I am a newer diver with 8 dives under my weight belt. I am having some on-going weight problems but seem to ge getting it under control. In my training I took a lot of weight --between 22 and 30 lbs-- to get to the bottom of the pool -- more weight than I am using to dive in the ocean. I am sure this was due to nerviousness, however my instructors told me as a guy 200 lbs and 6 feet tall, I must have large lungs.
In the ocean I am down to 16 lbs and doing better, HOWEVER when my air tank gets low I find I have a harder time staying down at depth when swimming horizontaly. I notice I am rising in the water column. On my last dive, I found even with the air tank low I could swim to the bottom, but not stay down without a little effort. As a test I pulled up vertically in the water and was able to sink to the bottom in about 30 feet landing on a sandy area. When doing my safety stop at 15 feet, we had a photograher shooting video of the dive and for a moment I was watching her and not my depth and noticed I sank back down to the bottom. (I was using a 3mm shorty and rented gear., but had the same problem on an earlier dive to 50 feet.)
Am I getting my weigh close to where I need it? Even with the low-air tank problems, if I can sink to the bottom am I just about on the mark with the amount of weigh I am using? ** At the beginning of the dive I needed no air in the BC to stay where I wanted to be and that included the bottom.
Would anyone recommend anymore weight at this time?
In the ocean I am down to 16 lbs and doing better, HOWEVER when my air tank gets low I find I have a harder time staying down at depth when swimming horizontaly. I notice I am rising in the water column. On my last dive, I found even with the air tank low I could swim to the bottom, but not stay down without a little effort. As a test I pulled up vertically in the water and was able to sink to the bottom in about 30 feet landing on a sandy area. When doing my safety stop at 15 feet, we had a photograher shooting video of the dive and for a moment I was watching her and not my depth and noticed I sank back down to the bottom. (I was using a 3mm shorty and rented gear., but had the same problem on an earlier dive to 50 feet.)
Am I getting my weigh close to where I need it? Even with the low-air tank problems, if I can sink to the bottom am I just about on the mark with the amount of weigh I am using? ** At the beginning of the dive I needed no air in the BC to stay where I wanted to be and that included the bottom.
Would anyone recommend anymore weight at this time?