A good check dive will have everyone doing a buoyancy check in front of a guide. Thats everyone - from the relative new diver to the instructor with a 1000+ dives logged.

I know some experienced divers feel this is a little patronising and they are quite capable of judging their weighting for themselves but the fact of the matter is that a large percentage of divers both experienced and inexperienced overweight themselves when the come out to the Red Sea. If you’ve got it right then it should only take 20-30 seconds at most. If you got it wrong then its good you discovered that now.

Many of our experienced divers are used to diving in 7 mm or more of neoprene or in drysuits back home. They come out to Egypt with a 3 mm full suit or a shorty and often overestimate or occasionally underestimate the amount of weight they need. Either way, experienced or inexperienced, its a good idea to do a proper buoyancy check in front of your guide who can make a recommendation.

If you are overweighted the time to remove weight is now, before the dive, not afterwards like many would like. The 2nd dive will possibly be off a zodiac not the back of the safari boat and you’ll need to be correctly weighted for that one. Besides, one of our key aims is to keep the reef safe from you. Over-weighted divers bump into, kick and hold onto the reef far more than correctly weighted divers

If we get you correctly weighted, you’ll have a better dive. You will need to make less adjustments to your buoyancy as you move deeper and shallower throughout your dive. With less air in your jacket you will have less drag - you will use less air. You will be less likely to damage the reef and hurt yourself on it  and we, your dive guides, will have a less stressful time.

A decent buoyancy check and everyones a winner.

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