Any way to tell from the surface if the visibility is going to be good?

[fuzzybabybunny]

Is there any way to tell from the surface or from afar if the visibility underwater is going to be any good? I generally have a really bad time with this.

Just now I did a shore snorkel from a bay. There are only small waves, and the wind is blocked by the bay as well. Any wind that remains is lightly blowing parallel to the shore. The surface of the water isn't glassy - its got some light texture from the wind. No whitecaps in sight.

Anyway, I looked at how calm the water looks and figure that the vis surely should be OK. I go in and it's literally only 3 feet.

The beach is a sandy one with some small pockets of shallow rocks harboring extremely minimal plant and animal life. The small amount of water movement is already enough to churn the contents so that almost nothing is visible.

What am I supposed to be looking for?

I've dove other places that had *way* more bigger waves than this place, yet visibility was fine. Just last week I went abalone diving during high tide with some decent swell and visibility was fine. I returned the next day at low tide with minimal waves and swell and visibility had turned to crap. I don't get it.

 

[TMHeimer]

My experience is basically East Coast and Gulf of Mexico, but for there the short answer is no, you can't tell. If you can get close enough to see that in 3 feet of water you can see the bottom you may be OK. If you can see from afar the water looks chocolate, forget it. Sometimes here (NS, Gulf, etc.) it looks pretty good and is pretty waveless, but there is some surge (am sure you get enough of that there) and the sand/silt is stirred up way more than you would suspect. After a while you think you get a handle on what to expect, then you realize at times it still can just be a crapshoot.

 

[undrwater]

There are too many factors impacting visibility. Surface conditions being a small part.

 

[WarrenZ]

Usually the only way I can tell about visability is if I can look down and see the bottom then it is usually good visibility. It is hard to tell on shore dives where there isnt much of a drop off.

 

[Tassi Devil Diver]

Generally I find if the water has a blue look the vis is going to be good a cobalt blue it will be exceptional, if it starts look green then it will be reduced, the darker the green the worse the vis a kaki green through to brown very poor. The green tinge to water is often due to plankton and microscopic algae in the water.

 

[GCullen94]

Generally (Southern California experience) if the surface is blue, its going to be a good day, green is ok and coffee is bad relatively for the site.

 

[Littlerayray]

Wind and storms are a factor on the st lawrence especially an easterly wind that's blowing against the current but for you to have 3 feet of vis ain't too shabby I've dove in less but I also knew where I was and where I was going a lot of places around here have guide lines for this reason

 

[Basking Ridge Diver]

For shore diving on the East Coast a west wind is best - it seems to blow any of the "trash" and particulates out...
If you can get over the water (like an inlet wall) and drop a seashell - count how long you can see it before it disappears... Generally longer than 5 seconds is good around here... YMMV

 

[tursiops]

It's not just waves that stir up the bottom, it is also (and often more importantly) currents, for example from tides or winds or off-shore eddies. The tidal currents bring nice clear ocean water into the site during flood tides, so high tide will often be the clearest water, and lowest current. As for waves, it is the wave motion at the bottom that is important, and longer-period (more distance horizontally crest-to-crest) waves reach farther down into the water column. It takes a very high short-period wave to provide as much bottom disturbance as a quite low long-period wave. So don't look for the chop, look for the low swell.

 

[tbone1004]

bring a white PVC disc that has a lead weight attached to it. Keep it on a 30-40ft piece of line and drop it in. When you can't see it anymore, that's the official visibility. Called a Secchi disc btw