Advanced Buoyancy Diver
Master Your Buoyancy. Transform Your Diving.
Without buoyancy, there’s no good diving. SDI Advanced Buoyancy Diver isn’t just another card; it’s your pass to becoming a truly capable diver. You’ll gain major safety, especially on ascent and at your safety stop. Improve your body position, reduce effort and gas consumption, and treat the marine environment with the respect it deserves.
OWN Every Ascent and Stop
Stop exactly where you want, even at your safety stop. Prevent uncontrolled ascents and keep visibility clear by avoiding kicked-up silt. With precise buoyancy, you control the dive, not the other way.
Perfect Your Horizontal TRIM
A truly horizontal profile makes you hydrodynamic. Less drag means less effort and lower gas consumption, so you swim farther, feel better, and enjoy more bottom time on every dive.
Hover CLEAN, Protect Reefs
Solid buoyancy lets you hover above the reef, avoid fin strikes, and leave no trace. No sediment clouds, no accidental contact, just respectful, conservation-minded dives that protect the places you love.
Own your buoyancy.
Become an SDI Advanced Buoyancy Diver!
There are two ways to start your journey as an Advanced Buoyancy Diver. You can choose the flexibility of eLearning with an online code, or begin your training directly through a nearby SDI Dive Center. Below, we explain each option so you can choose the one that suits you best.
eLearning Code
With the eLearning course, you are in control. Study at your own pace from home, on vacation, or wherever suits you best. Dive into interactive content, videos, and quizzes that prepare you for real buoyancy mastery. Once you’re set, we’ll help you choose the perfect dive center, whether it is close to home or part of your next getaway. Your in water coaching will refine horizontal trim, precise weighting, streamlined configuration, efficient propulsion, and smooth ascents with solid safety stops. You will build dependable control that lowers effort, reduces gas use, and preserves visibility.
Diving Center
It all starts with the right dive center. Your scuba journey begins by choosing your SDI Dive Center. From day one, they’ll guide you through every step — from starting your eLearning to completing your practice sessions and training dives, all under the supervision of a certified SDI Instructor. Once you’ve selected your dive shop, you’ll purchase your eLearning and dive right in. Learn Where It Works Best for You. Pick a dive shop close to home or at your dream vacation spot — wherever you want to begin your underwater adventure, there’s an SDI center ready to welcome you.
Skills you will own after this course!
Streamlined Trim
You’ll learn to maintain a perfectly horizontal posture, lowering drag, effort, and gas use—moving with precision that looks and feels truly pro.
Precise Weighting
You’ll learn to use exactly the weight you need and place it correctly, unlocking easy descents, stable stops, and effortless neutral buoyancy.
Efficient Propulsion
You’ll improve your finning so every kick counts: more forward motion, less vertical bounce. Efficient, quiet movement that conserves energy and gas.
Smart Configuration
You’ll explore BCD options: jacket, back‑inflate, wing, plus drysuits and hose routing to streamline your profile and boost comfort, control, and stability.
Confined Water / Pool Environment? No Problem!
Offseason doesn’t mean off-limits when it comes to improving your diving skills. The SDI Advanced Buoyancy course can be taught entirely in a pool, giving you the perfect opportunity to refine your control, posture, and efficiency in a controlled environment. Without the distractions of open water, you can focus on perfecting techniques that will transform your next dive—ensuring you surface from the offseason more confident, more precise, and ready to glide through the water like never before.
Questions? Let’s dive in!
Who this course is for:
- The certified diver looking to improve and/or fine-tune their buoyancy to prevent damage to the underwater world.
Course prerequisites:
- SDI Open Water Scuba Diver, SDI Junior Open Water Diver, or equivalent
- Minimum age 18, 10 with parental consent
What you can expect to learn:
The SDI Advanced Buoyancy Diver course takes an in-depth look at all of the following and more:
- Why do we care about buoyancy?
- Don’t touch the aquatic life, save the environment
- Less fatigue, less effort required, more fun
- Reduced air consumption = more bottom time
- Able to control buoyancy = better pictures or video
- When must a buoyancy check be performed?
- When equipment is changed
- When diving environment is changed
- Have not been diving for a while
- During every dive
- Buoyancy factors
- Additional equipment; photo, video, extra cylinder, extra equipment, dive lights, etc
- Cylinder weight changes during a dive as air is consumed from the cylinder, dependent on cylinder size
- Using lungs vs. BCD.
- Using BCD vs. dry suit
- Staying physically fit
- Breathing patterns and technique
- Compression of suit due to water pressure
- Weights – position and distribution and what impact that may have
- Streamlining equipment
- Streamlining body (body positions)
- Efficient kicking style
- Practicing your skills
- Weighting
- Swimsuit
- 3mm and 5mm wet suit
- Cold-water suit with hood
- Dry suit
- How to perform a standard buoyancy check; with an almost empty cylinder
Some of the required skills you will have to demonstrate include:
- Assembling of dive equipment
- Pre-dive check
- Perform a pre-dive buoyancy check with almost empty cylinder
- Adjust weight to achieve correct buoyancy
- Change cylinder and use a full cylinder
- Do a pre-dive buoyancy check with full cylinder
- Controlled descent
- Hovering exercises
- Fine-tune with breath control
- Fine-tune with BCD or dry suit
- Close to bottom exercises, no touch
- Swimming exercises
- Ascent that includes a safety stop hovering; simulate safety stop if in pool
- Log dive, noting the amount of weight used
- Change to a full cylinder
- Do a pre-dive buoyancy check with the full cylinder
- Controlled descent
- Hovering exercises
- Fine-tune with breath control
- Fine-tune with BCD or dry suit
- Close to bottom exercises, no touch
- Ascent that includes a safety stop hovering; simulate safety stop if in pool
- Log dive, noting the amount of weight used
What’s in it for you?
Upon successful completion of this course, graduates may engage in diving activities without direct supervision of the SDI Instructor* so long as the following limits are adhered to:
- The diving activities approximate those of training
- The areas of activities approximate those of training
- Environmental conditions approximate those of training
*Note: Junior divers (ages 10-14) must participate in advanced buoyancy diving activities with a parent, guardian, or dive professional.
The SDI Advanced Buoyancy Diver certification counts towards a single specialty rating to achieve the SDI Advanced Diver Development program.
SDI Advanced Buoyancy Diver minimum requirements:
- Complete all open water requirements efficiently
- Demonstrate sound buoyancy techniques
How to take this course.
- Ditch the books – Start eLearning today!
- Find your local SDI Dive Center: here
- Course Cost: $99.00 USD for eLearning only. Pool and open water training not included. Contact your local dive shop for full course cost.
Review the Course Standards and Procedures
Advanced Buoyancy Diver
