What to do In Very Low Vis

[diverrobs]

I did my first Dry suit dive the first weekend in April at West Humber Park in Toronto. We got there and took a look at the water. Between me and my dive buddy we decided the vis. looked OK based on the clarity of the water near shore. So we got in and went out. The visibility in the first 40 feet from shore was about 20' (not terrible) (only 10' deep at that point). When we got 150' from shore (25' deep) the visiblity was 3' max. We went down and lost each other in the first few minutes, surfaced (only 15' apart) and decided to go down and follow a line that was on bottom, just for something to do. I set my bouyancy to 0 and crawled along the bottom like a crab following the line for anouther 10 min. After that we gave up and decided to end the dive. Not really the best diving experience but I guess I now know what it is like to dive in nearly 0 vis water at 40F. I did not get alot of practice at bouancy control with the dry suit though, having set it to 0.

What do you do on a dive like this? My guess is we did the only logical thing, take advantage of the line and follow it. After getting tired of that quit the dive. Is anthing else to do on a near 0 vis. dive.

 

[owlbill]

You could practice some contact diving (touch contact signals) but might be better to take the recreational "buddy line" approach. Just hold a 3 footish rope between you (not tied, just held) so you know where each other are. Of course, this can still get caught up on stuff neither of you see.

Just some thoughts.

 

[mislav]

Low viz dives are perfect for navigation practice.

 

[TSandM]

In viz like that, I go home

 

[dave4868]

What do you do on a dive like this? My guess is we did the only logical thing, take advantage of the line and follow it. After getting tired of that quit the dive. Is anthing else to do on a near 0 vis. dive.

Aside from practicing skills and getting yourself accustomed to low vis, I'd agree low vis doesn't offer much.

There'd be no shame in heading back to the shallow water where the vis was better. I would have been perfectly happy to spend an hour or two poking around in the shallows.

Shallow water buoyancy control requires more finesse, so it could even be better practice.

It's still diving....there's just something nice about feeling weightless....

Dave C

 

[p1medicshawn]

I would have to agree with owlbill. Touch type drills are always good to practice. You never know when a light might fail or some one silts the crap out of your dive site or your buddy loses his mask.

 

[possem]

I just normally give up and go drink beer and eat chicken wings. Normal Sunday for us is check the "chip" if vis is ok Dive, if not go eat wings. First chip dive was 2 weeks ago 33 and a freeflow, so I just ate wings but I'm not complaining lol.

 

[wjknobles]

you dive braille

hope there is nothing that bites back

 

[Rick Inman]

Other than calling the dive and heading to Starbucks to swap diving lies, a good strong light pointed in front and toward the middle will keep you together (assuming you're staying close enough), even in a few feet of vis.

Also, when the vis is that bad, we sometimes practice blue water (ha! brown water) ascents.