adurso
Contributor
This guy was in less than 12 feet:
I am a shallow diver...
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adurso
Contributor
adurso
Contributor
Blackwood
Contributor
There is also the conundrum - for a 10 foot dive, where should do your safety stop?
15 feet.
gorgeous!
adurso
Contributor
These were all under 16 feet; it is great spending two hours or so floating around
OP
sabbath999
Contributor
Looks like a LOVELY place to dive!
Sas
Contributor
Yea it is beautiful! Freshwater diving and the viz can be at least 80m (as the first pond is 80m across and you can see from one side to the other
). If you are interested this video that my buddy filmed and I edited of our dive there (it's a long video with a few sites but the Ewens Ponds stuff is at the start): Mt Gambier diving on Vimeo
BioLogic
Contributor
I have done heaps of shallow diving actually. The shore diving around here tends to be in 10m or less and I often do night shore dives during the week and on the weekend if I can't get on the boat. In summer it is nice because I can do a dive for over two and a half hours on one tank
Also it has helped enormously with my buoyancy... One guy I did my Cave course with came out with me for a shallow night dive last week and after the dive said 'I can see where you get your buoyancy control from!'
One of my favourite shallowist dives was at a place called Ewens Ponds. Three ponds that get down to about 10m but the ponds are connected via these shallow passages with beautiful scenery in them that are about 1m. I actually spent more time in the passages than the ponds themselves....
I'd eat bugs for ponds that looked like that (and I'm vegetarian)... ours are of the 'too thick to drink and too thin to plow' variety
Even on shore dives to moderate depths it's always nice to play in the shallows near the exit to wind down and burn up extra air. Crystal clear water and bright light are common and make for pretty viewing. Any bottom time is good and provides an experience most will only dream of.
Pete
Pete
Oh, I can think of all KINDS of fantastic dive experiences (and whole dives!) spend in less than 30 feet of water.
kidspot took us over the reef at Honolua Bay on Maui -- we were in 4' of water, just floating over the top of the coral, watching the hordes of reef fish.
In Bunaken, we did deep wall dives, but for me, the best part was coming up over the top of the walls into the "fishbowl". The top of the reef was packed with fish, and covered in stunning tunicates and crinoids. Some dives, I couldn't wait to get shallow.
Last winter, I did several dives with NW Grateful Diver, where we went hunting lumpsuckers. These are charming little fish that look like miniature helicopters, and they're found in 10 feet or so of water. We spent over an hour in the shallow eelgrass, watching them and also finding stubby squid, market squid, pipefish and other interesting eelgrass denizens.
Yesterday, I had my dry suit valve malfunction, and I was stuck in 13 feet of water, unwilling to cope with more squeeze. So we cruised the Edmonds eelgrass and took photographs. We found colonies of hooded nudibranchs, as well as photogenic egg yolk jellies and pile and surf perch.
And of course, no discussion of very shallow diving would be complete without a mention of NoHoch na Chih, one of the most decorated cave systems in the Yucatan, with an average depth of about 15 feet:
kidspot took us over the reef at Honolua Bay on Maui -- we were in 4' of water, just floating over the top of the coral, watching the hordes of reef fish.
In Bunaken, we did deep wall dives, but for me, the best part was coming up over the top of the walls into the "fishbowl". The top of the reef was packed with fish, and covered in stunning tunicates and crinoids. Some dives, I couldn't wait to get shallow.
Last winter, I did several dives with NW Grateful Diver, where we went hunting lumpsuckers. These are charming little fish that look like miniature helicopters, and they're found in 10 feet or so of water. We spent over an hour in the shallow eelgrass, watching them and also finding stubby squid, market squid, pipefish and other interesting eelgrass denizens.
Yesterday, I had my dry suit valve malfunction, and I was stuck in 13 feet of water, unwilling to cope with more squeeze. So we cruised the Edmonds eelgrass and took photographs. We found colonies of hooded nudibranchs, as well as photogenic egg yolk jellies and pile and surf perch.
And of course, no discussion of very shallow diving would be complete without a mention of NoHoch na Chih, one of the most decorated cave systems in the Yucatan, with an average depth of about 15 feet:
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