Buoyancy & BCD Skills
Be sure to equalize your ears early and often as you descend.Descent Precautions
As you descend, air spaces in your body and equipment will compress. To avoid injury, follow these precautions during your descent.
Equalize your ears early and often. This is easiest if you maintain a feet-first position during the descent. If you cannot equalize, ascend a few feet and try again. Abort the dive if you still cannot equalize.
The air inside your mask must also be equalized. You can equalize your mask by simply exhaling a small amount of air through your nose. You'll learn more about ear and mask squeezes later in this course.
Compression of your wetsuit will make you less buoyant and increase your descent rate. Compensate for this loss of buoyancy by adding small amounts of air to your BCD as you descend. If your buoyancy is properly maintained you should descend no faster than 75 feet per minute, and you will be able to stop at any time by taking a deeper breath.
Equalize your ears early and often. This is easiest if you maintain a feet-first position during the descent. If you cannot equalize, ascend a few feet and try again. Abort the dive if you still cannot equalize.
The air inside your mask must also be equalized. You can equalize your mask by simply exhaling a small amount of air through your nose. You'll learn more about ear and mask squeezes later in this course.
Compression of your wetsuit will make you less buoyant and increase your descent rate. Compensate for this loss of buoyancy by adding small amounts of air to your BCD as you descend. If your buoyancy is properly maintained you should descend no faster than 75 feet per minute, and you will be able to stop at any time by taking a deeper breath.
