Stubborn ears are among the top reason divers pull the plug on a dive. Sounds easy to do but we all have good and bad days and even the best of divers can have trouble popping their ears on a dive. But with a few of these tricks and advanced techniques, we hope that on a bad day you won’t have to end a dive because of ear woes.

Valsalva
The most common way to equalize taught to you before your first dive is known as the Valsalva maneuver. The Valsalva method teaches you to pinch your nose so that no air can pass through your nostrils, and then gently “blow” your nose. This action forces air into your inner ear space, equalizing the pressure within to the outside pressure often with an audible popping or clicking sound.

Toynbee
The Toynbee technique of clearing your ears is to simply pinch your nose and swallow at the same time. This tenses the muscles in the throat and soft palate to pull the tubes open, while your tongue compresses air against them.

Frenzel
Holding your nose, forcefully press your tongue against the back of your throat while making a “K” or “ng” sound. What this technique does is, contracts the throat muscles to open the tubes while compressing air against them with the tongue.

Voluntary tubal opening
Try yawning with your mouth closed by contracting the muscles in the back of the roof of your mouth and throat while pushing your jaw forward and down. Tensing and stretching the muscles pulls the eustachian tubes open.

Lowry
This method is a combination of Valsalva and Toynbee and a little tricky, especially with a regulator in your mouth. Pinch your nose and then blow against your closed nose while swallowing at the same time. It’s good way to ensure the tubes open up and stay open.

If your ears are particularly stubborn, while trying the equalizing methods tilt your head from side to side or look up towards the surface. It helps stretch the folds surrounding the eustachian tubes making it easier to open them.

Read our 10 Tips to Equalize Your Ears When Scuba Diving

*Photo Credits: photos by torbenator and Acid Zebra on flickr

Scuba diving is a sport just like any, that comes with risks. Anyone, no matter how experienced can have a bad day or have something go wrong during a dive. However as divers, we are first trained to deal with difficulties and different scenarios, relying on your dive buddy for help. That’s why you always dive in pairs right? But, in reality all too often you’re left wondering where your buddy is when things turn ugly.

Dive like your diving Solo. We’re not saying ditch your dive buddy and dive alone. By all means stay close to your buddy and be ready to help him. But, as far as your own safety is concerned, pretend he’s not there or… won’t be when you need him, in other words be self reliant. In any emergency your most dependable rescuer is you!

Here’s how you can be a better dive buddy to yourself and others especially if you aren’t rescue certified yet-

Sharpen your diving skills
Most times you’ve already been taught the skills you’d need to rescue yourself in almost any situation, but you’ve forgotten how or don’t have practice. Regulator recovery, mask clearing, free flowing regulator, controlling an emergency ascent, switching to your alternate, unbuckling weight belts and so on are some of the things that all divers are taught. They seem easy and don’t sound like much, but you’ll be surprised at how many divers forget the most basic of skills in an emergency situation.

Since probably haven’t needed to take your scuba unit off underwater since your open-water certification or use any of these skills, it’s important to practice and sharpen the skills taught to you in training. Diving skills develop and become second nature only with practice, so on regular dives maybe at the end at the safety stop if you have air to spare, sharpen your skills by practicing them. By reminding yourself how much you already know, you’ll gain confidence to perform them if needed without undue stress.

Go Over Emergency Scenarios
Rehearsing emergencies and other situations makes them more real. It helps you visualize what they will be like and what will need to be done. It’s a rehearsal of those emergency techniques you’ve learned and practiced that brings the correct response to the front of your mind before the need arises. Learn from your peers by asking your dive master, instructor or other divers for scenarios they might have faced and if you have an queries or situations you don’t know how to cope with.

Think solo, plan smarter and rehearse before-hand how you could deal with a situation so that if need be you know how to react without wasting time looking for a rescuer.

Gear up for emergencies
Keep at hand all the dive gear and equipment you may need if you were diving solo. For example: Have your own completely redundant air source, like a pony bottle, instead of relying on your buddy’s octopus. You may want several cutting tools instead of just one, mounted so you can reach at least one with either hand in case of entanglement. A surface signaling device is important when boat diving, in case you surface out of sight of the dive boat, you should also have a whistle to draw attention. Be prepared for yourself and carry your own backups. (Read: Must-Have Scuba Diving Safety Gear)

Rescue Course
Lastly, we recommend that all divers get their rescue and emergency response certification as there’s nothing better to develop your own self-rescue ability than learning how to rescue someone else.The focus on emergency situations and practical training for the same will not only teach you a lot but it’ll also boost your confidence and increase your comfort levels underwater.

*Photo Credits: photos by star5112, Brianz, Nemo’s great uncle, gjs on flickr

What’s the main difference between a seasoned first-rate diver and just any bubble-blowing spring chicken?

You’ve seen the type of diver I’m talking about, be it your dive instructor, dive master or just a fellow diver he/she just stands out from the rest. They’re the ones that moves underwater with ease, ducking through swim-throughs effortlessly and not even the tip of a fin touches anything. They’re the ones that wonder off on their own and never fail to make it back to the boat after they’ve lasted a whole half hour longer on the same amount of air as the rest of the group. Well, they’re the ones we want to dive like! And there’s no big secret behind the graceful diver, it’s nothing but the 3 important scuba diving skills every diver has heard about before- lower air consumption, good buoyancy control and underwater navigation. It’s the mastery of these skills among others that make some divers outshine others.

Here are the essential skills and other scuba diving skills every diver should covet-

Buoyancy control: This one is not as hard as it seems but a very important skill nonetheless. The key to achieving neutral buoyancy is being properly weighted and descending with just the the right amount of air in your BCD. Then to controlling your buoyancy solely by breathing in or out. Read our Scuba Tips: 10 Tips for Better Buoyancy Control to learn more about how you can improve. Good buoyancy control allows you to relax and to reduce your air consumption which is another essential diving skill to acquire.

Lower Air Consumption: Apart from the sheer bragging rights this skill will get you, a lower air consumption is a sign of a more efficient diver. It doesn’t mean holding your breath or breathing less by any means but making the most of every breath. By is taking short shallow breaths you shorten your air supply as your body doesn’t absorb enough oxygen with each breath. Instead breathe right, deep and consistent for the maximum gas transfer. Read our Scuba Tips: 10 Tips To Conserve Air When Diving to find ways to lower your air consumption when diving.

Underwater Navigation: A tough skill to acquire as we often love to play “follow the leader” when we dive cos we fear getting lost underwater. Underwater navigation takes a lot of practice and development to know exactly where you’re going, where you’ve been and where you are at any given time underwater, however if you are able to pull it off it definitely makes diving a lot more enjoyable and stress free. Read our 10 Tips to Improve Your Underwater Navigation Skills.

Master these and bada-bing! that graceful diver we’ve been talking about will be You!

*Photo Credits: photos by whitecat singapore, star5112, Jorge del Valle on flickr

One of the scariest things that can happen to a Scuba diver is an uncontrolled ascent either intentionally initiated in an emergency or by unintentionally often caused by faulty Scuba equipment. An uncontrolled ascent is also known as an  Emergency Ascent  which is always an unplanned ascent, where a diver aborts a dive due to equipment problems, out-of-air situation,  or injury to self, or another diver which are intentionally initiated emergency ascents or unintentionally initiated ascents (also known as a buoyant ascent) when a diver can loses buoyancy and quickly get into an uncontrolled ascent by loss of weights or by a malfunctioning BCD often a sticky inflator causing the diver to ascend.

Despite being a terrifying experience, as with everything in scuba diving, it is essential to remain calm and be prepared for such an eventuality.

The first and most important thing to do should you ever need to perform an emergency ascent is to try and control/slow your rate of ascent to prevent lung over expansion injuries and possible decompression sickness. An emergency ascent caused by malfunctioning BCD inflators stuck in the on-position or loss of a weight belt, is rather scary as they affect your ability to control your ascent rate. In such circumstances a diver should perform the flaring maneuver.

The greater the cross-sectional area of an object moving in a particular direction, the greater the resistance or drag is created to the movement of the object in that direction. In short Flaring is essentially creating the most drag which is the opposite of streamlining.  A Diver can slow down his ascent rate by arching his back, face-up towards the surface and extending his arms, legs and fins parallel to the surface in a spread-eagled manner (like a sky-diver but face up). If you are coming up face down, raise one elbow higher than the shoulder. This will produce an unequal buoyancy which will cause the BCD to roll you face up. This is called the Raised Elbow Technique. Also remember to continuously breathe out as you ascend to prevent lung over expansion injuries.

If you can quickly identify the cause of your ascent in time try to do so, by pulling on your BCD dump valves to ensure that all the air has escaped. Buoyancy compensator air dump valves allow air to escape faster than the low pressure inflator can fill the jacket and should stabilize the leak. If the low pressure inflator button is stuck in the on position, quickly disconnect the inflator hose and dump the air from the BCD by tugging on the air dump valves. However if you have lost your weight belt, your best option if you cannot fin downward to retrieve it or signal your buddy to control you, is to flare and prepare for an emergency ascent.

photos from flickr by: mike757 , Mister.Tee

Taking pictures underwater can be quite challenging to get a good shot. When first taking pictures in this new medium of water, to get good underwater pictures it’s crucial to go back to understanding the basic concepts and how light works in water (Read: Understanding Light for Underwater Photography). Here are a few techniques or tips to help you get a great photo on your next dive.

Fish Portraits
It’s pretty obvious that fish make good subjects of underwater photography, but photographing a fish on a dive is not as easy as it seems. They constantly move and just when you think you’ve got them where you want in the frame, the second before your finger presses down on the shutter button, it has darted out the frame. The key to getting a decent fish portrait is finding a subject that wants to be photographed or is too slow to notice you. In water, you have to be able to get close enough to the subject to photograph it, otherwise you’ll lose out on the colors and you’ll see the all too familiar blue tinge on everything.

Rule one, is to never take the photo from above. The best angle is to shoot up, or across.. but never down. The second important rule to follow is – Always use an external flash which will help light up your subject as compared to the background. Wait until the fish takes the right angle before you click away and scare it. Move slow and time delay by half pre-clicking the button and then full press at a time when the fish turns to you or the angle you’d like. Try to get your subject to fill the frame as much as you can and ignore getting in a lot of background as that will make a better and more colorful shot. If it’s the landscape you’re more interested in photographing see our next point.

Underwater Landscapes or Reef Photos
Never use digital zoom for any type of underwater photography especially landscape pictures. For underwater landscapes try to shoot in calm, shallow, sunny water – preferable in less than 20ft / 6 meters with the sun behind you. Again, just like in fish photography shoot upwards or parallel and not downwards. If there isn’t a lot of natural sunlight, make sure to use external strobes.

Choose an angle which will provide a little colorful foreground (like a wall or some coral growth or even a diver) which provides the primary focus in the composition of the picture and then the landscape in the background. Combining close subjects like some coral with fish or divers in the distance will give the picture great results. Make sure you are close enough to the foreground subject so that the strobe light/flash illuminates it, capturing its bright colors while helping to reduce back-scatter. For landscape shots it’s best if your camera has a wide angle setting (in point-and-shoot digital cameras) or a wide angle lens for your SLR. Wide angle shots give a good impression of the reef and surroundings. Shooting towards the surface greatly improves these photos.

One good shot is all it takes to get you hooked to underwater photography. Being able to show your non-diving and non-snorkeling friends what you saw underwater can be way cool and not to mention impressive. But, it’s important to remember to master you basic diving skills before bringing your camera system into water. Perfect your buoyancy skills, managing your air consumption, decompression limits and underwater navigation before attempting photography underwater as crashing into the reef while composing “the perfect shot” even by accident is unacceptable. Underwater photography can be all-consuming and addictive, so remember to keep a frequent eye on your gauges and your dive buddy in between shots.

Also Read:
10 Underwater Photography Tips for Beginners
Understanding Light for Underwater Photography
Using Filters for Underwater Photography

* Photo credits: photos by sunphol, Stephen Childs, motleypixel, Raymond™ on flickr.

Whether you’re new to Scuba diving or it has just been a very long gap after your last dive, many divers experience some jitters usually from unpreparedness.

You often hear new divers say “I felt claustrophobic”, “I couldn’t breathe properly” or even experienced divers blame their dive equipment – “There was something wrong with my regulator” or stress out, “I felt a lot of pressure suddenly”. These thoughts and feelings are common because one feels out of control/practice or a lack of confidence in their equipment because they’re not familiar with it and sometimes it’s plain old nerves messing with you before a dive, either way the jitters can easily be overcome with these tips-

1. Get familiar with your equipment. If you own your own Scuba diving gear and equipment, make sure you check each piece of the gear before you leave for your dive trip. Try everything on, get the feel of things and get comfortable with them before your trip. Often when you don’t do this and then don all the gear just before a dive,the sheer amount of equipment can overwhelm you causing you to stress about what if’s and things that could possibly go wrong. If you’re renting make sure to get to the dive shop well before your dive to check and try on everything.

2. If it’s been a few months since your certification, consider a refresher course at your local dive shop or YMCA. At the very least, get permission from a local pool to test your gear out (if you have your own, or rented gear from your local shop if you don’t). Don’t wait till you’re on vacation – get comfortable with assembling and using Scuba equipment in the water now.

3. Go over hand signals and emergency scenarios with your dive buddy a day before the dive. If you and your dive buddy are on the same page and understand each other well, it’ll definitely make you more comfortable and calm some of those nerves.

4. Get to know the site you are diving. Ask the dive master in charge about the dive site. When you know what to expect like the depth, currents and so on it makes focusing on other dive aspects easier which will make you feel more comfortable. Comfort underwater is the key to a good dive it even influences other scuba diving skills like buoyancy control and air consumption etc.

5. Ask questions. Never be shy, intimidated or too proud to ask questions about anything that you are uncertain of. Scuba instructors and dive masters will always be ready to help no matter how ‘dumb’ you feel your queries are. If it’ll help you feel better prepared, don’t even think twice before asking.

At the end of the day, the better prepared you feel, the less nervous you’ll be during the dive. So eliminate those nerves by familiarizing yourself with the equipment, dive site and your buddy. The rest will vanish when you hit the water and see that first fish swim by.

*Photo credits: Photos by unwritten, Aenneken, Philippe Guillaume on flickr

Even though Regulator recovery and clearing is one of the most basic things taught to a diver during his open water certification course, it is still a crucial skill that several  divers are reluctant to learn or practice after their certification courses.  Regulator mouthpieces get knocked out of divers’ mouths all the time, and can easily get snagged on BCD’s. In our certification courses we learn to recover our scuba regulators while kneeling on a steady platform such as the sea bed or the bottom of a swimming pool, which is why it is important to practice recovery where you may not be able to steady yourself.

The important things to remember while recovering your regulator is :

Don’t Panic – calmly try and locate your regulator mouthpiece using the practiced methods

Exhale continuously when you lose your second stage, to prevent lung over expansion injuries. Avoid holding your breath.

Sweep Method
The sweep method is the most commonly used technique to recover a second stage regulator. It involves  the diver leaning towards the right to let gravity move the second stage away from you and then stretching out your right hand in front of you and  making a sweeping arc,  back and right towards the bottom of your scuba tank so that the regulator hose should now be in front of you, and then bringing your arm forward catching the rouge regulator.  You then bring the regulator to your mouth purging the piece first before resuming normal breathing. The whole process takes less than a few seconds and can be repeated a couple of time if you are unsuccessful at first. Always remember to continuously breathe out through the process to prevent your lungs from over expansion, should you be unconsciously ascending while looking for your dive regulator.

Over-The-Shoulder Reach Technique
The Over-the-shoulder reach technique is one of the more effective techniques for lost scuba regulator recovery. Lean towards the right turning your neck to the right while reaching  back with your right hand until you feel the first stage of your regulator while at the same time lifting the bottom of your tank with your left hand so you can see the first stage. Then following the hose from the first stage with your right hands thumb and forefinger bring it forward so you can find the second stage and retrieve it. Many find this technique a little tricky and prefer the sweep method, however with a little bit of practice, the over-the-shoulder retrieval is more reliable.

Secondary Regulator
What if you cannot retrieve your regulator using both the sweep method or over the shoulder reach? Don’t panic, use your spare secondary regulator that should be clipped onto the front of your BCD, unclip it and begin breathing normally. Then calmly try to locate your main second stage once again.

Get your Buddy to Assist
Sometimes it helps to signal your buddy to help you spot your missing regulator, as it could be snagged in your BCD belts.  Use your spare regulator while your dive buddy assists you with retrieval. Some divers comfortable with removing their BCD’s while maintaining buoyancy, do so to free their tangled hoses. Always remember to have your buddy standing by to perform buddy breathing if you ever attempt to try this.

Clearing
Clearing your regulator is as simple as exhaling sharply into it. All the water will be expelled from the regulators exhaust valve. The other method to clear your mouthpiece is to use the purge valve. A quick two bursts of the purge valve immediately before putting it into your mouth should remove any water or debris from the chamber.  Or alternately depress the purge valve while it is in your mouth blocking the mouth piece with your tongue to prevent the burst of air into your mouth. Be careful to release the purge valve once you resume inhaling to prevent over filling of the lungs.

Scuba Divers should practice all of these methods in a controlled environment on a regular basis, so that they remain calm when the situation may occur. Use the method you are most comfortable with using and ensure you practice more than just one.

Navigating your way underwater where there are no roads, no signs, no prominent landmarks so to speak is not an easy Scuba diving skill to master. Coupled with other factors playing on a divers mind like buoyancy control, keeping time, depth, conserving air and of course co-coordinating with your buddy, underwater navigation is all the more difficult to keep a track off. Dive sites don’t come with maps and the terrain underwater appears random, irregular and often unpredictable unless you’ve dived the site before a number of times, so this diving skill takes more than a little practice to acquire. When you do learn underwater navigation and know exactly where you’re going, where you’ve been and where you are at any given time underwater, it definitely makes diving a lot more enjoyable and stress free.

Here are 10 tips for improving your underwater navigation skills:

1. Plan Ahead - An important part of underwater navigation is gathering as much information about the location before hand. Collect information about the expected scenario like large coral formations, rocks, drop offs, sandy patches, wreck size, and so on from experienced divers or dive operators in the area.

2. Draw a Map – Map out the dive site on dive slate before you go and maybe chalk out an intended dive plan in the direction you want to go in for reference underwater. Sometimes just doing that helps you visualize the map in your head and you may not need to use the map. A good idea is once you’re diving the site you can note certain landmarks on your map to find your way back easily.

3. Know where your dive boat is - Just like a car in a parking lot you need to make a note of where your dive begins, so as to return to the right spot. Make a mental note of the surroundings, any particular rock or coral formations where you first descend. Pay attention to the direction you can see the sun and remember what your dive boat looks like from under especially if there are more than one in the vicinity.

4. Carry a compass - As a minimum, a diver must carry an underwater compass for navigation. Buy a simple compass and learn the correct way to use it. Take it on guided dives to get the hang of using it before heading off on your own.

5. Setting the bezel - Before beginning a dive you should set the bezel of your compass to point you to the direction dive boat and in case of shore diving to the shore. In this case once the bearing is set it shouldn’t be changed during the dive and to return, one simply rotates himself in the opposite direction.

6. Measuring distance - A rookie mistake when it comes to underwater navigation is noting down the direction but completely losing track or not measuring distance. It’s important to know exactly how far you have swum out and in what direction in order to return. One way of doing this if you are a consistent swimmer is by time or even air consumption. It may not be as accurate as counting fin strokes as you are thought in your course but it sure beats spending most of your dive concentrating on counting rather than the surroundings.

7. Use natural directional indicators – When diving in good clear water conditions and in the day, the sun is a great natural compass. For example during a morning dive you know the sun will be in eastern direction while for afternoon dives the sun indicates west.Sand ripples caused by currents too are good directional indicators as they always run parallel to the shore. The deeper imprint of the ripple, the nearer to the shore you are.

8. Don’t use currents as indicators - Don’t rely on currents to tell you in which direction you are heading. Currents can twist and turn around undersea objects thereby leading you astray.

9. Trust your instruments - If there is a discrepancy between what you feel and what your dive compass is telling you, go with the compass. Be sure that it is working properly before the dive and that there is no interference from undersea objects like shipwrecks or anything that can be magnetic however.

10. Practice, practice, practice – Practice using your compass on land. Do squares, rectangles, set headings and reciprocals, note bearings, in short…perfect your compass skills on land. Then on guided dives, practice your own navigation rather than blindly following the dive master, it’s a great feeling to successfully hit your mark when you try. Make it a habit to jot down things like bearings, landmarks, directions, times on your dive slate throughout your dive. With time and practice you’ll be a pro at navigating during a dive and even the fish will be seeking your instructions.

* Photos by Brianz and Jorge del Valle on flickr

** Products pictured above – Aqua Glow Slate Medium 4″ X 6″ , Oceanic Optional SWIV Compass and Suunto SK7 Add-On Compass. All available from LeisurePro.com

While Scuba diving, making your air last long is a big deal for divers. Why? Cause it means more bottom time and a longer dive. The air in your Scuba tank is the most important resource when you dive and there are a number ways  and techniques of conserving that precious air underwater.

(*Photo by – star5112 on flickr)

Here are 10 ways of conserving air when Scuba Diving-

1. Breathe slowly and deeply. Learning how to breathe properly underwater with Scuba equipment is essentially the best way of conserving air when you dive. What you don’t want to do, is take short shallow breaths as this will shorten your air supply as your body doesn’t absorb enough oxygen with each breath. Think yoga, consciously breathe  slowly- both inhale and exhale deeply, but comfortably. Don’t consciously try to lower your intake, hold your breath or expand your lungs beyond their capacity. Practice breathing deeply at home to get used to this kind of breathing, as natural as breathing seems when you get underwater paying a little attention to this can go a long way.

2. Perfect your Buoyancy Control. Not being able to control buoyancy during a dive results in a diver using extra energy, either fighting to keep of the bottom or from continually floating to the surface. The  energy spent doing this directly relates to the consumption of air. Another reason that good buoyancy control helps make your air last longer is that you tend not to inflate and deflate your Buoyancy Compensator or BCD, which uses air from your tank, as much during a dive. (Read: Scuba Tips: 10 Tips for Better Buoyancy Control) (*Photo by – star5112 on flickr)

3.  Streamline. Decrease resistance and create less drag while swimming by streamlining your body and the Scuba gear you wear. Swim horizontally, head first in the direction you want to go. Staying nice and streamlined with your arms close to your body and all gauges and other gear tucked away will create less drag and reduce your air consumption.

4. Dive Slow. Slow and steady does it when you dive. Scuba diving isn’t about how fast you can swim, nor how much ground you can cover. In fact, divers tend to compete on who surfaces with the most air. If that’s the case the only way you’ll win those bragging rights is to slow down, relax and take the sloth approach when you dive. Avoid darting around, go with the flow and enjoy every minute.

5. Use the Snorkel on the Surface. You tend to spend a considerable amount of time on the surface during a lot of dives, whether just swimming to the anchor line to descend or waiting for your buddy or other divers to get into the water. Snorkels are obviously a great way to swim on the surface without using up air from your Scuba tank. With annoying, choppy waves slapping into your face and threatening the you with a mouthful of salt water, it’s advisable to breathe through your regulator instead. (Read: Is a Snorkel necessary for Scuba Diving?) (*Photo by – iko on flickr)

6. Dive Shallower. Remember what you learned in your first Scuba course? – The deeper you dive the more air you consume and the shorter the dive. You can easily dive a few feet apart from the rest of the group or just above the coral shelf and see just as much, to conserve a bit more air.

7. Fins. Yes, didn’t think fins could affect your air consumption now did you? Well, since it’s the main piece of  equipment responsible for our movements underwater they can make all the difference. To decrease energy use and in turn air, it makes sense to use more efficient fins. The rate of your breathing and your air consumption is directly related to your kicking style and that’s where the necessity for good Scuba diving fins comes into play. (Read: SCUBA Gear: Good Dive Fins make all the difference)

8. Go with the flow. Use the environmental conditions to your advantage. Plan your dive keeping in mind currents and make the most of them when choosing the direction you want to go. Drift diving is a great way of using currents to your advantage and conserving energy and air. In case of swells and waves near small islands swim along with them if they’re in the right direction and if not wait till the swell passes before swimming in the desired direction. Swimming against it won’t get you far and will only use up more air. (Read: 5 Tips for Drift Diving in Currents) (*Photo by – kradk on flickr)

9. Reduce leaks. Check your o-rings, inflator hose and connection points carefully for any leaks before a dive. Have all your Scuba equipment serviced regularly and by professionals. It’s a simple but important  way to stop unwanted wastage of air.

10. Dive, Dive and Dive some more. The more you dive, the more comfortable you get underwater, the better your buoyancy control gets and you will automatically notice your air consumption gets better and you can dive longer.

Buoyancy control can be a hard skill to perfect, but a very important and fundamental one in Scuba diving. Not being able to control your buoyancy properly during a dive can be frustrating as you’ll end up having to add and let out air from your BC (Buoyancy Compensator) constantly to keep from bumping into things or grazing the floor with your fins or knees. Bad for you and  even worse for the reefs.  Not to mention, the uncontrolled bobbing up and down  directly affects a divers air consumption and simply takes away from the enjoyment of the dive.

(*Photo by – whitecat singapore on flickr)

Here are 10 tips for improving your Buoyancy Control when you Scuba dive-

• Using proper Scuba weights. Wearing the right amount of weight/s is crucial to achieving the right buoyancy.  With an empty tank and no air in your BC, at the surface you should be at eye level with the water, when properly weighted. The goal is to be neutrally buoyant at the 15-foot safety stop where your tank will have less air and be positively buoyant. Always adjust your weights in 1-2 lb increments.
• Keep a record of the weights you used for each dive which will help provide a guideline for making adjustments when at a new dive location. Also note the wetsuit thickness used as this will play a part in the weights you used.
• Improve your buoyancy control by using your Buoyancy Compensator less, not more. The key to neutral buoyancy is not in using your buoyancy compensator more. In fact, in a a lot of cases it is the reason for not being able to achieve the perfect buoyancy.  When you first descend, release air  from your BCD slowly and give it a time to take effect. Once you’re at a depth you want to stay at avoid touching your BC for the rest of the dive. (*Above photo by – star5112 on flickr)
• As soon as you are underwater get into a horizontal position. The  water pressure against your body helps you descend faster without taking out too much air from your BC thus allowing you to keep a fair amount to remain neutrally buoyant near the bottom and not sink like a rock for letting out too much. Staying horizontal also ensure that when you kick it propels your forward and not upward.
• Remember your Scuba tank will become lighter during the dive so make sure your descents are easy. If you have to struggle to get down, chances are you’ll have to work hard to stay down at the end of the dive and safety stops are difficult if you’re too buoyant.

(*Photo by – tmc74 on flickr)

• Stretch the inflator hose of your BC upwards while releasing air. Squeezing the BC against your chest with your free arm will also ensure that the last few bubbles find the exit.
• Breathe right, deep and consistent. You can ascend or descend a few feet solely by breathing in or out. Never hold your breath, but learn to control your breathing. Exhale completely before reaching for the inflator buttons on your BC. A lung full of air can add as much as 10 pounds of buoyancy.
• Relax. Extra movement, like flailing arms and improper fining can make you raise without even realizing it. This may make you think you are lighter than what you really are. Especially while descending try to overcome any nerves and make a conscious effort to keep your arms still and extend your legs, pointing your dive fins straight down for the least resistance.
• Scuba diving wetsuits can have an effect on your buoyancy. As your wetsuit gets wetter, the bubbles in the wetsuit compress from the pressure and it’ll become less buoyant. Keep this in mind before you jump to the conclusion that you are under weighted and add any weights to compensate. (*Photo by – dachalan on flickr)
• Practice. Like most Scuba diving skills, buoyancy control takes practice to perfect. With more dives under your belt you tend to relax and be more comfortable underwater making buoyancy control a breeze wherein you don’t even think about it. It also helps that with more experience, you know the weights you need.