fnfalman
Contributor
In order to establish good buoyancy, proper weighting and trimming are essential. You have to get your dive weight dialed in and get your body trimmed so that you're horizontal (flat) in the water. Then it's just a matter of practice and focusing on making minute adjustments. When you're in neutral buoyancy, it feels like you're weightless and floaty (not floating up, but floaty). If you're floating up then you're positively buoyant. Just remember that air takes a little bit to spread out in your BC and affect your buoyancy. So don't wait until you need to establish neutral buoyancy at any depth and then do it. Think about it before hand and start doing it.
For example, the depth of the dive site is 60-ft and you want to be down to only 40-ft. Don't get down to 40-ft and then start to inflate your BC. Inflate minutely as you go down so that by the time you get to 38-ft, you're sinking ever slowly or possibly not even sink at all, then you'll empty out your lung and take shallow breaths until you sink down to 40-ft then take your regular full breath again. Then you'll see if you want to sink or not. If you were to want to sink at this point then hit the inflator for just a touch and wait for a bit to see how it feels like. If you want to float up then deflate a bit.
After a while, it becomes automatic.
Or assuming that the bottom of the dive site isn't too deep for your skills, attempt to establish neutral buoyancy a couple of feet above the bottom. Here's where your trim becomes essential because if your trim isn't good, then your fin kicks are going to destroy the reef and kill sea bunnies.
You can try the same exercise in a swimming pool and the good thing is that you won't kill sea bunnies if your fin kicks hit the bottom of the pool.
Another good indicator, not perfect indicator but good indicator, is that at any depth, if you hold your inflator out shoulder height (not over your head) and push the deflate button yet no air bubbling out. That is usually a good indicator that you're not overinflated and probably very close to neutral buoyancy.
This technique works very well when you ascend from greater depth. Let's say that you were at 70-ft and you want to go up to 40-ft for whatever reasons; something new to see or getting toward the end of the dive and want to begin a slow ascend, so you begin to swim up. Naturally since that you're changing depth, the air in your BC that was just right for neutral buoyancy at 70-ft now expands at shallower depth and overinflate your BC like a balloon. So you have to vent this excess air. But how much? If you hold your inflator hose over your head and deflate like crazy, you may over deflate and now have to reinflate all over again at 40-ft. By holding the inflator out at shoulder level, hitting the deflate button & swim up, the air is venting outward to establish equilibrium with the new shallower depth. When you get to 40-ft, let go of the deflator button and you should be there or very close to it. If you still sink a hair, then hit the inflator button for a small squirt or two.
Once you get your weight, trim and buoyancy done right, safety stops or any sort of hovers are no longer chores but fun times. You can float face up, head down, do barrel rolls, sommersaults, whatever at safety stops instead of holding onto the anchor line or kelp and finning like crazy, watching the seconds counting down. If you feel goofy, you'd take off your snorkel and poke at your buddies while they're cling to the anchor line.
For example, the depth of the dive site is 60-ft and you want to be down to only 40-ft. Don't get down to 40-ft and then start to inflate your BC. Inflate minutely as you go down so that by the time you get to 38-ft, you're sinking ever slowly or possibly not even sink at all, then you'll empty out your lung and take shallow breaths until you sink down to 40-ft then take your regular full breath again. Then you'll see if you want to sink or not. If you were to want to sink at this point then hit the inflator for just a touch and wait for a bit to see how it feels like. If you want to float up then deflate a bit.
After a while, it becomes automatic.
Or assuming that the bottom of the dive site isn't too deep for your skills, attempt to establish neutral buoyancy a couple of feet above the bottom. Here's where your trim becomes essential because if your trim isn't good, then your fin kicks are going to destroy the reef and kill sea bunnies.
You can try the same exercise in a swimming pool and the good thing is that you won't kill sea bunnies if your fin kicks hit the bottom of the pool.
Another good indicator, not perfect indicator but good indicator, is that at any depth, if you hold your inflator out shoulder height (not over your head) and push the deflate button yet no air bubbling out. That is usually a good indicator that you're not overinflated and probably very close to neutral buoyancy.
This technique works very well when you ascend from greater depth. Let's say that you were at 70-ft and you want to go up to 40-ft for whatever reasons; something new to see or getting toward the end of the dive and want to begin a slow ascend, so you begin to swim up. Naturally since that you're changing depth, the air in your BC that was just right for neutral buoyancy at 70-ft now expands at shallower depth and overinflate your BC like a balloon. So you have to vent this excess air. But how much? If you hold your inflator hose over your head and deflate like crazy, you may over deflate and now have to reinflate all over again at 40-ft. By holding the inflator out at shoulder level, hitting the deflate button & swim up, the air is venting outward to establish equilibrium with the new shallower depth. When you get to 40-ft, let go of the deflator button and you should be there or very close to it. If you still sink a hair, then hit the inflator button for a small squirt or two.
Once you get your weight, trim and buoyancy done right, safety stops or any sort of hovers are no longer chores but fun times. You can float face up, head down, do barrel rolls, sommersaults, whatever at safety stops instead of holding onto the anchor line or kelp and finning like crazy, watching the seconds counting down. If you feel goofy, you'd take off your snorkel and poke at your buddies while they're cling to the anchor line.
