I always do this skill way too slowly, taking unnecessary time to adjust things and show the little bubbles as I exhale. While an experienced diver may not find this difficult it can make your students nervous. No one has noticed yet.Įnd by demonstrating a complete exhale to show that you will sink. I can then exhale a little to make myself float at eye level. What I do is leave just a little air in my BCD and take a really big breath instead of a normal one. I am very much overweighted in confined water, so the test for proper weighting is a challenge for me. This allows me to fix any snags as I turn, and make a big show of putting my right arm (chicken wing style) through the right hole. I can then clearly show my left hand grabbing my tank as I bring it around.Īs I push my tank behind me, I turn slowly (changing to kneel on the right leg) to show my right side. I kneel on my left leg and make a big show of putting my left arm in, turning to present my left side. The replacement part is where it gets harder. I plant the tank firmly on the bottom and show them to keep control with their right hand.

To make this skill look easy I start by facing my students and loosening my straps. Sometimes I get a bit tangled up during the replacement part. Once replaced, make a big show of adjusting the position of your belt and make sure your dump valve cords are not tucked into it. You can then show them not to hold the belt away from yourself and position it on your knee easily with no drifting. This way my BCD is weighing me down while my belt is basically for demonstration purposes only.

My cheat is to put only one small weight on my belt, and the rest go in my BCD. But when you take off your weight belt sometimes you start to float around a bit. When I am doing demonstrations I like to be significantly overweighted. Weight Belt Removal and Replacement Underwater Jon Milnes Whether you are a novice diver or an experienced dive instructor, here are some useful tips and tricks to getting those elusive perfect scores. Divemasters and Instructors need to be able to both demonstrate the PADI dive skills as well as executing them with an emphasis on quality.

Everyone has experienced strengths and weaknesses with their water skills.

Padi rescue diver final exam