Buoyancy and Navigation Dives

Our first dive was the buoyancy dive. We spent 20-30 minutes in the cold chop trying to properly weight these girls. We bounced around and swapped out weights before descending to examine trim weighting and swim the hoops. I think we got Mia properly weighted, but Dianne still looked a bit heavy. I demonstrated how I wanted them to run the hoops and Mia did very well. She was slow and methodical. She relied on her breathing to set her buoyancy and she did a good job. In addition to being a little heavy, Dianne had a tendency to blow through the hoops rather than work her buoyancy. While I still had lots of air, I was cold and so were the others. We went back to the beach to warm up before making a navigation dive.






We discussed the use of the compass before getting in the water. We also discussed exactly what we were going to do. We dropped at the pin and immediately the girls were counting kick cycles as they swam out on the line. Once we established the distance covered in a kick cycle, we did an out 'n back for 30 kick cycles. The girls ended up West and South of where they should, probably failing to account for the current. They ran the square, but reduced to 20 kick cycles on a side. This time they came out exactly where they should have.

Next, we went out on the reef. I signaled Mia that she should lead and I would follow, but then she started swimmin ENE, so I took over. We went out to the Eastern edge of the reef. No turtles or eels, and just a few reef fish. I was chilled when we got back.