Scuba Diving Tips for Perfect Buoyancy Control
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Scuba Diving Tips for Perfect Buoyancy Control





Here are some scuba diving tips to help you achieve perfect buoyancy. It takes time and patience to master the art of scuba diving buoyancy. These tips will help you use less effort to maintain your position in the water, use less air and enjoy your dive more.


The purpose of dive weights is to counteract a diver's positive buoyancy. Positive buoyancy comes from a diver's wet suit, their body make-up and the type of water they are diving in.

Buoyancy Test Fin Pivot It is important to know how much weight to carry for any given dive. Take some time to conduct weight test. Try different thicknesses of wet suits (the thicker the wet suit the more it will cause you to float).

Consider your body make-up. This is important because muscle is denser that body fat. A person who has more muscle will be more negative than a person who has less muscle.


Remember, saltwater is denser than fresh water, so you will need more weight to dive in the sea than in fresh water.

Keep a record of the weights you use on each dive. This will give you a guide line so you can make adjustments at a new dive location.


Divers will start their dive by entering the water with their BC inflated. Being positively buoyant at the surface will help you spend less effort while you meet up with you buddy and swim to the descent point. The one exception to this is when there is a strong surface current present. In this case it is important to get to the bottom quickly. Don't waste time at the surface.


To start your descent, you have to get negative. To become negatively buoyant, you deflate your BC and exhale. As you descend you will see your descent rate start to speed up. This is because your wet suit and any air remaining in you BC will start to compress.


To stop this speedy descent start adding air to your BC and take a full breathe until your descent stops. Now you should be motionless and stationary in the water. Remember this feeling. This is neutral buoyancy-a state in which you neither float nor sink.


When you find the perfect balance between weight and lifting forces you will longer be wasting effort and air using your fins to maintain your position in the water. What a great feeling.

Scuba Buoyancy

Buoyancy and Scuba Tanks



How does a scuba tank affect your buoyancy while on a dive? As you use the air in your scuba tank it will become positively buoyant. The best way to correct this is by adding 1-2 pounds/1 kilo to your weights. When you do you weight check and you are floating at eye level with the water line while holding a normal breathe and no air in your BC, add the weight. You should feel yourself start to slowly descend.


As you start to descend, slowly add air to your BC to stop your descent at the desired depth. During the last half of the dive you can let the air out of your BC when your tank becomes positive and starts to float.


Now you can make a slow, safe ascend to your safety stop and hang there motionless in the water and not have to fight to stay off the surface.

Scuba Diving Tips to Fine Tune Your Buoyancy



Let's see if we can fine tune our scuba diving buoyancy skills. Practice using your breathing to control your position in the water. Once you are motionless in the water, take a normal breathe. You will start to slowly ascend. Now pause your breathing. You should be motionless again. Exhale and you should start to slowly descend. Pause again and you stop descending. See how easy it is to move in the water without moving.


Make sure you weights are evenly distributed.


Keep your body in a horizontal position while using a slow, fluid finning style.


Your console and octopus should be clipped close to your body to prevent drag, entanglement and damage to the coral.


Dive, Dive, Dive. The more you dive the better your scuba skills will become.


With these scuba diving tips on buoyancy control you should be able to hover over the sea floor and control your buoyancy by breathing alone. No more filling and emptying you BC. Once you master your scuba buoyancy skills, you will be able to float at any depth without effort.

Marine Research



Have a Great Dive



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