This article explains how precise buoyancy control benefits the scuba diver. There are seven important reasons why making the effort to practice and improve your buoyancy is time well spent
Article Contents
What are the seven buoyancy control benefits?
Environmental Considerations
The underwater world is a fragile environment and unintended contact from a diver is going to cause some damage.
This often happens on the initial descent, when a scuba diver fails to achieve neutral buoyancy before they hit the bottom and cause damage.
Fragile marine life is easily damaged
After the descent, a failure to achieve proper scuba buoyancy will lead to the diver continually ‘bouncing’ off the bottom, hitting things with their fins and even having to use their hands to prevent collisions.
It takes very little contact to cause decades’ worth of damage to a developing coral reef or crush that beautiful anemone covered with symbiotic shrimps.
Equipment and Personal Protection
Scuba diving gear is expensive and unintended/uncontrolled collisions and contact can rapidly lead to the damage and destruction of that gear. Likewise, the human body, especially when immersed for long periods, is very fragile and easily damaged by rough or sharp objects.
It takes only light contact with coral to tear a hole in a wetsuit. A hose snagged on sharp metal inside a wreck can easily be severed. A hand or leg brushed against fire coral or a well-disguised Scorpion Fish can result in the need for medical treatment.
Proper scuba buoyancy control, coupled with good situational awareness allows divers to avoid expensive or painful mistakes.
Efficiency, Relaxation and Enjoyment
A diver with imperfect scuba buoyancy control tends to be very distracted and task-loaded when diving.
They often have a permanent grip on their low-pressure inflator; attempting to correct every minor deviance in depth with an additional ‘squirt’ of air into or out of their BCD.
Good buoyancy means you can relax and enjoy your scuba diving
They rapidly become preoccupied with their scuba buoyancy and less situationally aware of their buddies, their dive plan and the wonderful sights to be enjoyed around them in the water.
This encourages a less tranquil state of mind and the resulting stress will certainly increase their air consumption and make them less able to cope or react to any unforeseen situations that may arise during the dive.
When a diver develops good scuba buoyancy control, it can swiftly become an instinctive and autonomous function, leaving their minds free to deal with other issues and, of course, to enjoy the full spectacle of the underwater environment.
Safe and Controlled Ascents
Effective scuba buoyancy control is critical for safe ascents. Some novice divers misunderstand that every ascent should be conducted with virtual neutral buoyancy – using breath control and slight fining motion to achieve a controlled upwards movement.
Air expansion on the ascent can easily cause uncontrolled momentum if the diver mistakenly relies upon positive buoyancy to bring them to the surface. At any time, the diver should be able to immediately cease their ascent and maintain a constant depth.
This is a critical attribute when the diver intends to conduct a safety stop, deploy a DSMB or deal with any other issues that may arise; such as a reverse block of the ears, a flooded mask or the need to assist their buddy.
Obviously, an uncontrolled ascent is a particular danger to the scuba diver, as the potential risk of decompression sickness increases as maximum ascent rates are exceeded and safety stops are missed.
A diver with proficient scuba buoyancy skills should be able to remain relaxed throughout the ascent, deal with other tasks and be able to pause the ascent wherever and whenever they want.
Ability to Observe Details
Many of the most amazing sights you can see underwater occur at a macro level of size. Small shrimp, nudibranchs, crustaceans etc are often tiny and require viewing from a very close range – without water movement and disturbed silt from sculling hands or flailing fins.
For underwater photographers, videographers and keen underwater observers, effective scuba buoyancy control benefits because they will have the ability to approach and observe sea life without scaring it away.
Wreck diving buoyancy control benefits
Diving on, or inside, wrecks often requires many changes in depth. It often also involves the need to travel around, or through, the wreck without disturbing accumulated silt, which will reduce visibility and can pose a serious risk to divers navigating out of overhead environments.
A wreck diver needs to be able to precisely control their buoyancy so that they can travel at a safe and constant distance above the silt, whilst manoeuvring up, down and around obstacles along their route on the wreck.
Wreck penetration should not be attempted by any diver who does not possess precise and reliable buoyancy control.
Buddy / Team Skills
Good buoyancy control benefits mutually supportive buddy and team diving. When diving with a buddy, or with a team (for instance, on technical or wreck dives) we have a responsibility to monitor and, if necessary, assist those people. Where a problem is encountered, a quick reaction by another diver is often sufficient to prevent a small problem from escalating into a more dangerous incident.
This places importance on being able to match depths on the descent, during the dive and on the ascent. Unlike horizontal distance, any vertical separation of divers is much more time-consuming to travel and, thus, causes a slower reaction.
For example, on the descent, it is not uncommon for one diver to experience equalization problems, which temporarily halt their descent.
Good observational skills, coupled with scuba buoyancy control will mean that their buddy is able to instantly halt their own descent and provide support.
In addition, the reduction in task-loading enabled by effective buoyancy control will allow the diver to develop far better situational awareness (to continually observe their buddy) and the capacity to problem-solve and react to unexpected occurrences (to react and support their buddy).
Currently residing in Subic Bay, Philippines; he has amassed more than 10,000 open-circuit and CCR dives over three decades of challenging diving across the globe.
Andy has published numerous diving magazine articles and designed advanced certification courses for several dive training agencies, He regularly tests and reviews new dive gear for scuba equipment manufacturers. Andy is currently writing a series of advanced diving books and creating a range of tech diving clothing and accessories.
Prior to becoming a professional technical diving educator in 2006, Andy was a commissioned officer in the Royal Air Force and has served in Iraq, Afghanistan, Belize, and Cyprus.
No.4 | Perfect Scuba Weighting How to perfect your scuba weighting. Get this right & your buoyancy control will be much easier. Advice not taught in Open Water courses
No.8 | Balanced Rig Principle For Diving The balanced rig principle for diving describes a calculated approach to the amount of weight which can be jettisoned in an emergency
No.7 | Diving Ascents and Descents How to improve your diving ascents & descents for safer and more comfortable scuba dives. This article can change your diving.
No.5 | Horizontal Diver Trim Stable diver trim is the foundation for good buoyancy control and efficient propulsion. It also helps conserve the marine environment.
