Low Vis?

[MaconBubbles]

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.

See, that's why I like "no vis." You really get to play with your compass. I guess I like the challenge of that game where you have no visual markers to help you. Of course, that's not to say I've never gotten lost...but it's fun trying. It so weird when you're certain you must be going in the wrong direction, only to find out you made it to where you wanted to be.

 

[RonFrank]

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?

For me 5 feet of vis means that you can see about five feet. So one could see a diver five feet away, but not well. At 6 feet one would have a difficult time seeing the diver, and at 7 or 8 feet you would loose site of the diver all together.

Vis is a funny thing however because it changes. A low vis dive may mean that at times you have 10 feet of vis, and at other times almost no vis. We dive the CO lakes a few times a year, and the bottom is often black silt. What starts out as 10 foot of vis can quickly become zero vis if someone hits the bottom.

I use a 10W HID to help people locate me UW, and my buddies tell me it helps. Unfortunately most of my buddies do not have this type of light, so I have issues finding them if we get separated.

Low vis divers are tough, no doubt. I've watched as many a CO WWW (warm water wuss) tropical diver who feels confident and in control becomes a complete train wreck even on dives where the vis is reasonable for our lakes. Unfortunately this often leads to them kicking up the bottom, or worst hitting the bottom like a bomb, and then what was already a difficult dive due to low vis becomes even more so.

Low vis diving is not for everyone, and is not nearly as enjoyable as drifting a reef at Coz with 150 feet of visibility, and lush marine life abounding. OTOH, if you train, and practice in low vis conditions it really gets you prepared for some of the more challenging conditions that one can find in the ocean on a given day.

Recently I was diving in Largo, and on the Grove the vis was maybe 15~20 feet with very strong currents, and heavy particles in the water. Many found this dive very challenging, and some did not enjoy it at all. In fact two of our party blew right off the ship and did not even know it, and had to be rescued by the Coast Guard Helicopter. I OTOH, enjoyed the dive very much, and I'm very sure that it is due to my experience with diving under low vis conditions.

 

[Scram Bulleggs]

While decending just kinda slowly went down with my arm outstretched hoping maybe it would clear at the bottom. Never saw the bottom. I don't think I could have read a compass in the vis. Then again never being under there before I don't think I had anyplace I would have been swimming towards anyway.

I can just imagine the feeling of a face down decent into an old anchor

 

[Jimmer]

I learned to dive 14 years ago when I was 11, and up until February of this year I had only dove in fresh water in Ontario. Then I went to Cuba on Vacation and did a tropical dive. Myself and another Canadian I met at the resort went diving and our buoyancy was awesome, I had 1800 PSI in my tank when this guy from Argentina was sharing air with the DM, myself and the other guy from up here were hovering just off the downline on our safety stops while everyone else clinged to the line. I definetly felt my training and experience in low viz murky mucky water was what made the difference. So while it may not be enjoyable, it is totally worth it as a training aid.

 

[rawls]

There is something about low visibility diving that attracts me. I guess it's the eeriness of it.

 

[Web Monkey]

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

It's actually very relaxing once you get past the idea of needing to see to dive.

You can slowly glide along the bottom, and actually touch it to make sure you're not flying up (or down), or even just hang out and hover for a while.

This isn't something you want to do on a wall dive, but over a hard bottom, it's really pretty cool.

Terry

 

[Walter]

For me 5 feet of vis means that you can see about five feet. So one could see a diver five feet away, but not well. At 6 feet one would have a difficult time seeing the diver, and at 7 or 8 feet you would loose site of the diver all together.

That's 7 or 8 feet of visibility, not 5. When measuring visibility, instead of guessing like we usually do, the disk is taken out on the tape measure until it can no longer be seen. It is then reeled in until it can barely be made out. That distance is marked as the visibility.

 

[jeckyll]

In my log book, I no longer track viz as a number, exactly because it's so hard to judge.

I use: Bad. OK. Good.

Then I went to Port Hardy, we could see the anemones at the bottom 80 fsw down. So I added " " to the viz column

 

[Guba]

I went diving in a little lake yesterday. Above the first thermocline (at 12 feet), vis was 6-8 feet. In my book, that means I could see my buddy and recognize him as a diver. We went lower and, if you had a really good dive light, you could see about two feet. The area has had a lot of rain and run-off lately, and that has really messed up our area lakes. Needless to say, our tanks lasted a looooong time, because we wanted to see the little fishes.

 

[pawclaws]

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.

So did you ever find him or is he still out there?