Scram Bulleggs:
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.