Diving in rainy days

[emoreira]

Hi all,
I was going to dive today in a lake some 450 km away from home. The weather report said that there was 50 % of probability of rains and electrical storms starting at midday. Finally it did rain after midday.
The dive trip was last minute suspended (we had to drive to the place on friday afternoon) because of the weather report.
I have no experience of diving in rainy days. I did dive cloudy days and being at 10 mts I could see the moments when the sun appears through the clouds as the sand bottom shines with the sun.

I would like to know your experience. Would you have cancelled ? Is it ugly to emerge and see the rain, with no dry place to remove your wet equipment ?

 

[Crowley]

There's nothing wrong with diving in the rain -it's not like you need to worry about getting wet! It might be a little uncomfortable after the dive but no reason not to enjoy the dive itself. I actually quite like the sensation of watching / hearing the rain when I'm underwater.

A lot of our favourite places to dive are in tropical areas where it rains a LOT! I'm a dive professional so cancelling dives on rainy days would put me out of business reeeealllly quickly!

One should generally avoid diving during electrical storms however. If you're at the surface of a large expanse of water during a lightning storm there is a slim but very real possibility that you might get hit by lightning. Several divers have unfortunately been killed in this fashion.

Hope that helps!

C.

 

[ivobj]

I also enjoy hearing the rain in the surface, no problem about diving in rainy days. Reinforce though that is dangerous to do it in electrical storms.

Sometimes the ocean got rough with the wind that may come toghether with the rain, in this case there would be unconfortable to navigate, specially for those that got seasick, but diving is ok

 

[Jasonmh]

I have no problem diving in rain, bad weather, etc. but I draw the line at electrical storms.

 

[Arizona]

We dive here in the rain as well and try to avoid lightening. Curious, how many divers are actually lost as a result of lightening each year? I've never heard of it in Thailand.

 

[Garrobo]

Yep. Rain? OK. Lightning? UH-UH! Stay inside and drink beer.

 

[scjoe]

It just depends upon whether the rain is going to create an urban runoff problem.

 

[Crowley]

We dive here in the rain as well and try to avoid lightening. Curious, how many divers are actually lost as a result of lightening each year? I've never heard of it in Thailand.

I don't have full statistics to hand but it's a very small figure.

Here's one article from 2007 and I know for sure there was another similar incident last year...

Lightning Kills Diver

 

[TSandM]

We dive in the rain all the time in Puget Sound. The big concerns are keeping the things that need to stay dry, dry, and how to stay warm during surface intervals.

But we are lucky not to have many electrical storms, and I would not dive if one were in the vicinity.

Sorry you drove so far for no diving!

 

[spectrum]

Hi all,
I would like to know your experience. Would you have cancelled ? Is it ugly to emerge and see the rain, with no dry place to remove your wet equipment ?

One of my old camping axioms has been that I can deal with cold or rain but when they come together it's a lot less fun. So if the temperature is going to be moderate and the rain not severe then I'd say go for it. Just remember that this is supposed to be fun.

Once lighting enters the equation it gets little tougher to be predictable. Lightning is notorious for either not happening of being very brief in duration. That makes it hard to rationally bag a weekend of fun. If you have the flexibility to wait out a particularly risky hour or so you can usually work around it just fine. Having access to good weather data at the dive site is a huge plus. You do not want to be diving or making related preparations in a lightniing storm.

Like anything else this is about managing risks. Be sure to consider other factors such as other recent rains that may have the site loaded with silt. If these are shore dives at a lake then the sudden effects of wind on the water are less concern than if in a boat of dubious size. Since you mention a significant drive and an over night stay your tolerance for risk may be reduced.

Diving in overcast or in benign showers can be rewarding. You of course will suffer some loss of natural light so bring your own. These same dim conditions will make critters braver and many of my best sightings have been on less than magnificent days.

Where I live it is rare to have a day that is a total wash-out for diving but it's not uncommon for it to be unsuitable for a period. Sometimes it's best to just suck it up and get chores done to liberate you to dive on future pristine days.

Pete