Diving at a reef wall with no bottom in sight

[buleetu]

hi all

im just wondering if it could be any more risky to dive by a reef wall with no bottom below

i have read about someone who got vertigo while diving at a wall, and the reason it happened was his brain was confused by the way the wall drops off below making him think he was up on a building or something

i have snorkled over some amazing dropoffs but havent had the chance to dive one yet,

what do u think??

 

[Doc Harry]

If there is no current, then there is no increased risk to diving a wall.

If there is a current (e.g., Coz) then there are risks of strong down currents.

I can see how a wall could cause a little vertigo, especially staring down. That would be a personal risk, though, if you are prone to fear of heights and vertigo. Just stare straight ahead and re-orient yourself.

There is almost nothing cooler than peering down a vertical wall into the deep abyss. It never fails to amaze me, realizing that the water is over 3,000 feet deep below me.

Once we dropped a rock over the edge, and joked at dinner that the rock was probably STILL falling....

 

[buleetu]

yes it is really cool, i was just thinking about it earlyer then,

i remember the first time i stuck my face in the water with my mask on at the blue hole in egypt and saw no bottom below me, i had been only snorkling on a beach up until then and i was really shocked when i seen it for the first time, i havent had a chance to dive on an area like that yet and i was just thinking would i get the same scary feeling ye know??

 

[Gary D.]

You want to make your body parts tingle try diving Challenger Deep. Quite a thrill.

Gary D.

 

[Boxcar Overkill]

The biggest danger is for new divers who are overweighted and not paying attention - jacking with their gear or the like. When they finally look up, the notice that there's no one around them and their ears are starting to hurt from their rapid descent.

As pointed out by Mike Ferrara, that's the problem with people who are over weight, but swim head up, (instead of horizontally in trim), to keep their depth. When they stop to fix their gear, they sink.

The next problem is getting to close to the wall and getting pushed into it.

I've never experienced vertigo by a wall, maybe because the visibility is rarely over 30 meters. So there's not enough distance before you it goes black. It's generally pretty safe, until you pop up over the wall and find a swift current.

 

[dsstandiford]

Bloody Bay wall in Little Cayman is heaven on earth.

 

[don Francisco]

There is the risk of down currents, but other than that there's no appreciable additional risk with decent bouyancy control. Since you're on a wall, you use the wall itself for orientation, so there's little or no problems with vertigo.

Your question reminds me of one of those "moments" on one of my dives. I was diving with a new buddy on a dive where you swin through a descending tunnel which lets out on the face of a wall at 100 feet, with no visible bottom. As we exited into space I noticed my buddy showing some distress, which looked kind of like when a cartoon chatacter runs over the edge of a cliff, and tries to run back before he starts to drop. When we got to the surface I asked him what happened. He told me he's scared of heights and was starting to panic, but then realized he could fly! dF

 

[Scubasteve1982]

I agree with all of the above. I've found you really need to watch your depth on steep walls. Before you know it your at 125' and a little narced. Wall dives are amazing! Once off a wall around Bimini we saw 3 huge tuna swim by. It was amazing. I had a camera but was so amazed by the size of the tuna I didn't even think to take a picture!

 

[buleetu]

Your question reminds me of one of those "moments" on one of my dives. I was diving with a new buddy on a dive where you swin through a descending tunnel which lets out on the face of a wall at 100 feet, with no visible bottom. As we exited into space I noticed my buddy showing some distress, which looked kind of like when a cartoon chatacter runs over the edge of a cliff, and tries to run back before he starts to drop. When we got to the surface I asked him what happened. He told me he's scared of heights and was starting to panic, but then realized he could fly! dF

my gf and i had a good laugh at this one hahah,

id say it would be really scary to look up and find no one there after messing around with my gear or something, it could happen so quickly i suppose,

is it best to stay away from the wall to avoid any down current that could bring u down???

 

[drl]

I don't know that I'd call it especially risky, but you do have to pay close attention to your buoyancy control and depth. With no bottom for reference it's easy to go deeper than you intended.
That said, diving "bottomless" walls is one of the most amazing experiences in diving. It really does feel like flying, especially the drift wall dives in Coz.