Scram Bulleggs:
I read many of you talk about your low vis and no vis dives. I always assumed that meant crappy vis.
Went out in a local lake with my sister. She was wearing a brand spanking new neon yellow tank and I could not see that past 3 feet away. Could not see the rest of her nor my own gauges without really working at it. Never saw the bottom.
We were in an unfamiliar place and I called the dive before we ever really got started.
I just kept envisioning swimming square into a tree covered with fishing line.
Smart! I hate entanglements in low vis, especially with my failing vision of old age! I also hate surprises in low vis....
Like you, most of the divers I know, including myself, would have aborted that dive, unless there was some other achievable goal, like trying to find a mooring, etc. Heck, we've even aborted a dive just eye-balling it from shore if the surf has turned the sea to liquid mud.
Then again, some dives may have poor vis near shore and decent vis further out. That's unlikely in freshwater rivers and lakes, like where you were.
Scram Bulleggs:
My question is when you people say 5 foot vis as conditions what really does that mean? 5 foot away you can make out a shape or at 5 foot you can see things no problem?
I consider the vis to be the point where the object is still barely visible, if only as a shape or color.
When I get some real good vis, I'll measure it horizontally with my flag line, which has a mark every ten feet. That takes away the subjective exaggeration and/or guesswork. It also trains one's eye to judge the distance.
Low vis isn't worth more than a rough guess and a range.
Scram Bulleggs:
At either rate that type of vis is out for me.
Same here.
Although an occasional experience of low vis may improve one's ability to cope with adversity, avoiding low vis is more likely to improve one's ability to make sensible diving judgments.
Dave C