Hi there ....

     I'm Angelo (originally from the Philippines but now staying in
Singapore) and I've been a lurker here for quite some time. I just finished
my PADI Open Water Course last weekend and now I'm waiting for my C-card. I
enjoyed it a lot and am looking forward to some more diving as well as
going up the PADI education ladder.

    Anyway, I've got some questions regarding buoyancy control since this
is what gave me the most difficulty in the PADI course. I tried looking at
the archives but all the answers I saw only confused me more than helping
me. Anyway here goes - I'll give some background first ... my problem is
that I can't hover WITHOUT moving my arms and legs. The instructor told us
to just use our breathing to control our buoyancy. Whenever we started
finning or use or hands he would signal for us to stop. However once I stop
finning or using my hands I either sink or float. Thing is, I didn't notice
any buoyancy difficulty when I was swimming around - I was able to maintain
my position (current depth in the water) when finning. But once we stop -
either to wait for some divers who were  lagging behind or for the safety
stop - I would start to float or sink.

     After the dive he gave us some pointers - he said if we are having
difficulty hovering we should try breathing this way "Inhale, hold for 2
secs, Exhale, hold for 2 secs, Inhale, hold for 2 secs .... ". The 2 secs.
pause is there to give time for our lungs to adjust our buoyancy. He told
us that in time we would be able master this to the point that most of our
buoyancy control would be controlled by breathing - weights, finning, arm
movement and BCD would not be a major factor anymore. The instructor is
somewhat obese so one might think that he is very positively buoyant BUT he
only wears a 2 pound weight. And he can do almost anything he wanted
underwater : hover, lie on his back, invert and do a head stand, twist
around, accelerate/slow down (he did this when he caught a cuttlefish
barehanded). He also said that normally he does not wear any weight at all
when diving.
   Currently I use 8 pounds but I think that it might be too heavy. But
when I did use only 6 pounds I kept shooting up (although my incorrect
finning and position might've been the reason and not the weights). Anyway,
I just wanted to know how important weights are to you guys ?

     Well I plan to do some swimming pool tune-ups to further correct my
buoyancy but I need some pointers.

     Do you guys give a lot of importance to "proper weighting" in
controlling your buoyancy ? When I say " a lot of importance" I mean it
literally such as wearing different weights if you have a camera, if you're
using AL or Steel tanks etc. after which you do the neutral buoyancy test,
see if you're eye-level, change the weights if necessary, then go back to
test it etc. (sort of like being obsessive about it).

    How neutral is "Neutrally Buoyant" to you guys ? The regular "Float at
eye level" neutral, the new "neutrally buoyant at 15 feet" neutral or "just
enough to sink down slowly" neutral ?

    How do you breathe ? Do you "pause" for 2 secs ? Do you inhale deeply
or just half-fill your lungs ?

    And last (I forgot to ask my instructor about this) - is it ok to swim
around during the safety stop ? Like I said, I had buoyancy difficulty
hovering but not when swimming so at the safety stop I kept swimming around
slowly to maintain the 5 m. depth until it was time to ascend.


- Angelo