SAND KICKERS

For a short while at one of our local sites you could find a juvenile crested velvet fish in no more than 5m of water. Unfortunately for the fish it had chosen a spot that is very popular with instructors conducting the confined sessions of diving courses, and the main entry point for the dive site. Consequently the fish was often covered in a sandstorm from people who had yet to master basic buoyancy or were applying the wrong fin kick for the conditions, so, seemingly, decided to move to a less busy area.

 WHY FLUTTER LIKE A BUTTERFLY ...
 Most newly qualified divers are taught the Flutter Kick when they start diving. It’s easy to understand why; the Flutter Kick is just like free style or forward crawl in swimming but without the arm movements (although some divers take a while to understand this), and the most common style in swimming. It’s easy for us landlubbers to transpose the skill from swimming to diving. And that is all well and good. However, there are two inherent disadvantages to the Flutter Kick: i) With the flutter kick you don’t just propel water behind you, but above and below as well. This is a waste of your energy & air, contributes nothing to forward motion and the downward displacement of water can cause damage to flora and fauna as well as stir up silt and severely reduced visibility. ii) The other inherent problem with the Flutter Kick is it dramatically increases your profile in the water, making it harder for a diver to move through the water than it should ideally be, as well as causing the diver to rock from side-to-side. ... 
WHEN YOU CAN KICK LIKE A FROG?
A better style of fin kick is the Frog Kick. The Frog Kick is, again, based on a similar technique in swimming, the breaststroke (but again without the arm movements). It is not complicated, it just requires a little time and practice. The Frog Kick has several benefits: i) It’s a more efficient form of propulsion as the majority of the water is propelled behind the diver - not above and below. ii) It’s a more balanced form of kicking as it does not rock the diver from side to side, and is therefore more comfortable. iii) When performed correctly, the Frog Kick places less stress on a diver’s legs and joints. iv) As the water is not propelled down, you are less likely to stir up the bottom, which is great for all dives but essential for sites that have silty floors such as caverns and wrecks, and that is really good for all those underwater critters that like a calm place to call home.