Woohooo! Persistance pays off!

[Lisa0825]

Some of you may remember my saga of a cancelled trip, ear problems, a cold front, and other annoyances that kept getting in the way of my getting some dives in after recent OW certification.

Well, I FINALLY broke the curse!!!

I got in 5 excellent dives this weekend in Cozumel, including a beautiful night dive, and an absolutely surreal dive at the collapsed Carnival pier! I had ZERO problems, and had a great time!

I still need to work quite a bit on getting control of my bouyancy, but it was never an issue until the end of the dives.

I have plans to go back to Cozumel in late November or early December to meet the friends I cancelled on because of Wilma last year, but hopefully I'll get in some more dives before then, too!

Oh, and I broke into double digits too!LOL! I have 10 officially under my belt

 

[Jay_SMART_Diver]

I still need to work quite a bit on getting control of my bouyancy, but it was never an issue until the end of the dives.

Your problem may have come from the Aluminum tank you were using, they tend to get more bouyant as they empty so you will be lighter at the end of your dive. Next time try just a litttle more weight. Glad you had a great trip, I'll be in Playa Del Carmen November 2-7 diving accross the water from you.

 

[Lisa0825]

Your problem may have come from the Aluminum tank you were using, they tend to get more bouyant as they empty so you will be lighter at the end of your dive. Next time try just a litttle more weight. Glad you had a great trip, I'll be in Playa Del Carmen November 2-7 diving accross the water from you.

I did add a little more weight each day actually, but still at the very end, I found myself having to really work to do the safety stop. At the beginning on the last dive, I had to add quite a bit of air to keep from sinking to the bottom, and then by the end, I was doing all I could to squeeze every bubble out of my BC and breathe as much as I could OUT to keep from floating. I think that extra effort also caused me to go through the last quarter of my tank pretty quickly, and my dive instructor kept me attached to her for the safety stop because I was cutting it close, and she wanted to be ready just in case the gauge was inaccurate. I did end up with air left, but I appreciated her preference for caution.

 

[drcheap]

I think that extra effort also caused me to go through the last quarter of my tank pretty quickly

Heavy breathing can mess up boyancy more than improper weight.

Weight is easy, just add or remove it trial-and-error style and you're good because it's constant force. Breathing on the other hand is something that definitely takes time & practice to get under control because it's so variable (which can be good and bad).

Once you are able to recognize those when you are being over anxious and breathing heavy, and then get yourself back to calm slow breathing, your boyancy will stop flucuating so wildly and you will be able to maintain a fixed depth much easier. And when you get good with breathing, you can use it all by itself to control vertical motion when you need to avoid a big coral head or something as you swim along

 

[Lisa0825]

Heavy breathing can mess up boyancy more than improper weight.

Weight is easy, just add or remove it trial-and-error style and you're good because it's constant force. Breathing on the other hand is something that definitely takes time & practice to get under control because it's so variable (which can be good and bad).

Once you are able to recognize those when you are being over anxious and breathing heavy, and then get yourself back to calm slow breathing, your boyancy will stop flucuating so wildly and you will be able to maintain a fixed depth much easier. And when you get good with breathing, you can use it all by itself to control vertical motion when you need to avoid a big coral head or something as you swim along

I don't think I was breathing "heavy" throughout the dive,but I was consciously trying to get as much air out of my lungs when I breathed near the end, because otherwise, I was floating up. It only happened near the end, when it was about time for the safety stop. During the rest of the dive, I was doing pretty well, and using my breathing to go up and down when needed like you described. It was fun getting used to how that worked!

 

[ReefHound]

That's odd. You might try pulling on your rear dump valve (no jokes, please) in addition to your inflator valve. Keep in mind your orientation for releasing all the air. I find I sink more in a vertical position than horizontal. While vertical, hold the inflator over your head and lean to the right. And take your stops at 18-20' instead of 15'.

 

[drcheap]

I don't think I was breathing "heavy" throughout the dive,but I was consciously trying to get as much air out of my lungs when I breathed near the end, because otherwise, I was floating up. It only happened near the end, when it was about time for the safety stop. During the rest of the dive, I was doing pretty well, and using my breathing to go up and down when needed like you described. It was fun getting used to how that worked!

Previous breathing patterns during the dive don't really matter, it's the breathing at that moment that does.

Also, since most of your dive was much deeper than 15ft, the bouyancy control is less of an issue until the end. You get used to being able to make small adjustments in BC volume or breathing and get small results in boyancy change. Then you ascend to 15ft for safety stop and those same small adjustments make for huge changes in boyancy! On top of that, going up from 70' to 65' by accident isn't a huge deal, doing that at 15' to 10' is a bit more significant.

In my first handful of dives I had a couple where I was "light" at the end and had to go feet up and kick to keep myself down, and that was when I was overweighted! I eventually got it all sorted out, and that's where that persistence thing comes in again

 

[Lisa0825]

Thanks for the input. I'm sure it's mostly a matter of getting more practice, and I am totally up for that!!! :-D

 

[smash]

Congrats!

Hi Lisa!

My first true "breakthrough" dives were in Cozumel as well. And now Cozumel holds a special place in my heart because of it. Hopefully, it will, too, for you.

I had the exact same problem you had way back when I first started diving. It was embarassing, diving with all my friends and accidentally floating up to the surface at the end of a blissful dive. As the others have said, a lot of the correction comes from experience and proper weighting (or in some cases, overweighting). Fifty or a hundred dives from now, you'll look back at the problems you're having now and laugh about them. Everyone goes through them.

One thing I suggest is yoga. Hatha yoga is easy on the muscles, focuses on breathing from the diaphragm, and almost seems like a waste of time, until you've been doing it for a couple of months and all of a sudden you're flexibility is unbelievable and your air consumption is close to nil. It's relaxing, and it did wonders for me. My first dive trip ever was to the Great Barrier Reef where I was the newbie from hell -- the plastic flavor of the mouthpiece had me convinced that I had a tank of bad air, and I blew through an Al80 in less than 30 minutes! Ask any of my dive buddies now, and they won't believe you because I routinely make an Al80 last close to two hours or longer at Flower Gardens depths.

The top 20 feet of water are the most difficult part of the water column in which to control buoyancy because that's where the change in pressure is the greatest. Don't feel too bad if you don't master it right away, but do make sure you make at least one deeper stop and try to do at least part (if not all) of your safety stop at a slightly deeper depth. But do give yoga a try if you don't do it already!

Best of luck,
smash