Keeping in mind that this is BASIC scuba...

[Darnold9999]

As someone else said - often poor vis = lots of nutrients in the water = lots to see. Yes you have to get close but so what.

Cold, I agree. I gave up diving here PNW for many years in large part because putting on two layers of skin tight 3/8ths neoprene was just way to much work and at any significant depth it was like wearing a t-shirt in a blizzard. Now I have a dry suit and the cold is no big deal. More trouble to gear up than tropical diving, but the life around here is well worth the trouble. As much or more to see than most tropical diving I have done.

Do a search for Browning Wall, Dodds Narrows, Race Rocks or Quadra Island - cold water diving at its best. Life so thick that you can't see the rock it is attached to.

 

[ligersandtions]

I wanted to thank Peter for posting those pics....when I saw this thread, my first thought was to steal some of the great socal pics (and give credit where credit is due, cause I hardly even know how to operate a camera!), but much of what we have in socal is similar to what they get in the PNW. There are lots of cool critters....tons of life....and KELP!

I mainly shore dive, which inherently has worse visibility than you'll get off a boat dive. But I do it because I love it and partly for the challenge. Additionally, the more challenging, colder, worse visibility dives I do, the bigger the treat it is to have that one magical dive (however, I can't imagine any warm water dive being better than the amazing dives I've done in socal).

A little thermal protection (drysuit) and a nice dive light go a long way to making colder, less vis dives SPECTACULAR! I do it because I love it....and I just happen to live in an area that has cold water and amazing diving.

 

[Sas]

I am a fairly new diver and I love local diving. I don't like the heat so I am glad I live in a temperate diving location. Water is 8C at its coldest, 23C at its warmest where I live. I am not looking forward to summer at all for diving or just in general (I spent my air conditioner savings on dive gear this year...). With diving, in summer the viz will get worse (will drop from an average of 5-10m to 0-5m from what I have heard), air temperature can be as high as 40C, I have to go back to my wetsuit, I'll probably get sunburned, the dive sites will have way more divers, traffic will be nightmarish to and from dive sites with beachgoers, parking at the place I get a charter from will become paid from 24 Dec-30 April, and so on. But despite all that, I will keep diving through summer as I love it so much.

Colder waters have more life I have heard. Also apparently it is more colourful and diverse where I dive. I have heard this from my buddy and a few other friends mainly who has dived in warmer waters, as I have never dived in the tropics myself so can't really compare . I did dive in Hurghada a few years ago but don't remember what it was like. Booked for PNG next year, which I hear is warm, but now I wish I'd picked somewhere cold for my trip Like Ireland or something cos then I could visit my family as well! When I was new to diving, and booked the trip, I figured only warm places would be good for diving

I love diving, I will dive in any viz, any conditions (well as long as they are safe), and any temperature. If I don't see anything, I will still enjoy the dive. I don't get people who require awesome viz and warm water, I really don't. But to each their own really.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

All of the previous shots are from Marineland, Rancho Palos Verdes, CA except the last one, which is from Redondo Canyon.
Most of my dives are in the 2-8' vis range. I consider 15' to be a real treat. I don't shoot a lot of wide angle, but there is so much macro life to see. It also helps my air consumption, as I spend a lot of time hovering over the same rock. I've had two hour dives when I didn't cover more than 100 feet.

 

[Beachlover]

If MaxBottomtimes' pictures don't do it for you,then nothing will. I dive simply for the joy and peace that the ocean gives me. Diving is good for my soul.

 

[NudeDiver]

I really am curious as I know I will never ever dive cold or with low vis. Seems quite pointless to me.

Then I can't imagine why you care why the rest of us do....

FWIW, my BEST dive was in the nasty, dark and cold water of Alaska. The sea lions are awesome!! Better than my 50 dives on the Great Barrier Reef. Better than my dives in the Red Sea. Those are often rated as the #1 and #2 diving locations in the world. But if all you dive are the perfect, prissy and easy sites - I guess that's all you'll never know.

 

[funkcanna]

I started diving 8 years ago in the North Sea (England) and to be honest, I loved it! Max 8-10mtr vis on far out wrecks and maybe 3 mtr closer to shore - AND VERY COLD! There is plenty to see and in fact you see more when your visibility is restricted as you fully focus your attention on the small area you can see rather than having it distracted by too much in the distance. I recall one winter we went to an inland quarry (Capernwray) and we had to break ice to get in the water!

However as much as I loved the diving, the fact was that due to the poor weather it made diving fairly infrequent and so I altogether stopped going due to multiple frustrations. Diving is only good if you are diving!

Now I live in the UAE and am diving again and I tell you I love it! I love the diving just as much but what makes it all better is that I can go any day I want without fear of zero vis or cold. It makes the whole experience much better.

I guess overall, diving is diving and it is great anywhere, but for me it was the external factors outside of the actual being under the water that made the negative difference when I lived in England.

 

[El Orans]

If you dive in the cold (anywhere you need a 5mm or more) and where vis is typically less than 10ft, why do you dive?

If I didn't, I would only get to dive one or two weeks a year.

That, to me, is unacceptable.

 

[austriandiveress]

I see cold water dives like many others, as the chance to practice skills. I learned in a 7 mil suit in cold water; it was a struggle for a lot of reasons. By the time I did an ocean dive I had mastered my skills sufficiently to start to enjoy the incredible underwater life.
In the lakes here we have a ton of fish, some on the pretty large side. Also a good deal of stuff people discarded, that I find interesting, like old porcelain, etc. And I've done a night dive with absolutly no vis... it was a fascinating experience!

 

[bdshort]

I dive in SE Alaska most of the time, and I've been in vis here anywhere from <3' to 100'. The 3' dive was kind of fun even though I didn't see anything at all. I think the water temp is a moot point... I've been warmer up here at the end of dives in 45 degree water wearing my drysuit than when I was diving in the Florida Keys in water in the low 70's wearing my 3 mil wetsuit, so the temperature can be delt with. You're really missing out if you don't dive in cold water just cause it's cold.