Favorite Diving Depth

[Colliam7]

Does anyone have a favorite diving depth?

There seems to be a pretty clear consensus answer:

It's the depth that will allow me to see what I came to see.

Wherever the fish and coral are!

Depends on what you're going to see.

My favorite dive depth is where the good stuff is

Most of us dive to see ‘things’, or do ‘things’, and we go where the ‘things’ are, or can be done. If the fish are at 20, I dive at 20. If the wreck is at 170, I go to 170. If I am testing equipment and the platform I want to use is at 30, I go to 30. If I am just getting wet in the local quarry, the maximum depth is usually where the first thermocline is (usually 27-35). Or, if the viz in the local quarry is really poor in the 20-70 foot range, and opens up very nicely below that, and I am in my drysuit, I will dive at 80. Depth, per se, doesn’t really matter.

OK, I confess: there are some times when I dive a new wreck and I succumb to the 'head to the bottom first, stick my computer in the sand, then ascend to whatever the best depth to see the wreck might be' syndrome. Or, 'I want to hit 'X' one time on this trip so I just do it, and get it over with'.

 

[redacted]

The shallower that I can have an enjoyable dive the better. Longer dives and less loading. Love those 6 to 10 ft river dives. In Cozumel, Columbia Shallows at 25 ft is my favorite. If the good stuff is 100+ ft, then that is where I will be.

 

[BDSC]

I use to seem to hover in the 75 - 100ft range until I started doing video. Now I find myself more in the 25 - 50ft range because in general, there is still plenty of natural light for filming and there is way more stuff there to film than at 100ft.

 

[fjpatrum]

I'm going to go with "the one I'm at during the dive". Doesn't really matter as long as I'm diving I'm enjoying it. When that stops, I will too.

 

[Divejones]

Wherever you find interesting things to see, like here in Havelock we have a dive site called the Wall, very good life at about 21-25 Mtrs, another site it is about 30-33 mtrs, i guess it is mostly dictated by the dive site than the depth. IMHO

 

[KeithG]

As per Colliam7, it depends on the site.

But I tend to stay shallow in order to maximize my bottom. Any dive shorter than 60 minutes does not seem worth the effort of gearing up.

That said, my deepest dive (95 feet) on our last trip was also our longest (87 minutes). So we did go deep (to see Sargent major guarding eggs), but did not stay long.

I do not think it makes sense to fixate on depth. Hitting 73 or 124 feet does not make a dive "better". It all depends upon the scenery. I have spent 45 minutes at 17 feet watching a herd of shrimp under a stump. It was a great dive.

So ignore depth (except for NDL & gas consumption) and dive at what ever safe depth gives you the best dive.

 

[Adam Grose]

I personally prefer to stay around 30-35 ft... best working depth for me.


Adam

 

[Tool Belt]

60-100' is usually pretty good for shell collecting, but any depth fro 0 to 130' that has that is my favourite.

Shell collecting?

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Depends on where and when I'm diving ... and what I went there to see. One of my all-time favorite dive sites is a place called Mozino Point, in Nootka Sound (west coast of Vancouver Island). Different depths offer different views ... and they're all spectactular. At its deepest ... 150-200 feet ... you'll find literal forests of colorful gorgonian corals. In the 90-120 foot range it's predominantly cloud sponges. At 60-100 feet, strawberry anemones compete with the larger, plumose anemones for every available surface. Above 60 feet it's kelp forest. And each habitat attracts its own species of marine life, which further adds to the attraction. I'd be hard-put to say which depth I like the best ... they all offer their own unique attractions.

Closer to home, preferred depth depends a great deal on time of year. Summer and early fall I tend to prefer going deep ... both to get under the plankton and because of the type of critters I'm likely to encounter on deeper dives. Late fall and winter I prefer hanging out in the eel grass ... or in the shallows just below it ... because that area becomes a nursery, and I'm guaranteed to see quite a lot of really nice macro life there ... I rarely get below 30 feet on those dives, and am often spending significant time at less than 10 feet. In the spring I prefer doing multilevel dives ... dividing my time pretty much equally between deep and shallow ... because I never know what I'll encounter.

So the short answer is that my favorite diving depth is wherever the stuff I'm going to look at happens to be ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[vladimir]

Shell collecting?

The gathering of the exoskeletons of mollusks for decoration, conchology, etc.