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Originally Posted by efattah
Learning to go straight down is not something which can be accomlished in one day, or even one year!
Even those of us who have been diving for 5 or 10 years still try to improve our ability to go straight down.
If you close your eyes and concentrate, you can actually 'sense' the direction of gravity via the inner ear mechanism. However, most people are not used to sensing the upside-down state, since it is not a state we often live in.
One method you can use which is easier than the 'sense' method, is to use the color gradient of the water. If you look carefully you should see the color gradient (light to dark) which should remain both horizontal, and directly in front of you.
You must learn to treat the surface of the water as the new 'ground' or 'floor', and in the start of the dive, look down towards your feet, and watch the floor drift away (the surface drift away).
Rather than thinking of swimming straight towards the bottom, instead concentrate on swimming straight UP from the floor, as if jumping on a trampoline. On a trampoline, you use the floor (the trampoline) as the reference, not the sky. Likewise, while diving, you may find it better to use the surface as the reference, rather than the bottom.
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Thanks Eric, for sharing this simple yet profound insight.
While snorkeling and shallow diving (15') in Malaysia long ago, I got only a slight feeling of this surface-floor effect, then later while apnea shallow diving (15') in a bay in Japan, I got a much stronger feeling of it, in part because I wasn't focused on sight-seeing coral, but rather on the peaceful feeling just below the action of the waves.
To look "down" (actually skyward) and see the "floor" swirling in patterns "beneath" my feet was mind-blowing. Quite different than typical surface swimming and snorkeling or bobbing along on a fishing boat! I really felt as if I was "standing" on the outside liquid shell of the Earth's hydrosphere. DDeden
