Peak Performance Buoyancy?

[AryaSantoso]

Hey guys!

I'm relatively new to scuba diving and I did my open water SSI course around last year. Now, I have around 14 logged dives and just came back from Derawan Islands where I saw some really amazing stuff. I'm planning to dive in Manado soon, but I'm thinking about taking a specialty course first. What can I expect from the peak performance buoyancy specialty? I don't consider myself a "good" diver, but I have a sufficient level of neutral buoyancy and etc. Should I take it? Or should I go for photography?

 

[tursiops]

PPB, if taught well, will definitely help your diving, and is essential to good u/w photography.

 

[ajduplessis]

^^^ Ditto

 

[RJP]

Don't even THINK of bringing a camera into the water until you ARE a "good" diver. No one will be happy with the results.

 

[snowdog61]

echo above. Good photos, especially macro, require you to get close and low on your subject. This necessitates better than good control lest you fin/knee/elbow some poor critters home. Proper finning technique is another must have IMHO - back kick, helicopter turns and frog kicks go a very long way in helping you get in and hold a position while not stirring up or otherwise destroying the bottom. NetDoc had some good info on BC and there's lots of DIR & GUE uTube videos that are worth watching. I didn't really know what good technique was until I dove with people who had it. My instructor glossed over it and it wasn't stressed nearly enough looking back. Fortunately I was dating a girl who liked low & slow - "that's where all the interesting pretty stuff is" and didn't tolerate banging into anything. It was learn or go home.

 

[RJP]

echo above. Good macro photos require you to get close and low which means good control lest you fin/knee/elbow some poor critters home. Proper finning technique is another must have - back finning, helicopter turns and frog kicks go a very long way in helping you hold position and not stirring up the bottom

And, as a diver and photographer, keep in mind that it's not "all about you" when it comes to ruining shots. I've seen plenty of photogs that are fastidious in getting their OWN shots and then when they're done they mindlessly kick up everything in sight as they scramble to their next photo op... leaving everyone else in a silt cloud.

 

[BDSC]

For right now I wouldn't take either class. If you had a good instructor in your open water class and he taught you the fundamentals of buoyancy, then buoyancy is something you should be able to work on without paying for an extra class. If you feel that you are at least slowly improving as you go along, then skip the class and put the money towards a nicer camera at some point.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

There's more to buoyancy control than what they taught you in Open Water class. While you can make some incremental improvements in buoyancy control by just diving, you can also ingrain bad habits that you've developed over the course of your past several dives. Buoyancy control isn't just about neutral buoyancy ... it's also about being in proper trim, being properly weighted ... and knowing how to do a weight check, using your "internal bcd" to control your position in the water (especially important for photography), and distributing your weights in such a way that you're not constantly fighting to keep your feet, head, and torso in the correct position. A properly taught PPB class will show you how to do all those things, and why they're important to good buoyancy control. Thinking you can just learn all that on your own is like thinking you can just pick up a guitar, take a few beginner lessons, and become the next Eric Clapton by simply playing. Yeah ... maybe ... but the odds are against it, and you'll make a bunch of mistakes along the way that you don't have to make.

Don't even THINK about picking up a camera until you've developed your buoyancy skills to the point where you don't have to actively think about them anymore ... because if you're still thinking about them, and you try taking pictures, your other skills are going to suffer due to task-loading.

And also, before you pick up a camera, develop another skill ... that of turning your head to look around. Putting on a scuba mask removes your peripheral vision, and therefore you have to develop that habit in order to see what's going on around you. New divers, in general, suffer from lack of awareness because we're used to relying on peripheral vision to see what's going on around us. Taken away, we either learn how to look around habitually or we lose that ability (not to mention lose our dive buddy from time to time). Add a camera into that situation and your awareness of everything else going on around you drops to near zero ... you're effectively solo diving, which (IMO) nobody at your experience level should be doing.

Leave the camera out of it for now. As BDSC says, put some money away for it, but consider it a future investment. Develop a good skills foundation before you make the purchase, though. Buoyancy control and awareness skills are the top two things you should develop solidly before you even think about it ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[going2aussie]

I just did PPB. Quite frankly, they should expend the AOW to include it. First, it teaches you how to optimize your weight. That alone makes you a better diver. The other techniques you learn are very good as well.

The dives I did were quite fun. We did a kind of limbo game underwater and a few other things. I'd highly recommend it. I half want to get some gear, head to a pool and just try to hover near the surface. You look pretty badass to new divers when you can just sit on a safety stop, perfectly still, perfectly neutral, just moving up and down slightly as you breathe.

Great course. Do it!

 

[TMHeimer]

I've heard may times that PPB absolutely depends on the instructor. Mine was pretty good. I think I would've been fine without it.