High or Low, how do you roll?

[FunkyDiver]

I'm a new diver (14 dives so far), but one of the things my instructor emphasized was not getting so close that your kicks raise lots of silt. I agree with Tigerman. I like to be close but probably not more than an arms length away so I can see all the neat stuff on the bottom, but it's far enough that as long as I concentrate on it, I don't muck it up for everybody else

 

[do it easy]

He Do_it_easy, I am assuming you are talking about Haigh. Bet you had a beautiful day on Sunday! Too Bad I couldn't make it out for closing day.

Yeah, we did a long dive around the quarry, and when I looked back, there was a pair of buddies close to the bottom, and behind them was another pair higher up. Then I realized that I was nose to nose with the snails. I swear they are trying to write me messages in the silt, but that's besides the point.

I'm actually shocked to see so few responses for swimming high off the bottom. I would have bet money that most people cruise around higher up.

 

[Sasquatch]

With the Viz the way it is in the PNW, and with the abundance of small bottom dwellers, if I was 5 - 10 feet off the bottom, I would see a whole lot of nothing, unless you count the water as seeing something.

At least at the sites I dive, I think you would be missing out on a ton of critters if you were that far off the bottom.

Tim

I agree but if the viz is decent I enjoy the sensation of flying over the bottom features and the higher the better to get that feeling of defying gravity. Usually, here in Puget Sound, I "fly" about three feet from the bottom.

Sea ya!

 

[spectrum]

I had an intersting experience.....

Last year when I started diving I had a mask with bifoacal inlays, Great near and far vision. I realized that I did tend to travel close to the bottom, 1-2 feet up I'd say. You learn good buoyancy control that way!

This July I lost that mask on a back roll (lesson learned) and went to my non prescription back-up mask. A few dives latter I realized that I was tending to travel at least a few feet higher. Given our typical visibility detail starts to suffer if I go much higher.

What I realized was the the clarity of the near vision correction was sucking me down to its sweet spot. With the correction gone I backed off some. I'm OK uncorrected but I'm looking for a middle of the road long term solution.

Pete

 

[piikki]

Thinking … seems like 3-4ft’ish is my common cruising altitude on local lake dives. If there was something to see, I bet I was closer to bottom. When traveling from point A to B for longer distances, I stay further off, say 10-15ft as long as viz allows because it just does not add much to the ride to stare into the mud, I just want to 'get there'. When on larger wrecks I like to stay maybe 5-6ft off the structure/deck if current permits. I like that viewpoint … and also because I am still worried that I will touch something that I am not supposed to. I rarely dive in groups, and the more divers the further from ‘items’ I stay. I don’t like getting cornered or pushed into things.

 

[Paco]

For me it depends on where I´m diving. In one of our local lakes where there are a lot of rocks on the bottom, I enjoy pulling myself along he bottom with the rocks. I don´t have to fin at all for long periods. In other environments, I might swim along more off the bottom, especially when the viz is pretty good.

 

[ZzzKing]

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

I refer to these as Zen dives. You can't see anything so your main sensory sensation is the sound of breathing in and out.

 

[Gary D.]

I did a dive about a week ago where we stayed 600' above the bottom.

Playing on Pond Oreille? I got you beat, mine was 35,638 off the bottom.

Gary D.

 

[TSandM]

Locally, I'm a bottom dweller. Get too far up, and you miss all the fun little stuff.

In Indonesia, I was 600 feet off the bottom, like Rick. But I was real close to the wall

 

[dive_lover88]

It depends really. I would stick to my plan. If i want to see bigger stuff, i would be high away from the bottom. If i want to see the small stuff then i would stick to the bottom. In bad vist condition i would do the same thing, but i will not let the bottom out of my sight. The lower the vist gets i would get lower to the bottom.