28/02/2026
Back in November 2024 I took a drysuit course with . Was a very humbling experience! It felt like my 1 Star Diver course all over again having to relearn buoyancy and managing two air bubbles. Learning to put on and take off a drysuit - talc powder, beeswax, which arm in or out first, how not to stress the zipper - was also quite something to digest and I'm very glad I didn't have to learn all of this at the beginning of my diving journey.
The immediate issue for me under water was not venting air from my drysuit quickly enough, but the underlying issue I had was a lack of awareness of the air bubble I'm managing in my suit. During the course I was taught to inflate my drysuit for buoyancy, and when one is overweighted this can result in a larger bubble getting stuck in my legs. Getting rid of this requires doing a sommersault-type of maneuver, which I did once as part of an exercise and once more when I was hopelessly floating away to the surface for real.
Since then I've learned from other divers to keep the minimal amount of air in my suit and use my bcd for buoyancy, and this is a lot more comfortable for me personally - less shifts in buoyancy, less likelihood of floaty legs, and more controlled inflation and deflation. The B in BCD stands for buoyancy, after all. At the same time many divers point out that by keeping the minimal amount lf weight on, inflating your drysuit to the level of comfort should serve enough to keep you buoyant in the first place.
I was and am very grateful to have had the opportunity to learn something new after diving in warm waters exclusively til then.