This Hover and Orally Inflate the BCD for One Minute Skill explained in an easy way. Hovering is one of the best skills in the PADI Open Water Diver course. By hovering we learn how to control our buoyancy while scuba diving.
Buoyancy control is one of the most important parts of scuba diving, so it is important that we start learning this as soon as possible in our diving courses. In the PADI Open Water Course we learn hovering by orally inflating the BCD during Confined Water Dive 4 and the official PADI performance requirement states:
Orally inflate the BCD to hover for at least one minute, without kicking or sculling.
Why is the Hover Orally Inflate and important skill to learn?
With this buoyancy skill we not only learn to hover, but we also focus on adjusting our buoyancy by orally inflating the BCD. In the unlikely event your LPI button might malfunction, you can still easily adjust your buoyancy and add air to your BCD by orally inflating.
Buoyancy Control – Why is it so important in Scuba Diving?
Having great buoyancy while scuba diving is important for many reasons:
- To stay of the bottom and don’t damage aquatic life
- To not hurt yourself touching aquatic life
- To be better with your air consumption
- To adjust your Trim easier
- To be able to look a aquatic life better
- To improve your underwater photography
- To improve you wreck diving experiences
- To just look cooler when scuba diving
In the PADI Open Water Diver Course you will be learning a lot of buoyancy skills and hover while oral inflating the BCD is one of them.
To learn good buoyancy, it is important to choose a good dive school with great diving instructors.
Steps for the PADI Hover and Orally Inflate the BCD for One Minute Skill
- Make sure you are fully deflated
- With your left hand grab the low pressure inflator hose
- Take a deep breath into your regulator
- Remove your regulator with your right hand (remember to hold onto it)
- Make sure that you blow bubbles
- With your left hand press the LPI deflate button and gently blow some air into the BCD
- Replace your regulator into your mouth and clear anyway you like it
- Take a deep breath in and see if you rise (if not the repeat step 1 to 7)
- When you rise start to exhale to slow down the ascent
- When you go down start to inhale to slow your sinking
- Try to stay neutrally buoyant and hover on normal breathing
- Don’t kick or scull, be streamlined
- After 1 minute hovering, deflate the BCD
- Done with Hovering
Check out this video for the PADI Hover and Orally Inflate the BCD for One Minute Skill: