Panic in Poor Viz

[KerriHMI]

Thanks so much folks, its just a bit of a knock to your confidence when you think that you are usually a pretty calm person!!!

I'll just keep my fingers crossed that the Lough has settled a wee bit before this Sunday!!!

 

[Skeeter1097]

You did good. As time goes on you well see. Have fun and keep diving. Vis comes and goes good judgment gives life. Live and dive.
I don't dive if I have bad vis. If I cant enjoy the dive I am out of there. Looking for a better spot. I am not getting paid to dive so way wast bottom time or money. Plus be safe dive safe..

 

[MikeFerrara]

There is a difference between not liking conditions and panicing.

TSandM mentioned not wanting to dive if she can't see her feet. My wife is that way in OPEN water. She'll walk in up to her waist, look down and if she can't see her feet, shee's out of there. She's been in plenty of bad vis and I've never seen her panic but she wants no part of diving open water if the the over-all vis is really bad. On the other hand, she'll dive a zero vis sidemount cave and snake through holes that I wouldn't go into if you paid me.

After about a million dives together we still joke about it. Our air consumption is about equal except that on deep or low vis open water dives, I do better and on some cave dives she does better.

I think most people have something that gets under their skin at least a little. Within limits, I think taking heed of those things helps keep us alive. I might be nuts but I even think it can add to the enjoyment.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

It also helps to define specifically what it is that bothered about low viz. Mid water descents in low viz can be disconcerting as you lose visial reference with the surface long before you see the bottom - and in most cases it looks like you are dropping into a deep dark abyss. That can be a little spooky.

Knowing the bottom is really there helps, as does a descent line. As TSM stated following the bottom contours down helps a lot and this is the way to go on a low viz shore dive - but is usually not an option offshore where the ascent line and any small floating particles will be the only visual reference. In that case focusing on the diver in front of you, the descent line or particles in the water will help you maintain equilibrium and improve your sense of control over bouyancy, decent rates, etc.

All of the above more or less falls into the fear of the dark/fear what you can't see category. category.

Another category is the fear of what's out there that you can't see and that can be related to changes in your perception of your normal place in the foodchain. Same thing applies in low viz at sahollower depths when you get run over by a boat or ship that you can hear getting closer and closer (louder and louder) but can't see.

Yet another is fear induced by the loss of a sense of scale. Where one diver may feel 3 ft viz is almost claustrophobic, another may sense the vastness that is beyond what they can see or sense and feel very small because of it. Experience helps alleviate all of the above.

The differences in what a diver fears about low viz account for why a cave diver may do things in zero viz and love it while the same diver in open water may be completely uncomfortable in 3 foot viz - in one environment they feel a sense of control and in the other they feel very vunerable even though the viz at certain points may be much better.

I agree with the idea that you need to call the dive if you reach a certain level of discomfort or fear as it just makes sense and is consitent with having healthy survial instincts. But on the other hand it is also important to planfully and incrementally expand your comfort zone. If you don't do that, you end up not diving much in cold/low viz conditions.

 

[KerriHMI]

Having thought about what actually caused me to panic I have decided it was the lack of visual reference points. I knew the descent rope was there because I had my hand on it BUT I couldn't actually see it. I stopped the dive about 4 metres before the bottom but others who continued said that they couldn't see the bottom until their knees where actually on the sand.

All the comments have help me put things in perspective and I'll let you know how I get on this Sunday .... if I decide to get in!!!

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

... but others who continued said that they couldn't see the bottom until their knees where actually on the sand.

Hmmmm ... that IS bad vis ... :11:

For most folks, those are classic conditions for calling a dive and going to the local pub to talk about it.

On the other hand, sometimes it can have advantages. I went crabbing once when the vis was so bad I literally landed on the bottom before seeing it. In fact, I landed on a large dungeness crab, which I promptly fished out from underneath me and placed in my goodie bag ... the poor thing never saw me coming.

It was delicious ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[AbyssalPlains]

Kerri,

I agree with the other posts - take it easy on yourself. If your stats on your profile are up to date, you're not even certified yet! If someone had asked me to dive in a meter of viz when I was new to the sport, I would have told them "Yeah right, buddy, what else do you want me to do???" There would have been no way! I remember one of my training dives in a lake and I almost panicked and had to force myself really bad to descend because I couldn't see the bottom! The viz in that case was actually not bad at all, much more than a meter for sure. In fact, viz that is that limited still freaks me out, over a hundred dives later. But the difference is, now I feel I can trust my skills and I have less of a hard time to stay calm. I dive relatively comfortably in 6 feet of viz, but less than that and I can tell I'm a little apprehensive. You'll get much much more comfortable as you dive more, so there is absolutely no need to stress out now. Heck, I'd say the mere fact that you even did go down in that limited viz at the stage of your career that you are in is damn impressive! Keep it up!

 

[MikeFerrara]

I've never been as lucky as Bob to find any real advantage to rotten vis but I have managed to enjoy some brail dives...they aren't bad, they're just different.

 

[KerriHMI]

Well this time next year i'll be in the Maldives and 1 metre vis will be a distant memory..... until I get back!!!!

 

[TSandM]

Couldn't see the downline with your hand on it? Man, unless I was pretty sure I was in a surface layer that I could break out of further down, that's a recipe for deciding to go out to lunch instead.

We do get surface layers like that in the Sound, and I was in one in LA, too. For ten feet we could see almost NOTHING, and then we broke out into about 30 feet of viz. But those ten feet weren't fun.