What Is the Avelo Diving System?
We're now an official Avelo Dive Center, which means you can try one of the biggest changes to hit recreational scuba gear in years right here at Allusion Diving.
If you haven't heard of Avelo yet, here's the rundown.
The Problem Avelo Is Solving
Traditional scuba gear uses air to control buoyancy. You add air to your BCD to float, dump air to sink, and adjust constantly as you change depth, because air compresses and expands as pressure changes. That's why new divers spend their first few dives bobbing up and down instead of looking at the reef.
Even experienced divers are managing this the whole time. It just becomes second nature, so you stop noticing how much attention it actually takes.
How Avelo Works
Avelo swaps air for water. Instead of a tank, BCD, and weight belt, you wear two pieces: a Hydrotank and a Jetpack.
The Hydrotank holds your breathing gas the same way a normal tank does, but it also has a water chamber built in. Add water and you get heavier. Purge water and you get lighter. Because water doesn't compress or expand with depth the way air does, your buoyancy stays put once you set it. No constant fiddling on the way down or up.
The Jetpack is the backplate and harness that holds everything together. It has a small battery-powered pump that moves water in and out of the Hydrotank, plus a manual purge valve that works even if the battery ever dies or the pump fails.
To be clear, Avelo doesn't dive for you. You're still the one deciding when to add or purge water. It just makes the response to that decision steadier and more predictable than air-based buoyancy ever was.
What It Actually Feels Like
Divers who've tried it describe it less as a gadget and more as a feeling of not having to think about their gear anymore. Less kicking to hold position. Less lead. Less mental bandwidth spent on buoyancy, which means more of it left over for the parts of the dive you're actually there for.
That's true whether you're brand new to diving or you've got hundreds of logged dives. New divers get to skip a lot of the early struggle. Experienced divers notice how much they were compensating for without realizing it.
Who Avelo Is For
Anyone, honestly. You don't need an existing scuba certification to start on Avelo. There's a path for brand-new divers, a path for already-certified divers who want to try the system, and a path for instructors and dive professionals who want to teach it.
One thing to know: diving the Avelo system requires its own certification, separate from a standard open water card. It's not a huge lift, but it is required before you get in the water with the gear.
Ready to Try It?
We can walk you through the Hydrotank and Jetpack in person, show you what training looks like, and get you scheduled. Check out the equipment specifics and our Avelo training courses, or just reach out and we'll point you in the right direction.
