you may dive. Try frog-kicking instead of flutter kicks. It is easier to remain horizontal when using frog kicks and to control your position in the water. Novice divers that use flutter kicks usually end up swimming up or down by tilting their heads in either direction. Get familiar using your dump valves. You won’t need to leave your horizontal position to get air out of your BCD. Meaning you can spend more time looking for turtles.
Learn to use your lungs to control your position in the water. With practice, use your lungs as a buoyancy control device. Simply by controlling the duration of your inhale and exhale, you can control your position in the water. A simple exhale will cause you to go down and inhale to rise up.
Next steps
For those wanting more practice with an instructor, consider taking a Buoyancy Speciality course. During this course, over a series of dives you will practice skills all aimed at improving your buoyancy in the water. By playing games, trying out different fin techniques and feedback, you will immediately see an improvement on your buoyancy.
Being able to position your body in the water at a given depth protects you and your environment. You don’t want to be kicking the very reef that you’re going diving to explore. Perfecting your buoyancy will also improve the quality of the photos and videos you take. Overall, working on your buoyancy and knowing how to effectively use your dive equipment will make you a better diver.
