Your shallowest dives-or-what kind of dives do you like the best?

[MikeFerrara]

Over the years we've had lots of threads asking about max depth. I guess it's natural for divers to think about depth because after all diving is going "down" under water. Still, new divers are sometimes in a hurry to do that AOW cert to get below 60 ft or to be allowed on certain charter dives. We see the questions like...how deep can I go?...how deep should I go?...how deep do you go?...what certification do I need to go "this" deep?. Fully realizing that there are worthwhile sights and activities down deep and having trained for and dived some of them myself, I think maybe we try so hard to get soeplace else that we sometimes miss stuff that's right in front of us.

I was going to specifically ask about shallow dives but then decided to add the "or" and also ask what types of dives you enjoy the most. Why discriminate on the bases of depth on way or the other?

 

[ClayJar]

I don't do much "which is my favorite" pondering, but I will note that I had an excellent jetty dive where I only managed to break 10 feet by searching for a dip in the sand bottom. I even saw a stingray on that dive, which certainly made me smile (I was *not* expecting to see one where I was).

 

[Hank49]

In tropical seas, I like to hang around coral laden rocks that are isloated on a large sandy area. They're like isolated islands, so to speak, and have the whole "condominium" of the food chain there, all the way up to a grouper hiding somewhere, scorpian fishes etc etc. Usually in less than 20 feet of water and glimmering sunlight. Nice.

 

[Ron Brandt]

Any dive where I have more than 80 feet of vis.

Ron

 

[Scuba_Jenny]

My shallowest dive was last New Years. I think I averaged 6ft.! I didn't understand why everybody was surfacing and I was dodging fins until later when I learned they were watching the fireworks!
My favorite dives are on the coral reefs in under 30ft. Last week during INVADE THE KEYS I did two shallow dives were awesome! Tons of life and activity. Easy diving, good vis, no current. Life is good.

 

[mislav]

I've used my last shallow dive to improve on my buoyancy skills, practice mask removal and such... I loved it.

 

[RJTY]

Most of my dives are 60 ft or less..West Palm and the Keys. I really enjoy the reefs and longer dives.

 

[ItsBruce]

The avitar says it all.

 

[scubaaaronh]

When i first started out i wanted to go deep all the time, Then as time passed i liked the idea of staying longer. Both my wife and i like to stay a little shallower to stay longer, eg. while on bonaire we did two deep dives 95 and 103, the rest were under 60 ft most of the time not even breaking 45 ft.

 

[Dave Zimmerly]

Some of our best dives are under 30-40'. Thats where you can see all the pretty fishes in their true colors...and you can see them for over an hour. Also, its a good area to practice skills.

Dave (aka "Squirt")