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How to use less air on every dive
It's easier than you think...
Air consumption is something all divers should improve. There is very good reasoning. You can carry smaller tanks if you don't need as much air, stay underwater longer, be better assistance to an out of air diver and control your buoyancy better. These are a few of the reasons to improve air consumption. Another big reason is because sea life will let you get closer if there are less bubbles. Even sharks are afraid of bubbles! Paints a slightly different picture of those big scary fish huh?
Using less air is a multi step process that starts at the gear check and doesn't end until your feet are safely planted back on tera firma. First and foremost Check every cylinder you are going to dive to make sure it is completely filled. Mix ups can happen at fill stations and tanks thought to be full may not be. Any good fill station will let you check the bottles before you walk out. Next has to do with the gear check. Though it may seem like an inconsequential amount of gas every time you purge your reg that's air you're throwing away. Every purge is tank pressure falling away. Same with the BC power inflator. Just more wasted gas. Get used to manually testing gear along with the power tests to conserve as much air as possible.
Next comes the entry. Most are taught to enter with the reg in their mouth and swim to the decent point the same way. That works... it wastes air, but it works. A better way is to use your snorkel. A snorkel is a breathing device for the surface and should be used while your there. you'll be amazed at all the air you have left if you do. If you don't like using your snorkel Nick or myself can help. Feel free to come in for quick run down on failsafe snorkel use.
Then we come to the actual dive. This is the place where you will hear people describe many techniques to save air. Some can be dangerous, such as skip breathing. Skip breathing is the act of holding your breath in between each breathing cycle. This technique is bad for two reasons. 1 YOU'RE NEVER SUPPOSED TO HOLD YOUR BREATH! I mean come on! That's rule number one. The second reason this is a bad idea is because you retains CO2. This creates a short of breath feeling along with headaches and panic. Obviously that's bad.
The proper way to conserve air underwater is to slow your breathing. The thing that worked best for me was counting. A good inhale should last about 5 seconds and an exhale should be about 8 seconds. That's a good starting place. try to get each breathing cycle to take about 13 seconds. You will be amazed at how much air is left in that tank when you hit the surface. Not to mention how calm and relaxed you feel.
When you learn to slow your breathing down and conserve air underwater you learn to slow yourself down and take in everything there is to see. That's how you get the most out of each dive and stay safe.
ALEX~
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