Yet another Buoyancy Thread

[Griffo]

I'd be interested in more details about a Nav class that is "all in water @ ~2m depth"

Sure, which bit? The area we did it had very low visibility (about 2-3m) but was just offshore, and was very shallow for quite a large distance and with very few visual markers (just sand). We did a lot of triangles and squares up to around 50m on each side and mostly had to get back to where we started from. The shallow depth meant that the instructor could easily track our progress via air-bubbles so we couldn't cheat He also stood there and could track how true we stayed to the course.

The main problem for me was that due to the shallow depth, every time i went above and below 1.2m the computer would reset.

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

Was this a Navigation Specialty course, and if so for what agency? Again, if this was a Navigation Specialty, does the agency require "dives" in order to pass the requirements and what is this agencies definition of "a dive"?

If your instructor had been diving with you during these "dives", you could have just asked your instructor the questions you have been asking us.

 

[Griffo]

Was this a Navigation Specialty course, and if so for what agency? Again, if this was a Navigation Specialty, does the agency require "dives" in order to pass the requirements and what is this agencies definition of "a dive"?

If your instructor had been diving with you during these "dives", you could have just asked your instructor the questions you have been asking us.

You are right, and I did ask him. However the feedback was that I shouldn't worry, I was fine, and that it would just take some practice with that much neoprene that those depths.

So last weekend (due to the weather) we ended up diving shallow again - a 3m deep wreck site called "The Ozone". Bellarine Peninsula Shore Dives - Andrew Newton

I had a different "instructor" this time with the dive group who was taking some others through a refresher course. As I had no buddy I tagged along with them for the day and played with weights and working on bouyancy. Again I was slightly frustrated - while I made it through various parts of the wreck without running into anything, I didn't feel like I was able to maintain my bouncancy without having to concentrate on it. But when I asked the instructor how my trim looked, she stated that I was being paranoid and I looked in complete control. So maybe I am just being paranoid, just need to forget about it and do a bunch more dives to make it feel more natural.

 

[Juardis]

Ok, I'm a newb, so take this with a huge grain of salt, but....24 lbs? In 6 ft (2m) of water? And you had air in your BC? I'll defer to the more experienced people here, but that sounds odd to me. I was in 70 °F water with a 3mm full suit and a 5mm farmer john (plus hood), in a fresh water quarry, with an AL80 tank and I only had 6 lbs of lead. Sure, different body, different gear, different everything so maybe I'm just ignorant. But 2m? Surely you can achieve neutral buoyancy with less weight and no air in your BC? Anyway, that was my initial response after reading your OP. Again, 4 OW cert dives under my belt, so take it FWIW. Good luck. Cheers.

 

[TSandM]

If you are doing fine, but just having to think about it, you may be doing as well as can be expected at this stage.

If you maintain buoyancy, but only when moving, there is room for improvement.

Instructors may not have as high a standard for performance as you are applying to yourself. That's okay -- it's fine to aspire to be better than the people who are teaching you.

 

[Griffo]

Managed to drop another 6lbs of weight off today. I did struggle a little at the safety stop but going vertical seemed to fix that. Felt so much better underwater for it.