New Study Shows Women Divers More Aware Underwater
November 05, 2007
A new two year study by the Hull University marine sciences center shows that women divers have better spatial awareness than male divers underwater. While men have the upper hand above ground, women divers are shown to have increased buoyancy control and heightened awareness of their surroundings.
Women tend to be calm, controlled and safety conscious, while men showed riskier behavior as a result of their more aggressive attitude towards diving. The less predictable buoyancy of men caused more silt-ups and reef damage from errant fins than women. Still, both men and women can lessen the environmental impact on coral reefs by improving awareness and buoyancy control.
Recently there has been an increased awareness in the environmental impact of diving on delicate reef environments. When divers have poor control they may break off coral with their hands or fins. Additionally, silt, when kicked up on the bottom can suffocate the slow growing organisms, doing irreparable damage.
To reduce the impact on delicate marine life, divers of both sexes should practice good techniques when underwater.
Keep your breathing slow and relaxed. This will also conserve air and give you more time to enjoy your dive.
Keep motions fluid. Avoid sudden jerky movements. This will conserve air, lessen the chance of bumping into a fellow diver and you will be less likely to scare off marine life.
Do a weight check. Performing a proper weight check before your dives whenever you dive in a new location or with different equipment is always a good idea. If you are under weighted, you may not be able to make your safety stop and if you are over weighted, you will expend more energy, use more air and spend more time trying to remain neutrally buoyant. To properly perform your weight check, enter the water with all of your equipment on. Fully deflate your BCD while holding a normal breath. If you are eye-level in the water, you are properly weighted for your dive.
Streamline your equipment. When donning your scuba gear, do your best to make sure that you are streamlined. Make sure your octopus is tucked but visible and accessible to your buddy. Use clips or your BCD strap to secure your air gauge and computer where you can get to them but so they won’t drag on the sea floor. Streamlining reduces drag, again saving you air and energy while protecting marine life!
Be alert and aware. In a beautiful underwater environment it can be easy to drift into the serenity of the ocean or the excitement of the abundant life, but it’s important to remain aware of where you are in relation to other divers, particularly your dive buddy. You should dive close enough that you can both see and reach your buddy in case of an out of air emergency but not so close that you are crowding each other.
Keep trim. Trim is related to your diving posture. When diving, your body should remain flat and horizontal at all time. Notice if your legs are lower than your body. The tips of your fins could be dragging and stirring up the bottom. If your legs are higher than your body, you may need to adjust your weights or even buy special ankle weights to keep you inline while you dive.
Practice. Take five minutes from each dive to practicing hovering just above the sea floor and to be aware of whether you stir up silt when you kick in that position. With practice your air consumption will drop, you will be able to effortlessly change depth using only your breath and if you enjoy underwater photography, you will greatly benefit from your hovering technique.
As part of their educational offerings, PADI offers the Peak Performance Buoyancy specialty. Please contact NAUI or SSI for more information on their classes for improving buoyancy.
