Exploring Unknown, Un-Dived Potential Dive Sites?

[lobbolt]

Hello ScubaBoard,


I made my return to SCUBA after a 5 year surface interval :blush: and just returned from a short dive trip here on my home island of Taiwan, to the southernmost point of the island. Very fortunate that I have a close friend who I was trained and certified with 8 years ago, we are also dive buddies when possible; and we're both experienced divers with approx. 100 logged dives in a variety of conditions.


My first question is this:


How are new dive sites first "explored" and become known to other divers (and other people in general), knowing nothing about the site's underwater features, hazards, etc.?

This is a potential project that came to mind, exploring unknown dive sites in the waters around Taiwan and publishing the findings.

During this trip, diving through boat dive tours by dive ops lost seems to be no more than an organized underwater safari; instead of African grasslands, taking place underwater instead.

Thanks for your thoughts!

 

[TSandM]

Well, the first step is to get hold of some very good, detailed charts of the area that you're interested in. At least where we are, such charts are prepared and marketed for fishermen. Look for interesting topography -- walls and pinnacles are often good places to investigate.

Find out what you can about currents and water conditions in the area. Again, boaters and fishermen are excellent resources. A place may not have been dived because water conditions make it unsafe.

Marshal your resources. When my husband and I have dived unknown sites, for example, we take our scooters as insurance against running into unpredictable water movement. You would definitely want some kind of deployable surface marker, and the skill to use it, in case you find yourself getting blown away from the boat, or blown into a high boat traffic area. I would rarely dive ANY site from an unattended boat, but never an unknown site. And it's best to have someone on shore, too, for exploration dives, who knows what your project dive time is and when to have somebody start looking for you.

This all sounds daunting, but exploring new places can be a great deal of fun. You don't always find that they're someplace you'd make the effort to get back to, but there's still the excitement of not knowing.

 

[DivemasterDennis]

I like what TSandM had to say ( minus the scooters). I have had the opportunity to do this in Hawaii, and in addition to the pre-dive information gathering that is THE essential step in preparing to scout new locations, we use multiple dive teams. At least two teams in the water, excellent divers all, with surface support and emergency preparedness and response ability right at hand. We take the new site in small bites, with shorter dive times and conservative profiles, and branch out from there . We are looking for sites to take paying customers to, and so we also gauge the site as to appropriate experience level (beginner, experienced, expert). As conditions at a site can vary depending on time of day as well as time of year, we make lots of notes on those things for varying times of day and seasons. When Debbie and I go diving on our own, we tend to stick to known sites that while new to us, are not "new sites" as such. But for unexplored territory, I get involved only in the formal setting I describe above. By the way, that diving, and the entire process, is outstanding!
DivemasterDennis

 

[divin'dog]

I love going into unknown sites! In addition to the above replies, having a good buddy is important if not a given. Someone who thinks like you as far as safety is concerned. Also, take it slowly (small bites as above) and evaluate your situation constantly with your buddy. What do you see? What does he see? I once dove a target ship that was recommended by a local dive shop... Ha! Turns out it was forbidden to dive it because of live ordinance! Also lots of sharp metal jutting out. We were careful and both of us were on the same page as to what we were going to explore and what we stayed away from. We stayed together and communicated the whole time looking out for each other, realizing it was not a diver friendly site. We dove the plan but had to make some decisions while down there that we had not planned on. There was also one wicked current going out with the tide at the end of the dive (none of this "stuff" was briefed to us when we asked where a good dive site is for lobstering, so evaluate your predive info with care). Diving with someone who you can count on and is intuitively in sync with you for every part of the dive is a real blessing when exploring unknown sites.

 

[Rich Keller]

I do a lot of new site exploring as far as shallow water kayak diving goes. I use NOAA charts on line, Google Earth and online info to prep for new sites. I was researching sites one morning with Google Earth on the desk top, NOAA on the laptop and referencing online sites on the ipad. My wife walked in and wanted to know if I was trying to hack into something and launch a missile.

 

[GrimSleeper]

As TSandM said, surface cover is important, as are carrying a DSMB and making sure you have some idea of likely water movements. Beyond that, I generally just flop off the boat and have a look around... Sometimes it's an amazing site, sometimes it's good but no better than other places you already dive, sometimes it's meh. But it's always somewhere nobody's ever been before on scuba, at least here in the Solomons...

 

[g2]

Hi Lobbolt!

Exploring new sites is my favorite thing! Who knows what you'll find?

As you know, it can also be dicey depending on where you are. 100 logged dives may seem like a lot, but when you hit new conditions... everything changes. IMO, there is no substitute for knowing the local conditions.

I suggest diving most everything "known" in the area, with someone who knows the area, until you know it too. Then branch out into the great unknown. Not as many unpleasant or dangerous surprises that way.

 

[DevonDiver]

I try and do several exploratory dives per month - it keeps things fresh and alive for me. Otherwise, I'd just be diving the same sites (as a job) over and over again.

In the last week, I've dived 3 new sites here in Subic. 2 of them were 'potential' wrecks.... but weren't. Spent the whole dive/s conducting search patterns with reel and/or DPV at ~30m, looking for a second WWII Landing Ship Tank that we know is around the Bay somewhere... So far, just silt and rocks...

The third exploratory dive was a shore dive... hit paydirt with the discovery of Subic's first world-class 'muck' dive. A large seahorse colony, several hairy frogfish, dozens of pipefish of different species, dozens of nudibranch species, octopus everywhere, several moray eels, lots of decorator and hairy-spider crabs.

For the wrecks - we use a combination of local knowledge, gps and a fish-finder. It's hit and miss... a lot of misses in order to get a rare hit. Those dives are treated as technical, allowing for extended bottom-times and a higher measure of safety, even though depths fall within recreational ranges.

Many of the hazards can be ascertained before-hand - utilize local knowledge, especially fishermen and local residents to determine currents etc. Check out the NOAA Charts website - you can identify bottom topography from the mapping products there. Not sure about Taiwan, but the Philippines is extensively covered and the charts are free to view/download. Also, check out Google Earth (Oceans)... there can be some interest data/images there for pre-inspection.

Once, 'on-the-spot' you can gauge currents etc from the boat. Go 'olde school' and trail a knotted float/line from the boat... and drop a light 'shot-line' down to the bottom. Use a fish-finder to accurately determine bottom topography. If money is available and you're serious in the exploration, get a cheap side-scan unit... these are now priced under $5000... and can run via USB to a laptop on the boat. Sidescan will give you an accurate 'dive map' before you splash in.

For our non-wreck exploration - it's just pot-luck... sacrificing a dive on a 'known' site in favor of dropping in somewhere new. These are much shallower,typically on, or near, the shoreline... either the beaches around Subic or the semi-mangrove areas where primary jungle fringes the water. Very shallow sites, little-no current... typically with a silty bottom. There's few hazards (having confirmed zero salt-water crocs in the area).

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

I've done a lot of this in Northern California.
We did an expedition to an underwater trench know as the Delgada Canyon up in the northern part of the state in lattitude 40 once.
That was quite an adventure, and as far as we knew nobody had ever dove that spot before.
When I had my boat, my dedicated buddy and I dove some pretty off the wall places like right below the lighthouse at Point Reyes, CA and many other offshore pinnacles up and down the coast.
I have them all marked with detailed notes.
One thing we did for the first several dives was run a cave line from the anchor chain so we were sure to always return the the line since some of these places involved current and were pretty far off shore. For the really advanced spots we took another buddy team so somebody was always in the boat. We would alternate teams.
Much of the interest in these spots was sparked by typographical charts. Sometimes things that looked impressive on the chart turned out to nothing and sometimes something that looked mediocre on a chart was a gem.
Sometimes there would be something on a chart like a wreck and we could never find it.
Old charts were pretty rough.

Some of the prettiest stuff we found was merely by accident.

 

[supergaijin]

We spent last month exploring some dive sites in Laamu Atoll, Maldives. Many of the dive sites would have been visited before by safari boats- especially the channel dives. The inner atoll is mostly new.

In general the conditions in the Maldives do not change massively. Inner reefs are fairly consistent but the channel entrances must be approached with some caution. When I worked at Rangali, there was an entrance close to the resort which got extremely unpredictable with medium to strong currents. Even after a couple of years, it would take you by surprise.

A compass, slates and camera/video is really helpful for reviewing and trying to map sites.