Lately I've gotten a few questions from friends of mine who want to learn to swim better. I'm happy to help them - especially knowing that I only tweaked my stroke into decent shape in the last few years.

If you don't know how to swim at all, seek out some classes. They'll get you in the water and make sure you don't drown in the process.

If you're more like my friends, who haven't swam much since they were kids, then I've got a suggestion for you. Go take a look at Total Immersion by Terry Laughlin and John Delves. It's full of simple ways to improve your swimming. I found it very useful to read though it a bit, then head down the pool and focus on a particular aspect of my swimming for the session.

There were two concepts that really helped me. The first was called 'press your buoy'. This translates to keeping your chest under the water. Once you do, you'll find that the rest of your body floats much better. Staying on top of the water takes less effort, translating to more efficient forward motion. The second was swapping your hands. By always keeping a hand in front of you, your body is longer in the water. Longer objects travel through water with less resistance, again resulting in more efficient swimming.

I'm a firm believer that SCUBA divers should have decent swimming skills. If yours are a little rusty, the book is a great way to tune up.

SCUBA Theory is following the wet sessions of a unique, semester(three month) long university level Advanced Open Water SCUBA class. Last week we got the fins out. Today we're getting into basic skin diving and SCUBA skills with surface dives and water entry techniques. Most open water courses don't teach all of these entries, so it's a good series to read up on if you are already certified.

SCUBA Theory is following the wet sessions of a unique, semester(three month) long university level Advanced Open Water SCUBA class. Last time we hit the snorkels, today we're moving on to fins. We cover the basic kicks and then start bringing things together under the water.

SCUBA Theory is following the wet sessions of a unique, semester(three month) long university level Advanced Open Water SCUBA class. In our first session, we covered mask clearing. You might know just how much I love my snorkel. Today I'll cover the basics of snorkel clearing and we'll even start training for buddy breathing in today's SCUBA Theory.

School's starting up, and so is the Advanced Open Water class that I work with. This semester, I'm going to follow the wet sessions with my SCUBA Theory entries. The class goes far beyond what a regular dive shop can offer so even if you're certifed, you might want to check it out. Today in SCUBA Theory: neutral weighting and mask clearing

Have you ever been choked a bit by some stray water in your snorkel or a leaky regulator? Today I'm back with another trick to keep you more comfortable in and under the water. You can practice this one in the bath tub, shower, pool, whatever. Check out today's SCUBA Theory!

"Don't hold your breath" is a mantra heard in virtually every scuba diving course every taught. You can easily damage your body during ascention by holding your breath during SCUBA diving. The expansion of the air can quickly cause damage regions with very few nerve endings to tell you that you're doing bad things to yourself. Today in SCUBA Theory, why breath holding is a valuable skill to practice.

Sport divers are instructed on the use of open circuit SCUBA. Rebreathers are a bit of an enigma. Commercial units are expensive, complicated and get pretty weird looks on the diving boat. Surprisingly, rebreathers have been around for longer than modern open circuit SCUBA diving. Today in SCUBA Theory, we're covering basic rebreather theory.

How do you donate air? There's more than one way to do it. That random dive buddy you ended up with at the boat dock might do something unexpected in an out of air situation. SCUBA Theory is back again. Today, it's all about sharing air.

How do you share?

Divers naturally share air the way they were trained to. Training methods vary between shops, instructors and organizations. Being caught off guard because someone had different training can have serious consequences. Even if you only dive with specifically trained buddies, you may be called upon to assist or even rely upon someone else who isn't.

We're beginning a series on SCUBA diving theory. Not only will we explore techniques and best practices in safety, we'll talk about the reasons behind them. Bad puns will abound as we dive into everything from using and maintaining your gear to compartmental decompression theory. Today, snorkels: they aren't evil.

Do you carry a snorkel on your dives?

I've met several divers lately who leave the snorkel at home when they go SCUBA diving. The snorkel has become percieved as dead weight that tugs at the mask strap. Today I'll talk about the importance of strapping that tube to your head.