Low Vis?

[Scram Bulleggs]

I read many of you talk about your low vis and no vis dives. I always assumed that meant crappy vis.

Went out in a local lake with my sister. She was wearing a brand spanking new neon yellow tank and I could not see that past 3 feet away. Could not see the rest of her nor my own gauges without really working at it. Never saw the bottom.

We were in an unfamiliar place and I called the dive before we ever really got started.
I just kept envisioning swimming square into a tree covered with fishing line.

My question is when you people say 5 foot vis as conditions what really does that mean? 5 foot away you can make out a shape or at 5 foot you can see things no problem?

At either rate that type of vis is out for me.

 

[skdvr]

That is the type of stuff that we run into in Mo all the time... I actually like it some times. It definitely makes you appreciate good or even decent vis when you get it...

Phil

 

[TSandM]

There's no hard and fast definition of what "five foot viz" means, but to me, it means that I can spot and identify my buddy at that distance -- at least as a diver, if not identify in the sense of being able to see him well enough to recognize him. But if my buddy is just a dark shape with a light tank on it and a dimly glowing dive light at five feet, I'm going home. There just isn't enough fun in that kind of viz for me.

Ten feet I can cope with, but nose-in-the-kelp diving doesn't have enough reward.

 

[NorthWoodsDiver]

I like the no viz diving and actually go in no viz all the time. I believe if you can stay calm and do anything you should need to do in no viz conditions than you are a much safer diver in all conditions. just the other day I did my first real NO viz dive for a recovery operation. when I hit bottom at 32 ft I couldnt see my computer screen at all and had to resort to touching my analog gauge right up to my mask to see depth and pressure. I could make out the shadow of my hand 4-6 inches from my face and thats it. lights dont even help much in those conditions. the key is if possible find bottom and sit there and relax a second, get your compass and than continue the dive. assuming you can read a compass that is. another thing to do is avoid over gearing yourself, that reduces stress alot so on low viz dives we put the dive flag on an anchor so you dont have to worry about tangles with it. I always carry a backup air supply on low viz dives even if its shallow. no cameras are needed. hope that helps.

 

[Jimmer]

I've done a lot of low to no vis diving, most of my training was in a quarry with terrible vis. I normally consider my vis rating as how far away I can see my buddy without losing him. I've also done dives on wrecks at 70 and 110 feet with 3 foot vis. We like to refer to that as diving by braille, and it's not a whole lot of fun, but it's still diving.

 

[PerroneFord]

Here in Florida, especially in the springs, we rarely get those kinds of conditions. I was lucky enough very early in my diving to catch one of the local springs with very low vis.

Essentially, with my buddy in front of me, and his fins about to touch my mask, I couldn't see his tank. Vis was about 3-4ft max. We did three half-hour dives in that. This was a HUGE change from the normal 50-100+ vis that I had been exposed to up to that point.

I never dealt with anything harder until I went to cave. Lights out, there is nothing. Literally. Sensory deprivation black. A few minutes of that, and the backlight on your computer will look like a strobe!

 

[sberanek]

I did my AOW navigation and underwater naturalist part in a lake that in areas had 8-10' visibility then all of a sudden almost zero vis. My buddy and I were swimming along doing our skills, vis went to crap and something hooked my arm. I couldn't see my arm let alone what was holding it, but my brain at least was like "well, there's no teeth so it's OK." I grabbed my buddies leg to stop him and put my face right up to my wrist. I think I had a branch on my arm, but not really sure. I put my finger right up to my buddy's mask in the "we're going up signal", he nodded into it and we went up.

I'm looking forward to Jamaica in September... never been, but the prospect of visiblity so great that the only reason you can't see farther is because the bottom gets in the way seems amazing to me. No drastic thermoclines and 7mil farmer john's either.

-Shannon

 

[MaconBubbles]

For me, it's been something I've learned to enjoy the more I do it. I hated it at first. Sometimes where I dive almost weekly, you cannot see your buddy 5' away. You might catch a glimpse of a brightly-colored fin. I've just learned to go very slow and try to notice things that I can see well, like a fish swimming right in front of me. If I see a tiny little fish, I will stop and watch it until I can't see it anymore, then I will continue on. It's scarey to be going fast and run upon a tree or something where you can't tell what it is until you're right up on it. Who knows...I may hate it again after my next trip to clear water...but only for awhile.

 

[paradicio]

Did my OW navigation at Shaw's Cove in Laguna. Vis was about 10ft that day, and so the instructor took the divemaster out to a point, left him there, then came back to give us the compass coordinates to go find him and bring him back. As soon as we swam away from the instructor vis dropped from 10ft to about 1ft.

I'm with TSandM on this one, I don't mind "low vis" diving, it's the "no vis" that's just not fun for me.

 

[Spratman]

Not something I relish doing, but when the students are in full break dance mode, we get very low viz. If I'm talking five foot viz, that mean how far I in front of me I see my buddy's fin.

Last Sunday, it was about three feet. We were hanging at about 40', the bottom like 65' and looked like 2% milk. You have to rely on compass headings and fin kicks to know where you are.

Pretty much what has been mentioned before....if you can get comfortable in that crap, you can pretty much handle anything. This is where a lot of warm water divers get in trouble. Coming up to the NE and hitting the water with 30ft viz. A storm blows in and goes to crap. Now what?? I'm sure it's the same in the NW as well.