High or Low, how do you roll?

[do it easy]

OK, I was tooling around in the quarry this weekend and I realized that I like to be 1' or 2' off the bottom. I see other divers that are 5' or 10' (or more), off the bottom and they seem more comfortable there. I wondering if the vis made a difference? The vis around here isn't always great, so I tend to stay low to keep a reference, otherwise, I'm just swimming around in haze.

How close or far from the bottom do you like to be and what factors affect it?

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

OK, I was tooling around in the quarry this weekend and I realized that I like to be 1' or 2' off the bottom. I see other divers that are 5' or 10' (or more), off the bottom and they seem more comfortable there. I wondering if the vis made a difference? The vis around here isn't always great, so I tend to stay low to keep a reference, otherwise, I'm just swimming around in haze.

How close or far from the bottom do you like to be and what factors affect it?

For experienced divers it's really a matter of comfort and preference. For inexperienced divers, closer to the bottom makes buoyancy control easier. We're used to using visual cues, and the secret to buoyancy control is staying on top of it. So when you're 5 to 10 feet off the bottom you're less likely to notice that you're starting to stray upward a little bit than if you're 2 or 3 feet off the bottom ... and it tends to slow your reaction time to make the necessary compensations to maintain your buoyancy.

So for the newer diver, I'd say try to stay 2 or 3 feet off the bottom.

For us older divers, we need to stay closer to the bottom so we can manage to see stuff. Slowing down helps a lot too ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Ber Rabbit]

I enjoy studying the bottom, even in the quarry. I like looking at the leaves, the pattern the leaves make in the silt, their relationship to the pebbles and the big rocks. I also enjoy checking out fish nests, it's cool when you can actually see the eggs. I don't have a problem with being higher in the water column, I just like taking a close look at what I'm cruising over. I find that if I'm not mindful I'll do an entire dive with my gaze fixed on the bottom and my buddy in my peripheral vision while my mind goes into some fantasy world with the shapes and colors. I don't know if it's narcosis or hypnosis but it's very peaceful and I have to drag myself back to situational awareness.
Ber :lilbunny:

 

[REII]

If I am hunting Lobster, I stay fairly close to the bottom, looking into and under just about everything. If I am enjoying the scenery, or looking over a wreck, then I stay a few feet off the bottom / structure.

When I went to Belize to see the Whale sharks, we stayed up to conserve air, and then dropped down when someone saw something worth taking a look at.

TOM

 

[AZ Desert Diver]

I noticed this same thing with myself after having made just a few dives, I liked to stay high; however, when I got my buoyancy dialed in I was low and to the ground.

I think that it takes more buoyancy control to stay low than it does to say 5-10ft. above something.

 

[mikerault]

The problem with low is that unless you are very careful even the lightest kick leaves a silt trail to screw up others viz. I end up low but am trying to move a foot or two above the bottom to minimize silting for other divers.

Mike

 

[Charlie99]

For us older divers, we need to stay closer to the bottom so we can manage to see stuff.

I didn't get a prescription mask until after dive #20 or so, and being somewhat nearsighted tended to skim the reef a foot or less above it. Several abrupt, unexpected face-to-face encounters with morays convinced me that getting a prescription mask and getting a couple feet up off the reef was a good idea.

Now I alternative back and forth between nose-in-the-reef style of diving and a high altitude overview -- a couple minutes up close, then a little while at 5 or 10' off the reef.

 

[Al Mialkovsky]

We all love to follow those bottom hugging rototillers don't we?

 

[MSilvia]

We all love to follow those bottom hugging rototillers don't we?

I prefer to follow those who can be close to the bottom without churning it up. Rototillers can follow ME.

I'd say it depends on the dive objective, but most of the things I do underwater involve being near the bottom.

 

[erparamedic]

I like to "see" things... so if vis is good (which is 10 ft) in the quarry, then I'll hover, maybe 5 feet or more off the bottom. If it's bad, I'll be only a couple feet off the bottom. However... like one before me said... the rototillers can follow behind. I can't stand silt-outs! Now, I also can't stand "weeds" on the bottom. So, if there's a layer of weeds or grasses, I'm a couple feet over that.

I have been known to just swim around in the hazy green water column before. But, depending on what quarry I'm at, it can get a little creepy with no visual reference. Especially if vis isn't great... it's 60+ feet down, 25 feet to the top... but can't see the surface, and no side references.... kinda makes ya feel like the quarry monster is sizing ya up for dinner! LOL