We need to Help Instructors with acceptable silting locations :-)

Ok, I need to say this in a nice and constructive manner, because the offending group here was not trying to do anything wrong..and because they are the norm…not the exception, to what we see on many weekends at the BHB Marine Park.
As you watch the video (one minute and 19 second), YouTube - silting-instruction
..... you will see that the instructor and his assistants are watching everyone, and are being very careful to do an exceptionally safe open water class. However, you will also see that no one in the class, instructor(s) included, are concerned even in the slightest about silting.
No, this is not a cave dive. So silting will not kill anybody. But silting shuts down the visibility for 100’s of feet around groups like this, and it can take 10 to 20 minutes after a group has left the area, to fully clear up again. This is NOT FAIR to the other divers in the BHB dive area, as it drastically decreases the quality level of the dive for many other people…In this video, the effects of this group were being distributed to about 60 other divers in the water at that time. And, as they went on a tour of the best photographic target areas, they took this large swath of visibility destruction with them over a large chunk of the BHB area.
I have other video of the same dive ( far away from the class) , with vis of about 35 feet, or 4 times better, than the vis right by the class, or downcurrent of them.

The BHB area is for ALL Divers, not just for brand new students….
Is the silting behavior illegal? Of course not. Should this behavior, which is seen frequently at BHB, be ignored? Should the instructors remain unaware that they are causing a massive visibility problem for everyone else at the marine park…and should they CARE?
Have we done ANYTHING AT ALL to help instructors like in the video, to know WHERE they can do kneeling drills or have students heavy, without ruining the diving in the rest of the park??? If we don't use signs or have some way for out of town groups to learn the good places for this, how can we expect silting behaviors to ever change? So really, it is OUR fault that we have all these classes silting each weekend, as we have done nothing to help them find the optimal places for their early "sand drills"
I think most divers try to be polite to other divers, and so no one wanted to swim up during the class, or walk up afterward, to the instructor or group, and say anything. It would be embarrassing at the very least. I wanted to say something, but could not think of a way to do it without putting the instructor on the spot, and making him feel bad---and this would not be my intention. Like I said, he acted like a very conscientious instructor from what I saw on the dive, and I did NOT want to offend him, or lessen the first dive experience for his students.
Maybe we need to put up signs at the beach where divers get into the water, and maybe a few underwater signs in areas that are particularly sensitive ( Nudi-World; the bridge pass through, etc.)..
Does anybody have suggestions? How many instructors believe it is essential to have students kneeling in the sand bottom at the inception of a class like this?
We DO have an area BETTER for kneeling drills....Would it be reasonable to request (with signs) that the kneeling and silting take place at the far eastern side of the BHB park, where the current will actually sweep the silt straight under the eastern span of the bridge, and avoid ruining the dive experience for the remaining 98% of the marine park area?

ps.
If the instructor of this class sees this, please do not take offense--only a few of us locals would even know of the better places for the early drills. Since this video really does help us to get our thinking straight on this issue ( we really need solutions for all dive classes here) , I would say this entitles you to a free dive on a palm beach charter boat, at my expense, as a thankyou gesture for the video opportunity. Just pm me.... and convince me you are the guy in the video

Don't do skills on knees. Simple. If they have to do skills kneeling why are they even out of the pool?

Dan -- thanks for bringing this up -- and, unfortunately, I don't have a very good answer. I know that even when an instructor is diligent about NOT having students "On their knees" once they get into Open Water, stuff (and silt) happens. (Note -- just had 4 students who were all good about staying off the bottom of the pool and ALL hit the bottom and silted up now and then in OW.)

BUT, you are absolutely right about classes mucking up the viz for non-class divers. It was quite noticeable at our local mud hole on Saturday. I wish there was a better answer -- although not deliberately silting out would be a start!

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Dan -- thanks for the video -- but, a plea -- ditch the free diving fins when you video -- they seem to make for a very jerky motion every time you kick due to their power

I agree as well but also don't have a remedy. Platforms are a help but these divers are silting as a result of the dive and not some exercise. You also got a depth problem here. Not much room between the surface and the bottom. I suspect we all sucked in the beginning and other more experienced divers were peeved at us as well. This is a BIG problem at Balmorhea in west Texas on any given weekend. The only blessing there is that there is so much water flowing into the system that the silt clears rather quickly. I feel your pain!

Dan -
Do you know where most of the classes are coming from? Are they affiliated with the local dive shops? I doubt they're bringing students from too far away. So perhaps a start is some sort of xeroxed one-sheet of "BHB Etiquette" that could be passed out at the local shops? The sheet could be given to all instructors as well as anyone stopping in to inquire about diving at the bridge.

The awareness problem goes beyond just the silting. On my birthday dive back in January, the Video Dude and I came upon a search & rescue class. They had things so mucked up we didn't even see them until we were almost in their midst. We stopped and politely hovered while they stretched a line across our path. As the instructor swam by he flipped me off. On my birthday!!!! :crying2:

Another time we were swimming along doing our own thing and an instructor chased after us. The class had things pretty churned up and he grabbed my arm like I was a wayward student. I gave him my best "Let go of me, you crazy person" look and he swam away. I guess the big VIDEO CAMERA the Video Dude carries didn't tip him off.

Bottom line there are a lot of "sharing" issues as the site becomes more popular.

Thanks for bringing up this important / delicate topic.

jet

There are local classes (I did my confined water there) and also classes from other parts of the state (last time we dove there, there was a class from Orlando.

Dan,

I could not have said it better. Every diver has the occasional bottom bump, which usually results in just a tiny amount of silt that settles out quickly. The BHB, however, seems mobbed with people who kick and kick and kick the bottom creating vast clouds of silt. Even worse are the people doing training exercises on the actual bottom. I am a relative bridge newbie, having only discovered this site in November, but the kickers/bottom sitters destroy and disrupt weedy areas that are home to amazing rarities such as the seahorses and frogfish, both of which I had the pleasure of first seeing this weekend!

I wish I could say the students are the culprits. Back in Feb, however, I saw a diver with an amazing photo rig--full size SLR housing and 2 of the new Ikelite 161's. This diver actually plunked himself belly-down into the weeds and laid his camera on the ground, and shuffled it back and forth (I guess to achieve focus on whatever he was after). This not only destroyed the vis, it actually destroyed the area.

However, your point is very valid. There are really good sandy areas towards the east (east of the wreck/shopping carts) that would be good for training dives, whether basic OW, navigation, Search and Rescue, etc. Those folks are there for a reason and not looking for the incredible rarities at the site. They should be directed to the "clean" areas away from the bridge pilings, the weed areas, the wreck/carts, etc.

Why, oh why, is peak performance bouyance NOT part of PADI standard training???

Good Luck, BHB keeps getting more and more popular as a dive site, especially when the seas are up. Maybe the calm seas of summer will take some of the pressure off the area.

Peter Guy:

Dan -- thanks for bringing this up -- and, unfortunately, I don't have a very good answer. I know that even when an instructor is diligent about NOT having students "On their knees" once they get into Open Water, stuff (and silt) happens. (Note -- just had 4 students who were all good about staying off the bottom of the pool and ALL hit the bottom and silted up now and then in OW.)

BUT, you are absolutely right about classes mucking up the viz for non-class divers. It was quite noticeable at our local mud hole on Saturday. I wish there was a better answer -- although not deliberately silting out would be a start!

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Dan -- thanks for the video -- but, a plea -- ditch the free diving fins when you video -- they seem to make for a very jerky motion every time you kick due to their power

Click to expand...

This was even worse than normal because I was freedivng.... Not what I would do if I was "planning" on getting some good footage. This class was just so good at illustrating the issue many of us are concerned about, I decided to use the jerky freedive shot footage... Sorry if it makes any of you seasick..... Sorry Jax

double post.