zero visibility

[noob2]

hi i was just wondering how can you tell when it is time to surface if you dive in zero visibilty sence you can not look at your pressure gauges


thanks alot mike

 

[jon m]

ya, how?
i have some folks around here that will go zero(true zero) that don't interest me at all!! why go in the water if you can't see anything?

 

[sharkattack]

Press the spg or computer up to your mask and shine a light in through the side of your mask. You can read the stuff just fine.

 

[String]

Computer up to mask and use its backlight and/or a torch works well enough for me.

 

[String]

ya, how?
i have some folks around here that will go zero(true zero) that don't interest me at all!! why go in the water if you can't see anything?

(i) You often dont know until you get underwater what the vis is like
(ii) Its still diving. Its a challenge and can be fun

 

[Gary D.]

Some of the light and gage tricks work some of the time but not always. If you are not tended and get into those conditions it is best just to abort and go somewhere else. Most sport divers should not be playing there.

Gary D.

 

[joetex0777]

The worst part to me the 1st time I dove completely zero viz was that you have no idea of ascent rate or if you are ascending at all for that matter. After a few minutes on the bottom I had seen everthing there was to see (total blackness or dark brown if I shined my light into my mask) so I started to slowly kick my way to the surface. After about a minute of SLOW kicking I was surprised to find myself back on the bottom again. It wasnt my most enjoyable dive, but it was fun and a good learning experience.

 

[b1draper]

I've done the same thing. When I was taking my Navigation class the vis at the lake we were diving started out at 2-4 feet, but ended up being less than a foot. In some spots it was totally zero. I pressed the computer/gages upto my mask and shined a light at it through my mask.

Zero vis is really great to work on your navigation, because there's no way you can cheat and look where you're going.

 

[vablackwater]

When i dive zero vis, my gauges are basically useless. I do not dive with a cannister light, but even decent intensity 8 D cell lights cannot even be seen on.

When diving zero vis, in general I am a "dope on a rope", meaning I am attached via a harness to a tender on shore/ boat. In zero vis searches, it is conducted by feel. The diver relies on his/ her tender and they communicate either by underwater communications systems or by signals on the rope (designated number of pulls). Another good trick is setting an old watch with a timer/ audible alarm for a set interval (20 minutes or less).

There are other tricks to doing zero vis searches without a tender including using a jack or 2 man jack (a line that has weights on each side and includes floats on the ends of the line leading the diver/s to the surface).

Like Gary D. wisely said... this is not a realm for recreational diving. There is a lot of intense training/ teamwork incorporated into doing this safely (minimizing risks).

 

[Meng_Tze]

ya, how?
i have some folks around here that will go zero(true zero) that don't interest me at all!! why go in the water if you can't see anything?

I dont think many people go in the water knowing that it is very low vis (1-3 ft), but once in the water, things can change and you could end up in near zero vis (silt, lights out on a night dive/in cave/wreck, algea cloud etc).

How do you tell to get up? well your timing device and /or spg should give a hint. The issue is that you should not be in a situation where you can not see these, hence redundant lights. But in absolute terms, if you can not see your guages anymore, time to call the dive....!!!!