How low of a visibility can you stand?

[erparamedic]

I try to enjoy every dive... and thus far, I have.... some are just better than others! I only feel closterphobic on my 1st initial decent of the day, in the murky quarry... and I deal with it just fine. Once I get down about 4-5 feet, I'm ok. I really prefer to have viz at least 10 feet, but that's almost not possible in the mud holes around here. But I've dove in 6 inches of viz... without a light, and did fine.

Now, anything less than 2-3 feet of viz, and my hubby and I are holding hands, so not to lose each other. I would get a little nervous if I didn't know where he was.

All this mud pit diving makes my ocean dives in pristine water even nicer!

 

[wardric]

I did a dive once where I really could not see my hand an inch from my mask. Wasn't unconfortable but didn't really enjoy it except for the experience of it. It was in a river called Black river.

Low viz dives are a different experience, since you discover the features at the last second. Just like night diving. In fact, at noon, under 30' in some lake, you need a lamp anyway even if the viz under the thermocline is usually wayyyyy better than over it.

For example, last friday in lake Memphremagog, water was 75-76 F over 20 ft with a 3-5ft pea soup viz but lots of fish. Under 20 ft, water was 42 F with at least 20 ft viz but dark as the night so you needed a good lamp and no fish in sight. Dang that thermocline was hitting hard though. It's a clear line that your eyes can see and your mouth, cheeks and forehead can feel!!!

I like to have at least 5ft viz but a dive is a dive. Of course, I love 100ft+ viz dives too.

 

[wardric]

I must add I did an ice dive once in water so murky that you couldn't see the hole 10 ft from it (not even the "light" from it). that was a bit more uncomfortable i admit. I double checked my harness and line.

 

[TSandM]

It's interesting to me that the OP and others see the issue with low viz as being claustrophobia. This is something a lot of people who don't dive mention as a reason why they wouldn't consider doing it, too.

I've never felt at all claustrophobic underwater. I get disoriented in very low viz. I've never been able to identify enough cues (yeah, I know about watching the bubbles) to know whether I'm horizontal or vertical or, for that matter, where up and down ARE, and I start trying to correct deviations that don't exist and end up doing somersaults. That started with the very first mask off swim I did in OW. But claustrophobic? How can you feel enclosed when there are no limits around you that you can see?

 

[erparamedic]

I'm not sure what everyone else feels, but for me...

The first decent of the day in a murky quarry, I have (what I suspect) is a feeling of closterphobia. The only thing that I can see, all around me, is a "wall" of green or greenish brown.... and nothing else. I've never panicked on decent, but my air consumption goes up till I get down about 4-5 feet, then my breathing regulates, I get my "bearings" so to speak, and I'm fine the rest of the time. For my buddies, they don't notice any difference in me, except a few more bubbles. It's quite strange, really... and I pin this feeling to "closterphobia", though, maybe it's just a strange, wierd ME.

 

[fairybasslet]

But claustrophobic? How can you feel enclosed when there are no limits around you that you can see?

I never understood that either.
I remember doing a shore dive off Shelter Island and the vis was maybe 3 inches. It didn't really bother me because I basically knew where I was. However, my first time on a particular wreck in NC and the vis was about 1 foot, that was disconcerting. We didn't stray too far from the anchor line.

 

[Dive-aholic]

I'm not so I'm just speculating here, but I think it's like being afraid of the dark. The darkness seems to close in on you. As for the claustrophobia in clear vis, I just had someone tell me the other day that it's the thought of wearing "all the equipment" that makes her feel claustrophobic as well as being afraid of something going wrong and not having any air - again the feeling of being closed in, the tightness. Another way it's been described to me is "being somewhere we're not meant to be". It sounds ridiculous to me, but some people think that because we can't go there without mechanical means, that we shouldn't be there.

 

[erparamedic]

I just read part of a thread that you started... the one about having a "rattle". Maybe that's what my problem is... instead of being closterphobic.... it's that I don't have any visual reference, and I'm decending into an "unknown".

THAT'S IT!! The more I think about it... the more I feel it's not closterphobia, it's just an irrational fear of no visual reference. But once I'm down a few feet, that goes away, and my breathing regulates and off I swim... no problem.

Or maybe... I am just wierd.

 

[wilkie]

I'm curious to see what other divers think about bad visibility. Two questions:
1) At what visibility level do you no longer enjoy the dive?
2) At what visibility level do you start to feel claustrophobic?

If I have 10 feet or better I can enjoy the dive, and if the visibility is less than about 2' I start to feel uncomfortable, especially at deeper depths.

Two answers:
1) I need a good reason to dive in less than 10'- 15' viz. ; Examples, training, recovery of valuable items, ect.
2) I don't get claustrophobic, although I "feel" the lack of viz.(a bit like having a person that you don't know get "in your space") & some disorentation @ less than 1'.

Colder temp., depth, current, ect. combined with low visibility, IMO is not REC diving, your enjoyment requirements may vary.

 

[Charlie59]

I do not enjoy diving if the viz is less than 30 ft. Call me a wimp or something but it just doesnt' do much for me to fell like I need a light in the daytime. I feel claustriphobic at 5 ft if I am not familiar with the environment.

this makes diving in east texas torture. viva la carribean.