Is wearing bright, visible colors underwater useful?

[diversteve]

Interested in hearing opinions about one of the OP's other points. IIRC, most threads about shiny (metallic) jewelery (or dive gear) are concerned about barracuda 'attacks'.

I've heard this before, but never one story of "it happened to me". I think it is an urban myth.

It happened to me...

40' off Seal Dog Rock in the BVI's - bright sunny conditions. I'm filming when I spot a barracuda about 50' away. I turn my head, turn back and he's now hovering about 3' away.

Something attracted him - a d-ring, reflection off my lens port - or maybe the thousands of baitfish I was immersed in....

So I stuck my camera in his face and he moved off to the other side of the swarm and had lunch - scales everywhere.

One of my group saw the whole thing - said it looked to him like the cuda' veered off towards me for some reason.

A DM in Cayman told us that he used to use a shiny wrench as a tank banger. Till one dive something took it cleanly out of his hand. He never saw what it was.

 

[cocoajoe]

Curious that losing colors (other than red) hadn't been brought up. Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet...Roy G Biv was the acronym to remember the colors of the spectrum I learned in school. Aren't the the colors you lose in order as you descend? Or am I wrong?

 

[seaducer]

It happened to me...

40' off Seal Dog Rock in the BVI's - bright sunny conditions. I'm filming when I spot a barracuda about 50' away. I turn my head, turn back and he's now hovering about 3' away.

Something attracted him - a d-ring, reflection off my lens port - or maybe the thousands of baitfish I was immersed in....

It happened to me too I think. I did some diving and a fair amount of snorkling when I was at Gitmo. A few times I forgot to remove my dog tags, until I found myself face to face with a cuda. Luckily for me he didn't bite, I took em off and never forgot after that.

Curious that losing colors (other than red) hadn't been brought up. Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet...Roy G Biv was the acronym to remember the colors of the spectrum I learned in school. Aren't the the colors you lose in order as you descend? Or am I wrong?

Id be more concerned with them fading and causing you to replace your suit early.

When I was a kid I had a red wetsuit I surfed in, but after a couple seasons it faded to pink...caused a couple of fights

 

[Pseudocyber]

Trust me, playing ninja underwater gets old real quick.

I got my first suit, a Pinnacle, in black and gray, with matching hood, gloves, boots. Thought the "colors" were "cool". Went night diving with my wife, and trying to communicate with her at night, in the dark, as a NewB, with black gloves on ... she let me know how not cool I was. :cussing:

Thinking hard about the white scubapro fins now.

 

[Rhone Man]

It happened to me...

40' off Seal Dog Rock in the BVI's - bright sunny conditions. I'm filming when I spot a barracuda about 50' away. I turn my head, turn back and he's now hovering about 3' away.

Something attracted him - a d-ring, reflection off my lens port - or maybe the thousands of baitfish I was immersed in....

It happened to me too I think. I did some diving and a fair amount of snorkling when I was at Gitmo. A few times I forgot to remove my dog tags, until I found myself face to face with a cuda. Luckily for me he didn't bite, I took em off and never forgot after that.

When I was a kid we regularly used to flash our knives or watches into the eyes of barracudas and make them "charge" us whilst diving or snorkeling. You just put the watch/knife behind your back and they break off their attack run. Kids being kids, it of course evolved into a bit of a game of chicken...

Ah... the good old days.

 

[DivemasterDennis]

Over the years I have some to wear less and less color, as the quality of gear I buy has increased. I do wear bright fins and a bright yellow tank when teachin or leading students in low vis situations. I find that a useful time for bright color. In our new book ( out later this month, "The Scuba Snobs' Guide to Diving Etiquette" (very funny) we have a chapter on dress code, and while we are ninja black people, we endorse any colorful combination you choose. I am unaware of colo attracting sharks, and I have spent some time with them. Avoiding shiny jewelry is a good idea- but more for barracuda than sharks in my experience.
DivemasterDennis

 

[Kryssa]

I have blue fins and my husband has (yum yum) yellow fins... easy to identify each other. I'd recommend you get something bright- hood, tank, fins, gloves, so your friends can identify you

I totally lol'd at the thought of trying to find my buddy our of a line up of DIR divers... that'd be tough

 

[scubadada]

I have all black dive wear with the exception of fluorescent lime green fins. This is the best way for anyone in my family, or anyone at all, to identify me in the water. I've never had any problems with my fin choice.

Best, Craig

 

[aquaregia]

I've found that yellow tooldip on the tips of my gloves really help with signaling.

 

[Petert71]

It's a little off topic, but is there a reason why most equipment is black and makes us look like seals? Other than that black tends to be a natural colour for rubber products.

I have a green tank light (even in daytime) which makes me easily identifiable.