5 Simple Tips to Save Air on Every Dive

[@itravelwisely]

Correction to what I said in the video: - 4/6 breathing is 6 breaths per minute, not 12. Useful feedback from comments: - At the end of a dive with an AL80 tank, you can expect to be about 4-6 lbs lighter.

[@Friedolays]

Thank you for putting quality content into the dive community.

[@itravelwisely]

Thank you for these kind words! Hoping to keep improving the content as I go too!

[@MrIronflame]

I love the weighting portion, thanks

[@itravelwisely]

Thank you! Tried to nail a quick description in this one, I have another video that goes a bit more in-depth on weighting you'd likely enjoy. Weighting is o e of those things you're always tinkering with, haha.

[@MrIronflame]

Excellent information

[@itravelwisely]

Glad you enjoyed this one too!

[@freedomwanderer91]

Good info.

[@itravelwisely]

Thank you, and glad you enjoyed!

[@m1ch4Lko]

Good content, but you really should improve the audio quality. Get an external mic ☺️

[@itravelwisely]

I agree, I do have an external microphone, but I ended up recording this whole video with it, not quite plugged in all the way. Bummer, I didn't have quite time to rerecord, but the good news is future videos are better!

[@Richard1976]

Finding my neutral buoyancy is lot easier on wet suit than my drysuit. Finetuning my weights with wetsuit. Went from 12kg to 9. Think i end up to 8. Eventually you win alot by breathing and minimize finning etc. We mostly go in the water sooner than other divers and come out later. We fin at turtle speed, where others think they are a torpedo. In the video you also see people constant finning. Just do a fin stroke ( i do frogkick.. Or frogkick just from my ankle) and let yourself go at a almost standstil do another fin stroke.

[@itravelwisely]

Exactly, as long as you're not holding others back, you're usually in a good spot. Our air consumption has been quite good , and we can almost hit 2 hours on a 12L tank, but realistically, it's rare to dive that long. Drysuit weighting is definitely a beast, and the more gear you add from there doesn't make it any easier haha.

[@Richard1976]

@ i have a 15L but I’m a big bloke. We pretty much dive around an hour or 75 minutes. Probably when we are on holiday next year on Bonaire it might me longer😂

[@char-007-1]

Thank you for an excellent video. I would like your advice on how I can correct (1) my listing to my left side and (2) my feet rising upward to where I'm upside down while I'm at a safety stop or even trying to hover at depth. I've streamline my gear and am properly weighted, having done my bouyancy check at the surface. To compensate for listing, I've added weight in my right side pocket which helps some to stop listing to my left. To address my "floaty feet" I don't know how to correct this other than adding ankle weights which I feel are too heavy, however, I bought a pair of ankle weights where one can insert variable weight - lead shot - for adjustment. But I'm not comfortable using them. My fins are Apex RK3 and I wear hard sole booties, both of which add weight to my feet but don't seem to stop my feet from rising. The diving I'm doing is in warmer water where I'm either wearing a 3mm or 5mm depending on temp. It is so annoying to find that the only time when I'm still in the water is when I'm listing to my left side and am upside down with my feet sticking straight up. Any thoughts or advice? Thanks!

[@itravelwisely]

Thank you, and I'm glad you liked the video! For the listing, if your using a single tank, sometimes you might have to manually reposition it and screw in the wing nuts on it if it's a backplate as if they get loose it'll flop around more. Also, a camera or heavy light on one side might cause imbalance, too. Having spread out some of your gear to different pockets might help, but I'm not a fan of adding weight to compensate as it's better to have as little weight as possible. For floaty feet, are you using a dry suit? I'd usually advise more negatively buoyant fins, but Apeks RK3s are negatively buoyant but not the heaviest. Jet fins are a bit heavier, which might help. But first, before trying new fins, I am not a fan of ankle weights as it does add weight. Try shifting more weight down towards your lower back. If you have weight like integrated weights or weights in higher trim pockets, try to move weights to the lower cam ban of your tank straps. You want more weight on your back and on your back in the middle of the back. This will balance the seesaw a bit and help you feel the upper body is being pulled down less. If your using dry suit, this can happen when air collects in your boots, they become like functional balloons, for this, straighten the legs, get into a positive trim and let the air come up to the dry suit dump valve so you can get it out. I advise not to use the dry suit for buoyancy in normal cases, so add a tiny aor to it to remove the squeeze and create some warmth. Let me know if this helps!

[@troyjanssen9783]

If you check your bouyancy with a full AL80 you'll be 4-6 pounds light at the end of your dive. If your doing 4/6 breathing that's 6 breaths per minute not 12.

[@itravelwisely]

Great feedback! Added this to a pinned comment. Thank you!

[@saschaganser9671]

Tip 1 is sadly wrong. You breath every 6-10 seconds. Your lung fits 4-6l or gas. Your BCD usually has a capacity of 12-20l. But you add only small amounts, as if you full inflate, you fly up. And for sure you don`t inflate or deflate every 6 seconds. Fact, the air you spend in your BCD is so small compared to the one you breath, that it`s irrelevant.

[@itravelwisely]

Your not wrong but my point was more along the lines that BCD is used for major depth change adjustments only, and once a diver starts to use their breathing for precision buoyancy control it often helps significantly with air consumption, give the focus is on buoyancy and that will slow the breathing naturally.