Diving in low viz

[herr2720]

I find it eerily relaxing to dive in cold, quiet, murky water. There are times when I will just don my gear, swim out from the shore and drop to 25ft and hover on my favorite submerged dock doing fin pivots for half an hour to clear my head. It's kind of like snowshoeing through the forest in the middle of the night (which I have also been known to do in the winter when it's too cold to dive) quiet and peaceful with only the crunching of snow. I know, I'm weird.

My general rule of thumb is I won't dive if I can't see my fingers when I extend my hand, even if I know the site well. That applies to inland lakes with no real surf/current where I can do blind navigation with only a compass and counting fin kicks. Add surf/current/obstacles/buddy with ADHD and I need a little more.
Our lake viz is frequently poor so there is a lot of navigation line that has been run between the beach entry points and the "sights" which makes it easier to find your way.

 

[lowviz]

I find it eerily relaxing to dive in cold, quiet, murky water. ...//...

A memorable dive was in pea-soup fog off the Sea Lion. Dead calm seas, bizzare midwater, and a wonderful dive on the bottom. Like somebody turned off all the static...

 

[seattlepaul1975]

Noting like a good 2-3ft VIZ day at Alki and a harbor seal buzzes you....That always raises the pucker factor

 

[tkdgodess]

I dont mind the seasonal pea soup, it sharpens skills. I look at it this way, once the vis has cleared of river run off and plankton there will be fish to see, its rather barren in the cold clear of winter. Not so fun for teaching, so we use a nearby fresh water lake.

 

[scubastingray]

I called a dive in kings bay on crystal river when viz was about 3ft. It was kings spring, and I didn't want to end up in an overhead without realizing.

 

[Storker]

I don't mind crappy viz in the surface and can live just fine with 1-2m there. However, I really prefer it to clear up a bit as I descend, and if it's less than 4-5m near the bottom I usually can think of other things to do than diving. Like taking pictures topside, where I can see my subjects...

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[Redshift]

where I can see my subjects...

Didn't know you were royalty!

Diving in bad viz is important as a training exercise to prepare divers for when conditions are not so good and sometimes a necessity to keep in shape, if there isn't better diving available.

 

[FinnMom]

For most of our quarries and the sea 6-8m is good vis. 3-4m is still OK. 1m or less is what you often find on the way up or down (usually down) to something better, typically at sea. But since truly low vis is often all that's available, it's worth knowing that even pea soup typically has 1-2' vis at the bottom, which is your best hope for finding something to look at anyway. it sure beats going home and raking leaves.
Cleaning swimming beaches is excellent low-vis practise as you try to stay in a straight line in vis that occasionally goes to zero. when someone passes nearby it gets so black you can shine the canister night from inches away and see nothing ;-) The cleaning is vastly more by touch than sight.

 

[Searcaigh]

Low vis makes me focus more on some subjects for macro photography (no pun intended), and I dive slower. West coast off UAE can be utterly appalling so I ail drive 2 hours over to the east coast for 3-5M vis. Today I had exceptional vis of 20M at a depth of 48M, absolute clarity but the only wildlife was a large ray and no camera as we were doing drills.

 

[Storker]

Didn't know you were royalty!

Darn! Busted!


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Typos are a feature, not a bug