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

Part 2/2 of our two part series on Tips for diving in kelp forests. If you haven’t read the first part click here.

Swim single file
While diving in kelp, it is always easier to have your buddy or group swim single file. This causes the least disruption to the environment allowing the lead diver to navigate and clear the path through the kelp, and also ensure that if the lead gets tangled, there is someone behind you to help extricate you.

Glide don’t Swim
The smoother and fewer your movements, the easier it is to dive through kelp. Minimal fin strokes coupled with controlled buoyancy will allow a diver to sail through kelp without getting tangled.

If tangled don’t Panic!
If you should get tangled in kelp, the important thing is to remain calm. Thrashing about will only get you more tangled. Try figuring out what part of you is tangled, usually the first stage gets caught, so reach backward carefully and try to free yourself. Backing out of the kelp carefully might also help get free. Signal your buddy if he/she can better spot the cause of entanglement.

Do not Ascend if you get tangled
Should you get tangled in kelp, never inflate your BCD or try and ascend until you get free. Ascending will drag more kelp onto the diver making it more difficult to get free.

Carry a Dive Knife
If you cannot extricate yourself from the kelp, relax, it’s only a plant. Diver safety comes before the marine ecology, so try gently breaking the kelp, or better yet use your dive knife to cut free. As long as you don’t uproot the entire plant from its base, the kelp should grow back.

Take off your BCD as last resort
If you simply cannot free yourself, carefully undo your BCD and try to free the offending kelp.

Ascend by looking for sand flats away from the rocky surface down slope
Remember that a kelp forest is very similar to diving in an overhead environment, as kelp forms a canopy at the surface that is difficult to break through. One way of ensuring you are not swimming up into a canopy is to look for a sandy patch of the sea bed further down slope. Kelp attaches to the rocky bottom of the sea bed.

Swim below the kelp canopy under the surface.
While ascending if you come across a canopy at the surface, it is always better to swim under the canopy and navigate your way to a clearing or to your dive boat as a surface swim is extremely difficult over a canopy of kelp.

Carry a Pony tank or a Reserve
As with overhead environments, swimming under the canopy to find a clearing uses up a lot of your air. Getting tangled in and trying to free yourself from kelp can also consume a lot of your air supply. Its always a good practice to carry with you a pony tank that will give you that extra time needed, incase you get tangled or lost under the canopy.

Kelp Crawling
Should you have ignored all the good advice and still managed to surface in a kelp canopy, you may need to perform what is known as the Kelp Crawl to surface swim your way back to your dive boat. Inflate your Buoyancy compensator fully, using your arms to clear your way to the surface. Extend your arms over the kelp in front of you and push downward while performing a butterfly kick to push you over the kelp and make your way slowly to your boat. Be advised, the kelp crawl is rather exhausting, and is effective only over shorter distances.

*Photo credits: photos by dantheurer, Ken-ichi, king damus, chuybregts,davidagalvan on flickr

There is something truly surreal about Scuba Diving in a giant Kelp Forests, and any diver who has experienced diving in this environment will tell you, that there is nothing else comparable to navigating your way through giant strands of giant kelp through filtered streaming sunlight and observing these unique ecosystems up-close. Kelp forests grow predominantly on the Pacific Coast, around California, Alaska, Tasmania, New Zealand, South Africa, and Australia.

Kelp is an aquatic plant that has root like structures at its base known as “holdfasts” and a main stem that streams upward towards the light at the surface where it forms a canopy like a tree.

Tips for diving amongst forests of kelp are a combination of making the dive easier, finding your way around as well as maintaining the ecosystem and preventing damage to the kelp.

Streamline your scuba diving equipment to avoid snags
When you are preparing for your Kelp Dive, potential exists for divers to become entangled in kelp, so make sure you take extra care to prevent having anything on you that could snag on the kelp.  Make sure that all straps are adjusted, and taped or tucked. Weight belts should not have lose ends dangling. Keep all gauges clipped on to your BCD, and don’t wear your dive knife strapped to your leg, try keeping it in your BCD, or attached to it.

Do not step off the dive boat into a Kelp Canopy
While planning your descent from the dive boat, make sure you enter the water in a clearing free of the Kelp canopy, or at the fringes of the forest. Jumping into the canopy can entangle you in an instant. Judging clearings in a kelp forest can be deceptively difficult to do so as there may appear to be an area void of kelp on the surface, but has dense stalks growing just below the surface, making choosing an entry location tricky.

Plan your dive taking accurate compass readings and bearings before descent.
Getting lost in a kelp forest is relatively easy to do. Divers should get a good idea about the layout of the area before the dive, taking  underwater compass readings to ensure you locate the dive boat on your way back.

Use your hands to push away the kelp and Descend feet first
While entering the water, deflate your BCD completely and spin around slowly, gently pushing away the kelp from you while descending feet first straight downward.

The forest is almost always thinnest near the bottom
When diving in a Kelp forest, descend straight to the bottom where the kelp is at its thinnest point and navigating the forest becomes much easier. Take a bearing once you reach the sea bed, or leave a marker to allow you to find your way back to the dive boat.

Follow Natural Clearings between each Kelp Stalk
The easiest way to explore a kelp forest is to follow the natural clearings between the kelp and make your way through. Ensure that you pick a wide enough opening to swim through to avoid getting tangled. If the opening looks too small to get through, and you cannot see the path ahead, it probably isn’t advisable to swim through it, as it is difficult to back out while diving.

Continued.. Tips to Kelp Diving Part 2

photos by: star5112, Adam Gerritsma, danielguip

Night Diving sounds a little scary for those who have never tried it. The thought of descending into dark waters with only the beam of a dive flashlight for light, the eerie calm waters and the very limited visibility that keeps you imagining what creatures lie outside your light beam can be intimidating and daunting. But once you try a night dive, I can bet you’ll want some more!

The Thrill of Night Diving
Night diving is a completely different experience than diving during the day. It’s both exhilarating yet surprisingly calm and relaxing at the same time. A whole new cast of characters comes alive after the sun goes down and night dives allow you to look at things in a whole new light. It’s better focused as your vision is limited to that of your light beam, making even a ten metre square more interesting with a lot more to see than if you had seen it in the day where you may have passed over it in a jiffy. Visiting a favorite or familiar dive site at night can feel like a visit to a whole new dive site, just the fact that it’s dark puts new twist and excitement into it.

Another appeal of night diving is the fact that colors appear brighter during the night. How is that you ask? As you remember from your basic scuba course, water absorbs color and the deeper you dive the less colorful the scenery. When you night dive however, you carry a underwater flashlight and since the beam doesn’t carry very far it’s not filtered as much as sunlight underwater, making fish and coral more vibrant and colorful in the artificial light.

Rules for Diving at Night
Night diving isn’t difficult, but it requires a divers to exercise a little extra caution and know some night diving safety rules. Here’s a few tips to night diving you should follow when you decide to take a plunge into dark waters-

• Set up all your scuba equipment in a well lit area preferably before you get on the boat and check your dive gear before especially your primary and back up dive lights.
• Keep your dive  flashlight attached to your wrist at all times with a lanyard and turn it on before entering the water, this helps in case you accidentally drop it in the water you can locate it by it’s beam. Avoid turning your light on or using its switches underwater as this is when water can enter them.
• Always dive with a dive buddy and stick close to each other throughout the dive. If you want you could use a short buddy line to reduce the risk of being separated, it’s not necessary but can be used especially if you’re very anxious about diving at night.
• The golden rule is to Never shine your light directly into another divers face. Keep your beam low to avoid bumping into any objects or kicking up any sand from being too close to the bottom.
• Learn all night hand and light signals before. For example: To attract a buddy’s attention, wave the scuba torch light back and forth in a horizontal line just in front of them. To signal “something wrong”, wave the torch up and down.Waving the light in a circle is to signal “ok” and so on.
• Always remember your bubbles go up. This is important if you get disoriented during the dive or experience so called ‘vertigo’. The best in this case is to signal your buddy to assist you to the surface in a safe ascent, as breaking the surface and the sight of either the dive boat lights or the stars will help the effects disappear.

The best way of enjoying a night dive is to dive in slow motion and move in a calm and relaxed way. There are so many things to see even in that limited beam of light that you should take your time and go steady to get a nice close look at everything. Night dives can be very relaxing and just plain magnificent.

Don’t forget to look for bio luminescent organisms that glow a brilliant blue and green in the dark just like stars do in the sky. You can see them by covering your dive torch beam with a hand or holding it against your body to stop all light, then by just waving a hand through the water you’ll see streams of tiny, bluish lights dance off the fingers. The phosphorescence is caused by tiny plankton type organisms giving off a bioluminescence when disturbed. It’s amazing to see them light up and steam off diver’s fins as the swim in front of you.

*Photo credits: photos by Saspotato, Scubaben, Daniel, Daniel Kwok on flickr

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.