In the June issue of Sport Diver, there is a helpful list of steps to the predive buddy safety check that should be a part of every divers routine. The steps listed in the article have been altered slightly in the order of the acronym, but the information is the same!
The predive buddy checklist should be performed by each buddy for the other and can be remembered by thinking of the acronym BeWARE. Here are the steps represented by each letter:

• Be- BCD / Buoyancy Compensator Device. Is it adjusted properly and tank securely fastened? Are the hoses all connected and buckles secured? Where are the dump valeves and releases and are they working properly? Are the inflate and deflate buttons working? What about any signaling devices? 
• W- Weight. Make sure the weight is correct and properly distributed. Check the weight belt, and / or integrated weights to be sure that they are firmly secured, and that you know how to release them in case of an emergency. 
• A- Air. Both you and your buddy should take a few breaths from your regulators while observing for movement of the pressure gauge needle. There should not be any!! Also, check to be sure your buddy's air tank is turned on completely. Check for any leaks. 
• R- Releases. Check all the releases and make sure they are secure. Check the shoulder straps, cummerbunds, sternum straps and the tank release. 
• E- Everything okay? This is a final once over from head to toe. Step back and take a look at your buddy. Are all the hoses and straps secure including the tank? Is the BC strapped correctly with no twisted straps? Weights in place and secure? Wetsuits or drysuits completely zipped? Computer consoles, cameras, dive lights all working properly? 

This should be a part of every divers routine checklist to make sure that the dive goes well and does not have to be terminated early because something was missed or forgotten! In this case, the old adage that haste makes waste is very appropriate since getting into a hurry to dive can end up making you waste a lot of precious time that you should be spending in our wonderful underwater world!

In the September / October 2016 issue of  Dive Training magazine Barry and Ruth Guimbellot addressed this very topic! 
They described a skill known as the Fin Pivot Skill to master Neutral Buoyancy. This skill is described as one of the key ways to help the novice diver to become comfortable when neutral in the water, and it can be easily practiced in the pool!
The Fin Pivot Skill involves using your lungs to control your buoyancy when at depth. Here are the basic steps:

• Don your scuba gear, including weights.
• Fully deflate your buoyancy compensator (BC) and lie flat on the bottom with your power inflator in your left hand and a finger on both the inflate and the deflate buttons.  
• Stretch both hands in front of you and depress the inflator button slightly, just enough to add a SHORT BURST of air into the BC. DO NOT HOLD DOWN THE BUTTON as this could cause you to add too much air!
• Breathe normally, and notice how each breath affects your buonyancy. You should rise slightly with each inhalation and sink with each exhalation. Your goal is to keep your fins on the bottom while your upper body rises and falls as you inhale and exhale.
• If the first short burst does not raise your upper torso off the floor, then gently add another short burst of air and continue doing so until you feel your upper body start to rise. 
• If you have to add several bursts of air to your BC to keep your torso off the bottom, you might be overweighted. Try reducing the amount of weight you are wearing!

This is the Fin Pivot! Mastery of this skill will help you to master neutral buoyancy thus increasing your enjoyment of your underwater world, while disturbing it as little as possible!