Very comfortable Underwater - Very Uncomfortable at Surface

[Scuba Diving Dreamer]

awesome man, glad to see some positive progress. great attitude to have!

 

[dmaziuk]

dmaziuk: I'm sorry but you are correct. Much of the 260 lbs is floaty bioprene. Thats the bad news, but the good news is since I started diving 18 months ago I'm down 15 pounds and hope to get much lower.

"Too much weight" is the recurring mantra. For a reason, but still: you need as much as it takes to get you under, if takes 20lb then wearing only 10lb won't do you any good no matter how many ties you hear "too much weight".

1- I had too little air in my BCD. I was't getting my chin out of the water leading to a real feeling of uneasiness.

One of the few things I remember from my swimming lessons is to not get my chin out of the water. That's in the pool of course, it's bit different out in open water.

 

[Diving Dubai]

Time to report back:


Spent a couple of hours in the pool last night. Here's what seem to help so far:

1- I had too little air in my BCD. I was't getting my chin out of the water leading to a real feeling of uneasiness.
2- The recliner chair position seem to work very well. It seems stable and relaxing. As opposed to trying to hang straight down.
3- I found myself getting very tense the last 1 ft before the surface and totally screwing up the inflate/deflate buttons. I practiced leaving the reg in and just relaxing to the surface, adding air, rolling on back and assuming a sitting position. Then changing to snorkel.

My next practice session I plan to work on:
1- Recovering gracefully and safely if a wave or something else rolled me over face down while wearing a snorkel.
2- Recovering gracefully and safely if a wave or something else rolled me over face down with neither snorkel or reg in.
3- Graceful transition from recliner to descent position (I had been waiting at the beginning of the dive)

I'll let you know how it goes.

Thanks again

It's great when someone reports back. and things are helping.

I'm not going to tell you that you don't need a snorkel I used to use one because I didn't want to use my back gas (when I have high air consumption as a starter) You can keep your reg in but by not sealing our lips breath around it at the surface.

It sound like you just need to get more experienced and relaxed at the surface and it will come over time. Until recently I hated being out of my depth in water (without scuba gear on) now I'm happy to jump in off a boat to cool off or have a swim.

Being anxious /tense caused your diaphragm to lower - its a function from our species cave man era with fight or flight reflex. With your diaphragm lowered your lungs have a greater air volume thus you need more weight. When newer divers suddenly cork to the surface this is the reason, something happens, their attention is distracted and upwards they go as their bodies automatic functions have taken over. I know. I was that cork!

As you get more relaxed in the water the amount of lead you carry will come off.

As an example when I re started diving 2 years ago I started at 24lbs with a BCD and 5/7mm. Admittedly I have had gear changes but now in a 3mm I carry zero weight (even then slightly over at a safety stop with a steel tank)

Everyone is different and it should never be a competition of how little weigh you can carry - 8 years ago when I did my OW I weighed nearly 40 lbs less than I do now (oops) yet still carried 22lbs of lead to get me down (typical OW over weighted student) As you can see even with bioprene increase the lead carrying has reduced. There is a greater correlation between experience vs amount of lead than Bioprene vs amount of lead.

You seem to be doing really well I assure you that it really is a mind over matter thing, technique does of course help but experience and being comfortable sees the biggest improvements. I saw huge changes from 20 - 30 dives, then gradual improvements to dive 100, even the following 100 dives saw improvements - just a lots smaller increments not only with buoyancy and comfort buy dealing with currents and the like

 

[WhiteSands]

There's a move called the "otter roll" that might help you flip yourself over on the surface.
Like it's name says, you flip yourself over like an otter. When you're face down in the water, just spin your shoulders and hips, and use your fins to help if necessary, to turn your body over.
Practice that a few times in the pool and very soon you'll have no problems flipping yourself over should the need arise.