How To Scuba Dive In The Ocean Part 2: Visibility Presented By Dive Rite
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- čas přidán 10. 07. 2024
- The second in a four-part video series aimed to help new divers cope with ocean diving conditions. If you want to support Divers Ready! (for free!) support our sponsor for this series of videos: Dive Rite
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In this video, we're going to be looking at the ocean science behind ocean visibility and then I'm giving you my pro-level advice for diving in bad vis.
Thanks so much as always!
D.S.D.O
James
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How To Scuba Dive In The Ocean Part 2: Visibility Presented By Dive Rite
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I started diving in 1973, in SW Pennsylvania. We dove strip mines and the rivers. On a good day we would have ten foot visibility. When we were searching for lost gear, we would have a total blackout. My dive buddy, Denny and I use to "feel" that we were within proximity, even though we could not see each other for periods. When we finally made it to the Florida Keys, we were in heaven. Even when we "only" had 60' visibility...
Still love diving in ANY conditions. Even under the ice, with poor visibility.
I dove the Vandenberg shortly after they sank it and was with a dive guide. I was marveling over how awesome the visibility was through out the dive. After surfacing to do our SI, the guide came to me and apologized for how bad the vis was!! I told him that I normally dove in lakes and the vis was awesome!! He laughed and said that he loves diving with lake divers because we are excited to see vis more than 10 feet!!
I'm a pacific northwest diver and usually dive in Puget Sound where the viz can range from 1' to 30' on a rare day. Normal viability is 5-10'. Having learned to dive in bad visibility and cold water I feel that my dive skills are stronger than had I learned to dive only in warm and clear water. It does make me appreciate that clear water dive conditions all the more!
Across the pond from you on Vancouver Island. 201 dives since OW cert last yr and ya, totally agree. Have had vis where I could barely see my computer, to 100' of stunning clarity. All at the south end of Vancouver Island. Learning how to drysuit dive from the getgo, I feel, makes me a stronger diver.
Same here on the Coast of Maine. Cold water, average viz 10-15 ft. 30 ft is extraordinary. It Makes a warm water dive trip all that much better.
Yup, learned to dive in the St. Clair River in Sarnia Ontario (southern tip of Lake Huron). Before the zebra mussels filtered the water, it's clearer now, we'd be drift diving in 0-10' visibility, in 2-4 knots current. We'd literally hold hands with our buddies some days to not get separated .
Went to Cozumel the first time, blown away by the 80'+ vis, and 80° water, and had to bite our tongues with the vacation only divers, that were fluttering all over the place. We'd be back on the boat as they were getting to 500lbs, fluttering all over the place in the comparably light current, and we were at 12-1500lbs still, it was like sitting in a stroller and casually drifting down the reef.
Dove with the same small 6 diver max company, same divemaster each day. By day 3, he barely kept an eye on us, never checked our gauges, gear, etc, and we'd just do our own thing (though staying close to the group, etc, we weren't "that guy")
Not to say any of the other divers were bad divers ( though I did have to grab a couple folks as they were floating up and away), we just learned to dive in the worst possible conditions, so warm water diving was so effortless for us.
Every diver should dive in conditions that test themselves, cold, current, low vis.... You'll be a better diver in the end
@@derekwalter7100 i hear ya 😅 after diving the great lakes and the niagara river i learned all about low to no vis and a decent current at times. I then did 30 dives in the maldives and fell in love with currents, especially their channel dives. Ofcourse vis is amazing there even in spots with high plankton where we looked for mantas. I didn't see many struggle but when they did i usually felt at home oddly. Low vis diving and the currents i faced in the st. Lawrence certainly helped me navigate these waters 😄
We dive 2 local quarries just out side of Nashville TN. The week before there was particularly hard rain (silt running in from above the water like chocolate milk) and a under water scavenger hunter. We figured that a week later the water would be clear. We took a group of OW students for check out dives. At the time I was just a rescue diver in support of the instructor. He called the dive within 2 minutes, I would describe the conditions to be like pea soup. Best dive conditions I've ever been in was in Roatan Honduras. Felt like you could see all the way to FL the water was so clear!
Low viz + Urchin mine field + strong surge = absolutltely awesome dive
Worst viz was training search and rescue dogs to find "bodies" underwater in a little pond. Scared myself once my hand came into view it was so bad...but that was a lower risk situation. The worst low viz scenario was 2 buddies and I did a shore dive of of Gloucester, MA. Typical viz was about 6 feet in this area. On top of that, it was a little foggy that morning. By the time the dive ended, fog was so thick above the water, it was more like a night dive almost under, and we didn't have visual references to find the beach again...Fortunately, we were proficient with our navigation at that point, and we emerged within 10 feet of our entry point.
Recovered a stolen hearse that had been in the water since the early 90’s
As we were lifting the the car over the sea wall and fence, the engine broke lose from the rest of the car and fell in the water, dumping motor oil. Had to go back down and secure a strap to said engine, was covered in oil when I was done, but by far the worst visibility.
When diving is zero visibility and searching for something or a victim, I’ve found it best to just close my eyes and use my hands, keeps me calmer too
Eyes closed is really relaxing as well
Best viz was about 40' at a shipwreck offshore in NC! Absolutely gorgeous after the weather we'd had for the last bit! Worst viz was about 3-5' and managed to stay with my buddy and our group the whole time. Always kept my hand on her arm and we were golden 👌 while she navigated and I kept track of depth,time, and any hazards. My old instructor is a 6'3" man built like a football player (so fits in pretty well with most of the men on the boat) and he dives hot pink fins and it is the best! You always know it's him because nobody else is that big and has neon hot pink fins 🙌. Bright colors are your best friend underwater!
I was in a party of 3 divers at Willow Springs near Reading PA. It is a poor vis quarry that is only around 25 feet deep. We decided on a super simple dive plan. We descend at a stand which we know indicates where the narrow gauge railroad tracks are. I was to lead. We are going to follow the rails out for a few minutes the n turn around to return. We descended and couldn’t find each other, so we met at the surface. 5 times this happened so we got out went to a picnic table and worked out this plan. If I see you but not our 3rd diver I will tap you twice. If you tap back 3 times then you can see the 3rd person and we are good to go. Then we were able ti execute our dive plan.
90% of my dives now have been done in terrible visibility
Compared to Florida waters. Often less than 3 meters but it’s great practice and we still loose a buddy from time to time.
A bright light, compass, and bright orange fins have helped my dives. As well as a fantastic dive plan. Route. Route. Route. Several of our favourite sites have line laid, or points of interest. We always have a plan and stop to regroup at key areas often to make sure the entire team is together and safe.
Dived in a lake with about 2m vis while doing my independent diver course and it was honestly the best way to do it. Instructor used parts of SDI, PADI, SSI and TDI training to make up the course and I came out of it feeling like a much better diver despite being an active instructor for 5 years. Most rewarding training I've done in years.
when i did my divemaster internship we had very bad visibility for about 2 weeks
I learned to dive in our local reservoir where visibility is nearly zero. I always tell people that you hit the bottom before you see it. Diving anywhere else is great!
New OW diver here. My first dive after Cert was in a long but fairly narrow lake. I had a light, but didn't bring it because I didn't want to load down everything and figured it's a lake I can swim across fairly easily and we're diving along the shore anyway, why do I need it right? First dive was great, 30'+ vis and no problems. Second dive I got a little careless and kicked up some silt in a few spots. No problem except it was an out and back dive so we went back through my silt clouds. Thankfully my buddy was the DM and had a powerful torch so I could see where he was very well, and he was somehow able to see me well enough to touch my arm and maintain contact until we made it through the short clouds. Great training, and I'll never dive without a light again!
Diving in Switzerland, I'm used to bad visibility. Once we were not even able to read our computer. I lost my buddy that day even do she was 30cm away from me...
The best I had were my dives in the Cenotes. It's crystal clear there.
Hi James, hope you are doing well... I will never forget my first dive in Germany during my wetsuit course. Prior that I had only dived in Egypt, Bali and Mexico. So i was used to 25 ° water and more or less unlimited viz. So my buddy and I were getting into the water in a local training lake and got ready to descend within arms length of each other... And the second my head was under water - he was gone. Like totally gone, gone.. All I saw was what we would call green pea soup. I will NEVER forget that sensation...
100 dives later - I am still not a huge fan of this type of diving but I manage a lot better...
Thanks again for your amazing content. Greetings from Munich
Stephan
Finished OW a two weeks ago in Lake Travis TX. On a couple dives, it was a good think the instructor was wearing his white RK3s or we wouldn’t have been able to follow him.
We landed in Cancun this afternoon…can’t wait.
Yep- UK diver here. The only time you don't mind being kicked by your buddys fins, let's you know they're still there :)
goto agree a with this one lol
Yes!
Learned diving in the beautiful waters of Papua New Guinea and did most of my dives there and in other beautiful high vis spots e.g. Bali, GBR etc. Then to Sydney ! First dive visibility so bad lost my buddies ( group of 4 ) descending I couldn't believe I wouldn't find them so stayed looking for ~5mins then I surfaced found them on surface waiting and not so happy that I stayed that long . Confidence took a hit and learnt the hard way thay sticking to lost buddy procedure and a torch is a must.
Our local diving spot is a freshwater reservoir called Lake Pleasant. During the warmer months the vis can get down to being measured in inches. Had to just about lock arms with a man I barely knew the last time I was there! Best vis so far was somewhere around 30 feet in Lake Mohave down off the Colorado river. Have yet to get out to warm, clear water.
Thanks for the great video. I am a fully certified diver who is also totally blind. Therefore, every dive for me is a low visibility dive, actually a zero visibility dive. One technique we learn in our club is how to ascend safely without gauges or a diving computer. So if we lose our buddy for whatever reason, we can launch an SMB safely and ascend to the surface. Great tips though!
Once again Sir, awesome content! I started diving in the Northern Gulf of Mexico and visibility can vary from day to day and just like you said when you were in Australia, never dive after a rain. Best visibility I would say was off Destin, Florida and had 100+ and worst was in the Arabian Sea off Kuwait at about 3-5 ft. vis. D.S.D.O !
Got my Divemaster cert at a maritime academy in Maine. Helping the instructor with new students in North Atlantic waters was a definite learning curve with minimal vis and cold water temps. Great video!
Best visibility I’ve ever had was in Comoros. The water was 40m deep and could see the bottom clearly, and even make out the garden eels on the floor.
That said I lived on the Great Barrier Reef for a long time so I’m very used to 25-30m visibility being normal.
Worst visibility was probably on my discover dive in Sri Lanka. Was a terrible introduction to diving. Also had very bad vis in South Africa once - the brief was to go to 10m and blow bubbles to attract seals, but we got swept off the site during descent and ended up 20m down on a cold water reef that kind of just spring into life.
Live in Brisbane now and suspect you used to be dependent on the wash off from the Tweed too 😂
Lmao over here the best we get is 10 meters, and that’s on a very good day.
I just dived the tweed again about a week ago!
Ty for ur help
Being a Rescue diver from the Netherlands, I've been diving on a good day with 4-6 meters visibility. Though I've also had my share of dives at 1-2 meters visibility. Yes the first time to dive in 1-2 meter visibility is kind of frightening, though it is an experiance on it's own that I highly recommend any diver to experience as you learn to work better with your compas, computer and/or depth gage and watch. Resently I've been diving on holiday at a Dutch Caribian island and with those waters it's super easy to find your way. If your tangling around a piece of reef a bit longer, no worries as you can find the group back without too much effort. If you do that without prior comunication at the local coastal waters of the North Sea, than you've lost your buddies and after one minute you need to surface and wait for a buddy to reconize you're gone and do the same.
One extra piece of advice that I want to bring, if you're a diver used to crystal blue waters with 20+meters visibility and want to try a dive in an area with less visibility, go back to the mindset of a newly certified diver. Don't bring any equipment that can cause distractions like e.g. cameras and definately bring an compas. Learn to dive with your buddy in an poor visibility environment before you can progress to performing tasks like photography or navigation within those cloudy or even murky waters.
Still rockin, thanks
Carrying a light was one of the best pieces of advice I’ve got from you. Also carry more than one. My trip to Mexico a week ago I had my primary light die because a battery decided to leak. Two is one. The lower vis (50ft) days we had on this particular trip from rain and the inbound hurricane definitely brought out the fish. Was worth it. The word vis we dive in was actually our open water training dives in a muddy quarry with 5ft of green visibility, and not much interesting to see.
We recently dove in the keys after Fred’s rain came through. Some were fantastic, one the visibility was so poor and there were lots of beginners (me included) that the guide was worried and kept us all together right on top of each other. I felt for him, but it wasn’t really a fun dive because we really couldn’t see anything and just tried to stay out of each other’s way. That said, any day diving is better than working! Best visibility: Cozumel! Love it!
Best viz and worst viz was the same dive for me! Near Phuket Thailand, crystal clear water, we could see.... if I guessed how far I'd be wrong. From the surface we could see the entire dive site. 3 zebra sharks sleeping at the bottom, 20 + meter water, a loooong way apart. Near the end of the dive a wall of sand, silt, muck rolled toward us, just like a sand storm you see in movies. We thumbed the dive and all lost each other at the safety stop. After, on the dive boat a trawler dragging the bottom could be seen not too far away..... in a National Marine Park!
Jamesy...when I stated diving even as a 2 star FAUI diver I did some dives with a blackened mask. By attaching a rope to a post and literally swam around in circles.
Two dives later a dove in viz were I could not see the palm of my extended hand and had a brilliant dive seeing both a giant snapper and octopus. Since then I only dive in clear water as I moved to South East Asia but even when one is half blind and thankful for a flashlight, you can still have a cracking dive.
Very good tips especially about compasses, lights and have an understanding with your buddy. For example three taps on the tank and surface. Better being safe than sorry.
In closing best diving was in South Phuket. Perfect conditions and viz could not be clearer. >30m+
Dive safe and dive often.
I got certified in San Diego, California, and have done most if my dives there. It’s cold and murky a lot of the time. A popular dive site is the HMCS Yukon, an intentional wreck in the reef program. It sits in 80-100 ft and the viz is usually not good.
On one occasion, I was diving with buddy who had just completed deep dive certification. We went down the mooring line attached to the deck of the wreck to find ~6 inch viz. We didn’t go far, but I was still nervous about losing my less experienced buddy. I started worrying about finding the mooring line again for the ascent (a blue water ascent on this wreck is dangerous due to boat traffic and currents).
As we inched our way back to the area of the mooring line, my heart jumped with joy to see a flashing light. The last person down the line was a very experienced tech diver who realized how bad the viz was and attached the light. I learned a valuable lesson and he got lots of thanks from everyone back in the boat!
We live in North Carolina and have done lots of wreck diving. The vis is very unpredictable, with the gulf stream moving towards or away from shore at different times of year. And then there are our famous storms. If there was a recent one, expect terrible vis. On a good day, you can see a wreck over 100’ deep from the surface.
Did my Rescue Diver Cert. in the Worst Lake ever. Souther German lake early Spring, only 7m deep but vis was under 1 meter, i couldnt see my own finns. It was a special kind of Dive. The Searching Part was crazy. we had to put lines between me and my buddy and gave us signals with pulling 1 pull ok 2 pull come closer. that was crazy
Back in the early nineties I dived off Holland actually tethered to my buddy by a 2m rope because of bad visibility and strong tides. I’ll never forget the 200 odd metre slog back to shore through some of the stickiest, smelliest mud like substance I’ve ever come across. We saw a crab though! So not a total loss.
The best viz I’ve had was Cozumel🤯 it was like seeing on the surface just amazing 😁
hot damn! im going at the end of october and can't wait! what were your favorite sites?
@@mrp1kles oh man I’m pumped for you 🤙 your going to have an amazing time
Dived at Stoney Cove, Leicester last weekend for some training. Vis was awful, I had been spoiled on previous visits with relatively crystal clear water, swimming about with the pike.. The last three dives were like swimming chicken soup, the pair in front of me would disappear, even with fluorescent yellow fins I just two or three kicks lol
thanks for sharing
2:25 unless you have a oceanographic buoy installed right beside three local wrecks ands on a reasonable distance from other dive spots and that give real time (30min. intervals) info for a lot of parameters, including temperature and turbidity, the last one from which I can have a notion about my visibility.
Yes, that's true story and that's where I live and dive, wish everyone have a buoy like this.
I routinely dive in a reservoir in Arizona: crappy vis. There have been times when, after our first dive, the vis was so bad we would pack it up and leave because we couldn't see each other a few feet apart. One time, my buddy and I got separated. We always carry noisemakers to signal in low vis. We heard our shakers very close. After safely surfacing, i looked around and my buddy was less that 10 feet away. Even with the bright lights that we had, we couldn't see eachother.
Worst vis I ever had, sadly, was in Egypt. Instead of diving the Red Sea, we dove the harbor in Alexandrea. On paper this was a once-in-a-lifetime dive. We were diving on the ruins of Cleopatra's palace. In reality we saw a soup of brine. Maybe 5 feet of vis. All the artifacts were covered in growth and when our guide would brush the detritus off them (pretty sure that's highly unethical, but he's the guide so maybe it's OK there?), it would only stir up the muck even worse. We got down and found we both had crappy equipment. One of my buddy's hoses leaked. I supposedly had an integrated BCD, yet my weights fell to the bottom. It was my buddy's first ever dive - he was on a Discover SCUBA trip. It was also his last dive. It might be the only time I've ever surfaced and thought "that was a waste."
Greetings from the 4-feet-vis-in-any-direction-Attersee, Austria 😉. Finished an hour ago a nice calm dive together with my beautiful wife in the beautiful Attersee at cozy 13°C and a lot of pikes. To be honest, for this time of the year, late summer, the visibility of around 4m is okay, could be worst, good conditions for training 😉.
Save diving, cheers.
I did my open waters test in Aurora reservoir, Colorado. 3' vis or less. Lost my buddy twice. Looking back, I think it's the only way to go. It's your first open water dive so you'll remember it and have confidence to dive in all conditions. If you want clear, go cenote diving!
If my buddy is to the side or in front, I use my light to illuminate the bottom beneath his head; if he can see my light he doesn't have to keep peering behind. And if I'm ahead in poor vis I hold the light facing back so others can see me. If I hold it out to the side the backscatter is a lot less of a problem.
My worst vis was probably this weekend on a quarry dive. I was leading a DM and my old instructor to see a new boat wreck so I didn't want to get lost, but the vis was about 2 feet. In the event I found the sunken boat literally when I swam into the side of the it! Coming back I suddenly realised that I couldn't see anything at all, up, down or sideways. It was mid-morning but cloudy and 25 metres down everything was just black. I angled down and saw the bottom just before my hands touched it, but at least then I had a datum and steered us back to sunnier parts.
My buddy and I did recently lose each other in this same area, circled around for a minute, and broke the surface at the same time 20 metres apart. At least it proves the system works!
Well done. Nice to see folks using common sense. Besides giving your mates a beacon to aim at to maintain a close enough distance, once total visual is lost you can surface within a small enough perimeter. Like yourself my buddy and I had a system of 3 taps and head North. Good feedback Tim.
What quarry were you diving, if you don’t mind me asking?
@@lydialeigh4 Vobster Quay in Somerset, England.
Thanks for another awesome video I’m very used to very low visibility my first dive without an instructor I lost my gf then surfaced couldn’t find her bubbles and instantly felt bad about all my jokes about shutting her air off on her thinking everyone would think I did it 😂😂
I was diving in Thailand, on one of the dive sites the visibility was about 2-3 meters, so we were descending using a rope and we almost hit a whale shark. Seriously, I could touch it. I was not very experienced at that point of time and I had a panic attack episode under the water. So, when I came home after this trip I when to the dive center and took a rescue diver course.
Lost my buddy? I've been in vis so bad I couldn't see my own hand in front of my face. Called that one; several times. Debrief was still amazing though :)
First dive after 30 something years of not diving was in a lake. It got me by surprise how bad the visibility was. But I really enjoyed diving after such a big break. Second dive was at the same lake. Visibility was worse than the first time. Group of three; divemaster, another diver and myself. The first dive started with no problems paying close attention to the DM due to the low viz and how deep we were. I remember looking at the DM and then looking at something else at the lake. When I looked back I could not see anybody. Waited a minute and started my ascend. Somehow the DM found me although I could not see the other diver. Turns out the other diver had ear issues and had to go up. The separation wasn’t my fault but I blamed myself for not noticing what was happening. On the second dive of the day I promised myself that I was not going to lose sight of the DM. Guess what, I happened again. Only this time the DM did not find me. After less than 20 minutes the dive was over. Again I blamed myself thinking I was not being up to par due to the long break in diving but it turned out that the other diver ran out of gas that quick and the DM had to go up again with him. Did not enjoy that day at all.
Now, after a few more dives there, I like the lake. Not only because it is an opportunity to go diving but because is also an opportunity to spend a day with the family, something that is getting more difficult each day.
Keep up the good work.
James, please consider coming over to Singapore to dive…. Visibility here can vary between 1 to 8 meters on a very good day or on a bad day you can’t see past you arm.
Diving in Ireland, 30 dives done so far and only around half a dozen have had good vis. We log it as "good soup"!
Cornwall. We want a Cornwall dive video. You are going there for something, James...Heck I’ll take any UK dives. And no I’m not from UK. California.
Well we use a buddy line on a lot of our dives in the Netherlands (oosterschelde). Hard to loose your buddy that way :) viz varies between can't see my hand to 3 to 4 meters. But the place is so full of life even with bad vis you will see loads of stuff.
Routinely dive Venice Florida for shark teeth. Rare days is 3 m visability, normal is 1m or less. There have been times when have to use a flashlight on the gauges to see depth before finding bottom.
Back in the early '90s when I was doing my initial diving training (BSAC Novice II if anyone is interested) I did my final qualifying dive was in Holyhead harbour. The day after it was dredged.
I was on a buddy line physically connecting me to my instructor, and we both had strobes on our shoulders. The buddy line was just over two arms lengths long, and at full extension I couldn't see his strobe.
plus one for diverite
I went with some mates to Eden NSW for what was supposed to be 4 days of diving. The weather did not cooperate (4m swells)... On the last day we were able to go out, we put a shot line by the wreck and I went down with my buddy. At about 10m, I noticed the visibility was getting worse so I removed my hand from the shot line to turn my torch on. By the time I turned on my torch, I lost the shot line (even though it was about a foot away). Somehow I found the shot line again. I lost my buddy and ran (literally) into another diver from our group. We must have been inches away; we signaled to end the dive and found my buddy on the surface. That was my first dive where there was zero visibility; it was an experience for sure!
My best viz was probably 20-25m in the Philippines. I almost lost my guide because there were so many different groups and they all looked similar lol
Love the channel James! Keep it up!
Just hopped out of the local pond, about 4-6ft visibility and potato soup like. Still awesome stuff!
Waving the sausage was a must, we had quite some surfers on the water
Thanks for sharing! Dive safe.
@@DiversReady Thank you, as always we stayed really close to the shore when there are people actually on the water. I forgot to mention that we really do not trust to be seen by them.
CA Northern Channel Islands. The worst vis day I've seen was about 15 feet and surrounded by sea lions. However, you can shore dive off the mainland and have 8 feet or less on bad days.
Diving in New England, 100% back the bright fins / bright gear. Makes it much easier to keep track of your buddy. Though I absolutely disagree on leaving your camera - macro shots can be awesome even with terrible vis.
Wonder which dive site was that in Australia where you would cancel the dive because of bad vis!?
Interested as I’m in Aus. We had really bad vis on our OW course, pea soup, as the instructors said and strong current. So I’m glad we learnt without being able to see anything, as every dive since then has been easier with better vis (not that I’ve done many dives so far)
Bad visibility. Funny thing is just got back from Puerto vallarta and the rainy season and a recent hurricane mad for the first 40feet less than 1 foot. Diving plan pair up and holding on to each other decent to the bottom 40 foot. Staying together I would now use my tank banger for all to locate. Once all together start the dive. This was extremely effective. Accent was similar in the we stayed together for our decor stop.
Btw we all had tank bangers just in case.
Also at 40 foot visibility improved to 20 foot.
I dive in Taiwan, our main training dive site here is north east coast, which 3m-5m is our daily life.
Come dive Oahu 🤙 Bring your Blacktip while you’re at it!
Im used to diving with 1'-3' visibility so anything over 5 feet is great for me lol used to having to put my hand on my buddy to maintain contact
My first night dive for the PADI AOW course. 0.5 meter of visibility. The waves were agitating the sand (it was a shallow dive because it was near a beach) We had to follow the cable all the way... we couldn't see a thing because of all the sand particules floating around
Hi I’m from Singapore. We dive in areas near the sea lanes. Generally vis is betw 1m to 3m all year round. No idea why. Dive lights are a must. However most divers are into macro photograph and we take pictures even at
Earlier this year I did a dive where the vis was so bad, I didn't know where the bottom was until I hit it! 🤣 Me and my buddy only stayed together by the glow from our torches! 😀👌
I know that pain. Most of my dives are in the Puget Sound and that's par for the course, good vis days there are only 15 feet. You kind of get used to it. As long as vis is good enough to read your gauges and see your buddy/student, you keep diving.
@@crashlvmc the good thing is, if you learn to dive in poor vis and cold water, like a lot of the UK where I dive, when you go to warmer water with great vis it's so easy! 😀👌
@@ianmycroft6979 agreed, diving in HI was almost boring it was so easy.
Red Tide on the West coast of Florida has created some ugly diving conditions. Even while trying to avoid it you would come up to a wall of 'red tide' and it was like a giant dark wall of water in front of you. Very gross to swim through, your gear comes out slimy.
I dive in Canada, we are trained and used to bad viz. My 2nd saltwater dive was on a rainy day in New Brunwick and we thought viz would be sketchy so we went with only our wetsuits on to assess viz before putting all our gear on. Note that this was my last day visiting my friend so we tried hard to squeeze a last dive in. At first we thought it was a no go, the water was super hazy and dark from the tannins washing from the shore but my buddy (who had a weight belt) did a duck dive to see if it was still bad at depth. The viz was surprisingly good at depth! Turns out the freshwater from the rain and the tannins from the shore accumulated in a layer at the surface- the hazy water we would see when floating. It felt surreal to see these layers underwater. We went on to grab our gear and enjoyed one of the best dives on that site! My buddy and his friend are locals and said they'd never seen viz that good at depth on that site. Talk about a total 180 🤣🤣🤣
where in nb did you dive i have relatives near fredericton. what did you see. what exposure suit did you use and time of year. i might visit but never thought of diving there. i live in ont.
@@dtt3426 it was right after the passage of the hurricane. We dove near st andrews
Here in Michigan in the inland lakes….. 10 feet is decent 😂
Good morning games it is good to see your smiling face In the harbour where I dive 1ft of vis 3 inches on either side good day 2 ft of vis
6inches each side usually dive solo
I rigged a retractable dog leash if I have a buddy he is out there somewhete on the end of the line
This year my father and I had to hold hands while diving because we couldn't see anything 😅
(as we got deeper it got better)
I have only ever dove in Okinawa, Japan and Hawaii. I would be too afraid to dive in poor vis because I am afraid of Mr. Greysuit. And, I buy things strictly based on Color. Oh, I read the reviews and do the homework, but, when i walk through the door, I am drawn to the most colorful or sparkly item.
Here in the oceans we have an average of 2 meters visibility. But some places it can get so bad I cannot read my instruments anymore.
Just last week we where diving in water with 1 meter average but some points in the dive got bad. We lost one of the divers. Where looking for a while before an ascent and found he was no more than 3 meters away from us. Could not see him. In these situations some people dive with buddy lines and just by touch to not get separated.
I swam in Lake McKenzie on Fraser Island. The water was invisible. The fish appeared to hang in the air.
Worst Viz.: Diving a quarry in Pennsylvania. Using a Kirby Morgan Band mask. Was wearing orange palmed gloves and could see them against my face plate. Could work better with my eyes closed.
Best Viz.: Tobermory Canada in Lake Huron. Whole area is limestone (100+). A few exceptional days (100+) off West Palm Beach Florida.
I only have experience diving in Shitty visibility 113 dives in one year of being certified every single one I maybe had an average of 3ft visibility best I’ve ever seen was in lake Mohave it was like 30ft visibility it was incredible
The best visibility we've had would be in Florida's springs. Crystal clear water, and it was bizarre to see the opposite side of the land, hundreds of feet away.
Cannot say I've had lousy visibility; the worst would be about 10-15 ft.
Benwood Wreck was one of my favorite dives so far, first sea turtle and sea slug sighting while diving. I wish I had my camera, but it was AOW certification dives. We were focusing on those skills and not camera skills.
i Think a tight plan and brief are key in low vis. Sound is a thing in low vis. Bring your cam w/ macro rigged. Also go slow and easy… no prize for the longest surface swim of shame.
I primarily dive in Ireland and the east coast is notorious for poor vis. On one particular dive, I know I was at depth (15m) when my nose hit the bottom! Yes, 'poor' vis. And that's one reason I ALWAYS have a buddy line with me on my dives. Pull it out, each of you hold an end and perhaps practice some skills. The dive doesn't have to end. Thoughts on carrying a buddy line?
Unfortunately I’ve received the wrath of phots for that careless fin kick which has stirred up silt & ruined any chance of a good pic for 20-30 mins. Now I tend to wait & let the phots go first. Then I know I’ll still have friends back on the boat.
I think that in Red Sea I've never had less than 30 meters visibility... and I had more than 700 dives there. On the other side, in lake of Como, more than once I couldn't see my hands
Myself and a buddy went diving in a dam once, expecting poor viz, the goal was to log dive numbers, which both of us need to do certain tech courses at the time, nothing could have prepared us for what we found. Vis was propably a meter if that much, 360' everything looked the same, a brown muddy haze, we both had propper cave lights but in that mud with all the backscatter its kindoff pointless, you see your buddy in a orange haze bubble. We ended up grabing each other's arms and just crawled around the bottom untill we reached the min 20min window to legally log the dive.
The worst viz or basically no viz dive i ever did, was jumping into a mud pool for a farmer friend who recently builded a new dam on his farm. There was a dead tree stump bareley sticking out above the waterline which was at maximum maybe 4 meters deep, he wanted to pull it out with a chain and tractor, he needed me to go wrap the chain around it. I could not see my dive computer held up against my mask, cant get any worse than this. Closed my eyes and felt my way around it, got the job done.
the worst visibility I experienced was at 3m depth when we were digging up amphorae with a mammoth, I was 1 foot from the diver I was digging with and I didn't see him, I was wondering if anyone was there, so I extended my arm to see😂
I havnt made any dives yet but I hear the waters here in southeast alaska has horrible vision
Gin clear vis - Silfra Iceland (goes well with Gin) worst was last week on Wobby Rock off Moololabah....- if you come across a scuba diver in his 60's and he straps a knife larger than Mick Dundee's to his leg - avoid him like your life depends on it. He was my so called dive buddy, but he probably thought he was Llyod Bridges in Sea Hunt.
With a sea state like the inside of a Twin Tub and vis so poor I couldn't see my own fins, we submerge for our first dive. I glide down; he plumets like a stone, bolt upright and lands directly onto this fragile peice of plate coral (oh well it will grown again maybe) he then takes off into the abyss looking for sharks. That was the last I saw of him for the entire first dive.
DM has a quiet chat to him during the surface interval about being a good buddy. Second dive time, 9 nine yes nine minutes into my second dive I'm forced to abort the dive. Rambo has taken off in one direction whilst all of us go in another. I'm torn because the vis has dropped significantly (sewage water vis) and I'm losing sight of the group and him heading in different directions. Then evenone is gone !! I do a 1 minute safety check and start my emergency lost diver ascent. The group pops at 4 minutes later 30 metres from me and Rambo pops up about another minute later 200 metres away, Oh FFS. I did get to continue my dive but decided to make the DM my buddy.
Not to rub it in but I had 25m vis at wobbly rock the other day 😅
I've never dove with more than 15 feet of vis. Most dives are around 5-10
i dove in a pond that was known for bad viz. got extremely nauseous and disoriented. if it wasn't for my computer i wouldn't know which way is up. definitely called off the dive 15 minutes in.
i dove in the niagara river 2 miles up from niagara falls, strong current bad viz and extreme boat traffic on the surface. lost my buddy within a minute. made my way to the shore before i surfaced after 5 minutes. i've never dove there again because of the boat traffic.
with those vintage masks how did you equalize.
Old addage, if you can dive in the UK and our crap viz you can dive anywhere. Eccy Delph must be one of the top UK zero viz dive venues.
Best Vis Oahu Hawaii 21.2187, -157.7414 Worst Most inland lakes in MI, USA
Cameras and low viz means you switch to shooting macro.
Most places around my is 0 viz
Worst vis. Dove in the borrow pit off of Cannon Beach at John Pennekamp just to say I did… there is nothing to see.
No dive that ever seriously matters; eg, rescue dive; will be in perfect conditions. It’s important to train in poor conditions and wear YELLOW FIN’S!!!
Quarry diver... give me more than 3 feet and I’m happy. Me and my buddy dive with colored glow sticks and battery powered lanterns to keep in contact. Next step full face masks and communications systems.🤷♂️
After watching this and a bunch of DiveTalk I’m tempted to wear an orange rashguard over my wetsuit.