How low of a visibility can you stand?

[hugedodge2000]

As long as there is water covering my mask i'm happy!!!!!!!

 

[Ron Brandt]

I used to do work in black water.Thats no vis,period.

I like at leat 6-10 feet vis to teach in...some of my students don't.

Ron

 

[Floridawannabe]

I can dive in 0 Vis but would perfer Salwater with 100 ft Vis. Since I am in Missery I settle for the 5 to 20 ft Vis. I have been in water where I had to hold my SPG against my mask, not fun but still a dive but not a long dive.

 

[Dive-aholic]

I'm like Walter and Mike. It all depends on the goal of the dive. Every dive is enjoyable. Afterall, I'm diving!

I've never felt claustrophobic about it, but did have some issues at first. Now, negative vis is just fine. If I'm driving 2-3 hours to get to water, I'm diving it!

 

[dive_lover88]

i had my ow in near zero vist and in current and a couple in the same kind of environment before moving to clearer waters so i have not much of trouble of adjusting to diving in bad vist,which reminds me that i'm overdue in the water.

 

[tankboygreg]

I don't know that I have dove in worse than 5-10 visibility. If I can't keep track of my partner then I may as well call the dive. In California where I have done most of my diving if the vis is worse than 5-10 feet then the other conditions such as surge and swell are bad as well and I won't even dive.

 

[jiveturkey]

Maybe the question shouldn't be how low vis can you stand, but how low vis do you stand?

For those of you who said they have no problem with 0 vis, do you really enjoy that? If you're trying to build up your confidence or skills in low vis I can appreciate that but otherwise, what do you get out of it?

I've done lots of low vis dives but the worst was a night dive here in Korea after a typhoon. I had to put my gauges against my mask to read them. I couldn't see my buddy's face from inches away. The dive didn't last long because it was no fun. We could have completed the dive as planned but neither of us was enjoying it so we thumbed it.

 

[andydiver06]

We often dive in few mm viz . Some of the customers really freak out but the the trick is to be patient and ensure you are not damaging anything hold onto some object (like the bow railing of the wreck we often dive) and the fish really come very close to you. After sometime you forget that you diving in zero viz. Buddy contact is important otherwise its a bore to surface and go back down. When I first dived in a place called Netrani with 40+m viz it was like aquarium and a fantastic feeling. Navigation was so easy. But I think as long I get a chance to dive whether it is zeo viz or 40m its ok with me. When we take AOW students for deep dive ( 25 m) in zero viz its is really experience for them. We call it cofee pot diving.

 

[Cacia]

ha ha, here, I must come clean. I think I am a pretty good diver...some days I think I am a hot shot and I know everything. Then the viz drops below 60 feet and I come unglued. It's true...my dirty dark secret.---I freak if it is less than 40ft. I imagine giant sharks, out of nowhere striking my body, I fear monofilament, eels,...all the bogeymen of the deep. I laugh at other people's mishaps until I realize the viz they are diving in....I can barely keep it together mentally under 40 ft. Seriously, it is easy to be alone if you see five other divers 100 feet from you, in 200 foot viz. Let it drop to under 30 feet and you are alone... I shoot my marker and count the minutes. :25:

 

[ScubaMike14]

1) At what visibility level do you no longer enjoy the dive?

Depends on the goal of the dive and if I can switch the goal to match the viz.

2) At what visibility level do you start to feel claustrophobic?

I don't.

I'm with Walter on this one. Looking for sharks teeth in Venice, FL? Zero to about 6 inches is a good day.

Night diving when your primary craps out and you realize your secondary light is back on the boat? Instant blackness where freaking out is not an option.

I think everyone should practice diving in limited to zero visibility and try to get familiar/comfortable with it. If you can handle yourself in vis like that, you become a much better diver and tend to enjoy the days with great vis even more.

Mike Rushton