Unusual Dive Request ???

[Ondeen]

I love to observe animal behavior. I think I'd like to do a dive where I would stay at one spot for several minutes, probably longer. Of course, I'd want to be located in a spot where a fair amount of activity was likely. I'd like to observe how the critters behave when there isn't a lot of dive activity going on. It's sort of a "let the reef come to me" kind of mentality. I'm not nuts, just curious. Have any of you done this and, if so, was the result interesting to you?

 

[alcina]

this is how I dive almost every dive! It is a rare dive that I move more than 10-15m

 

[Bob3]

I've got a favorite "secret spot" where I'll just park my butt on the bottom & watch the show. The area is crawling with nurse sharks, jewfish & all sorts of other critters. Schools of lookdowns & jacks go steaming past, usually with black tips chowing down the stragglers.
All this some 15 miles off shore, in an otherwise unremarkable area.

 

[scottfiji]

I love to observe animal behavior. I think I'd like to do a dive where I would stay at one spot for several minutes, probably longer. Of course, I'd want to be located in a spot where a fair amount of activity was likely. I'd like to observe how the critters behave when there isn't a lot of dive activity going on. It's sort of a "let the reef come to me" kind of mentality. I'm not nuts, just curious. Have any of you done this and, if so, was the result interesting to you?

That's how I normally dive. Yes, its very interesting. I usually see much more than when I cruise around, scaring everything away.

Scott

 

[OE2X]

Uncle Pug will break out his magnifying glass and stare at the smallest of things. If he didn't move the glass I would swear he was asleep.

 

[Donnie]

I have done that in some of the rivers here in Oregon. (Usually in a Salmon & Steelhead hole.) It gets very interesting, and like scottfiji said... I think I see more when I'm not scaring everything off!

The Dive Master in my area does a lot of re-breather stuff, and he tells me that he sees even more critters without the bubbles. (That just sounds cool!)

Donnie

 

[pilot fish]

I love to observe animal behavior. I think I'd like to do a dive where I would stay at one spot for several minutes, probably longer. Of course, I'd want to be located in a spot where a fair amount of activity was likely. I'd like to observe how the critters behave when there isn't a lot of dive activity going on. It's sort of a "let the reef come to me" kind of mentality. I'm not nuts, just curious. Have any of you done this and, if so, was the result interesting to you?

That is how I do almost every dive. I pick at spot that looks interesting and just hover over it, let air out of my lungs to sink down on that spot, and then just observe for a few minutes. More than one time another diver will tap me to see if I'm alright. It usually occurs at the end of my dive when the boat is in view and I'm just using up some air and totally relaxing. I have done that too at the turn point of my dive, site permitting, when I have notified my buddy that is what I'd like to do and they are ok with it.

 

[Charlie99]

Cleaning stations are particularly good spots to settle in and watch. Some will not only get reef fish, but also mantas and big pelagics.

Distinctive outcroppings or coral heads that jut out into the current a bit seem to be the best places to find pelagics being cleaned.


Charlie

 

[Jim Baldwin]

Ondine,

I dive a lot in Cozumel and it's virtually all drift diving. However, you will find me moving so slowly that I can get extremely close to fish and turtles. I have turned over a conch shell and laid in the sand for 15 minutes and just watched it come out of shell and right itself. The whole time I was snapping pictures.

I used to have a very hard time finding seahorses, and juvenile pipefish because I moved too fast now I shoot all I want. Moving very slowly or hoovering virtually motionless you will see a ton of marine life. In a current you can drop below a coral head and use almost no air and see plently. And the bonus is that your air will last forever.

Jim
Louisiana

 

[jbd]

Moving very slowly or hoovering virtually motionless you will see a ton of marine life. In a current you can drop below a coral head and use almost no air and see plently. And the bonus is that your air will last forever.

Jim
Louisiana

I think that Jim has hit the nail on the head. You must be able to hover motionless or move very slowly. I have actually had bass swim right into my hand because I was not moving. You must become one with the water.