Has anybody ever done this?

[dmoore19]

I did it on my last dive trip, several dives. It was usually right underneath the boat and my buddy was close by doing almost the same thing. It is truly amazing when after 2 or 3 minutes the tube worms and all the actors seem to show up out of nowhere. The divemaster made the comment that they knew where to find me. I On one dive the group went on their tour of the reef and my buddy and I stayed behind. After the dive a couple of the other divevers from the group asked "what happened to you"? that is when the dive master said they knew where to find me.

 

[Tigerman]

Well, reading all these accounts has made me even more interested in giving this a try, and the thread has even brought me a buddy interested in doing it with me!

It was pretty random that we did it, we just got caught up by a longnosed hawkfish on a fan and apparently the rest of the people got bored and left us - so we snailed our way to the pinacle and hung out there till they came back (we knew theid have to turn around and come back due to the current changing around the headland). Best dive we did all 21-dive week

---------- Post added September 25th, 2013 at 05:00 AM ----------

I did it on my last dive trip, several dives. It was usually right underneath the boat and my buddy was close by doing almost the same thing. It is truly amazing when after 2 or 3 minutes the tube worms and all the actors seem to show up out of nowhere. The divemaster made the comment that they knew where to find me. I On one dive the group went on their tour of the reef and my buddy and I stayed behind. After the dive a couple of the other divevers from the group asked "what happened to you"? that is when the dive master said they knew where to find me.

"What happened to me? I saw all the critters you missed cause you raced around to see as much reef as possible"

On the dive I found this little thing, how many do you think saw it?

Yep, me and my buddy and nobody else

 

[mtngoat2674]

The only reasons I haven't done it is that sitting still gets cold awfully fast, and I don't think I could find a dive buddy who'd be willing to do it with me.

I'm always game for sitting and watching the critters!!

 

[thefeve]

Well, reading all these accounts has made me even more interested in giving this a try, and the thread has even brought me a buddy interested in doing it with me!

Fwiw I would be as well! I live nearby in muk I should do this at the geodome sometime.... Only so much to "tour" at muk, but it's 5 min from my house so it's where 95% of my dives are

 

[SeaHawk12]

I love doing this! On shallow dives i'll typically swim about for 20 minutes, find a spot I link, and then sit there until I have to head back to the great air supply in the sky. Most things spot noticing the bubbles fairly quickly, and soon you're observing all sorts of interesting fish and invertebrate behaviors which you'd typically be totally oblivious to!

I do have to say, Jawfish were the one exception to the "getting used to the bubbles rule". I watch a colony of yellow headed jawfish for ~15 min, and they would come out of their burrows every inhale, and dart back in on every exhale.

 

[TSandM]

thefeve, we're talking about doing this at Alki, just because there are the rock piles full of gunnels (and sometimes grunt sculpins and other stuff). There is the small rock pile at Mukilteo, which might reward the same kind of relaxed scrutiny.

 

[supergaijin]

I do it whenever other divers can tolerate it and do it often when I'm alone- especially near cleaning stations. It's a great way to see the reef as an ecosystem and fish tolerate your presence better near or on a cleaning station. They're great for photography. Problem is that most divers simply refuse to wait more than a couple of minutes before starting to fidget which defeats the purpose. For many reef sharks which patrol a section of the reef during the day, it's great as they start coming in very close after 20mins or so.

I'll always remember a solo dive on Ali Thila (Ari Atoll, Maldives) where I decided to sit on some sand at about 100' and just see what happened, lowering my breathing and sitting as still as possible for as long as my Nitrox would allow me. After maybe 15-20mins I had a whitetip reef shark resting about 3' on my left and a solid grouper on my right, schooling barracuda over my head and grey reef sharks patrolling on the peripheries.

 

[DeputyDan]

My buddy and I do this mostly at night. Find a good spot and turn off your light. After your eyes adjust its amazing what you can see.

Works well until other divers come across you and think that you are a dead body!
Scared the you know what out of them!

 

[TMHeimer]

I often wonder if someone saw me hovering motionless for practise would think I'm dead. I don't stay in one place--can't collect shells that way.

 

[ladyfishdvr]

I often wonder if someone saw me hovering motionless for practise would think I'm dead. I don't stay in one place--can't collect shells that way.

If you were dead there would be no bubbles.