Where does poor viz start?

[diverdown78]

2-3ft is pretty common here.
good is 5ft or more (in wintertime)

same here

 

[mstrdvr]

I dive in Wisconsin and 3 - 8 ft is decent viz , when you cant read your gauges it is time to get out. If we have 25 ft viz , we are not in WI anymore.

 

[meierdierck]

way, yes we do dive in 2 foot vis (following familiar contours and jetty fingers, and using our compasses extensively), and we pick up delicious dungeness crabs to eat!

where can I get one of those crab locating compasses?:mooner::

 

[ScubaSteve]

As has been mentioned, it all depends on where you are and what you are used to. Around here, it is quite common in some dive sites to have 20+ feet visibility and I have seen those very sites with < 3' . However, a site I have dove in the Caribbean such as Bonaire, 25' vis would be classified as bad. Every dive is a good dive to do something or practice something.

 

[under water]

I dove on Cape Cod on Sunday. I could see about 20 feet and it felt like good viz.
Anything under 60 in the Caymans or in the Coral Sea would be poor viz.
It's all about expectations.

 

[Cave Bum]

Where does poor viz start?








With PADI divers on their knees in the mud, of course...

 

[TSandM]

The viz is disappointing to me when it's down to 10 feet or so. If it's bad enough that I can't get far enough away from my buddy to frog kick without hitting him, then I'm starting to wonder if it's worth it. I have started a couple of dives where my face had to be about 18 inches off the bottom to see the bottom, and then I turn around and go out to lunch instead.

20 feet is nice viz. You can dive as a team with a little space between you, there is usually some ambient light, and you can see things coming before you swim into them.

 

[vablackwater]

Wow... you mean all y'all can actually see when you dive?

 

[tomboyy]

Poor viz starts at about 9:00 am, thats when the students usually get started

 

[Buoyant1]

At the quarry <2 feet is pretty bad (well 2 ft to diving in a glass of milk)

In the Keys, <20 and I'll complain! although, I did a great dive on Flagler's Barge in 2007 that was MAYBE about 15 feet.