Almost any diver will tell you that honing in on your buoyancy underwater is a constant learning process. The Avelo System, a new diving system, completely changes how you manage weight and buoyancy underwater. I had the exciting opportunity to try Avelo with Oahu Travel Divers during my visit to Oahu!
The Avelo System eliminates an inflatable BCD and instead uses a specialized tank (a Hydrotank) to control buoyancy by adding or removing water, much like ballast on a boat. The tank has a rubber bladder that holds the air you breathe and a mechanism that pumps water between the tank wall and the bladder. Learn more about how it works here.
I got certified as a Recreational Avelo Diver (RAD). The certification includes elearning and two dives. Ed McNeill, owner of Oahu Travel Divers and Avelo Instructor, took me out to Horseshoe Reef to complete my training. After learning how to assemble the system, we jumped right in! You start the dive by pumping water into the Hydrotank until you achieve neutral buoyancy. Then, you swim down and start your dive.
One of my favorite things about the Avelo System is that I barely had to worry about adjusting my buoyancy throughout the dive. After 25-30 minutes, when the tank becomes lighter due to the air you have used up, you can simply pump more water into the tank. As someone who is a scientific diver, having good buoyancy is really important; when you are doing so many tasks underwater, often close to the seafloor, your buoyancy has to be in check. With the Avelo, you also don’t have to worry about adjusting your buoyancy with depth, which means you are neutral from the surface all the way to the seafloor. Using the system felt effortless because I didn’t have to adjust anything when descending or when coming up to a safety stop at the end of a dive.
After my whole diving career training and diving with traditional SCUBA, I was unsure if I would enjoy and adapt to a new system. During the first training dive, I already felt super comfortable. Another difference with Avelo is that it is super lightweight. A standard SCUBA setup weighs 75lbs on average, while Avelo only weighs 45lbs! This makes it so streamlined underwater and super easy to get out of the water and back on the boat.
I truly enjoyed diving the Avelo and would highly recommend giving it a try! A huge thank you to Avelo and Oahu Travel Divers for sponsoring my RAD certification.
Thank you to the Our World-Underwater Scholarship Society and our sponsor Rolex for making this scholarship experience possible. I would also like to thank Reef Photo and Video, Nauticam and Light and Motion for my underwater camera setup as well as Aqualung, Fourth Element, Suunto, Halcyon, and DUI for my diving equipment.
