Shore diving in shallow water (sloshed around by the waves when underwater)

[RXTdiver]

I was diving right off the beach in about 4 - 5 feet of water. I deflated my BCD and went underwater. The waves were tossing me around a bit. I have some questions about this.

1. After deflating my BCD, I was down probably only foot or two, so I was still about 2 feet above the bottom. I couldn't get any lower because as it turns out I wasn't weighted enough. If I were able to go down further, does this effect (being tossed around by the waves) tend to diminish?

2. If I went a little further out towards the ocean, would this effect diminish?

3. Anytime I experience this effect, is there anything you can do to not feel sick like focusing on something or anything else?

 

[arew+4]

The depth of the wave action will depend on the height of the waves relative to the depth. 2 ft waves in 5 ft of water would be like 16 ft waves in 40 ft of water. A 2 ft wave at 40 ft would be almost imperceptible.

 

[tursiops]

I was diving right off the beach in about 4 - 5 feet of water. I deflated my BCD and went underwater. The waves were tossing me around a bit. I have some questions about this.

1. After deflating my BCD, I was down probably only foot or two, so I was still about 2 feet above the bottom. I couldn't get any lower because as it turns out I wasn't weighted enough. If I were able to go down further, does this effect (being tossed around by the waves) tend to diminish?

2. If I went a little further out towards the ocean, would this effect diminish?

3. Anytime I experience this effect, is there anything you can do to not feel sick like focusing on something or anything else?

I don't understand the first part of (1); why you couldn't get deeper than 1-2 ft. Were you in a wetsuit? The compression at 1-2 ft vs 4-5 ft is almost identical. Were you actually underwater, or were you actually floating, or partially floating?

 

[johndiver999]

yes, the deeper you go, the less energy from the waves. If you want to move through a high energy, shallow area, you will be very happy to have extra lead on that allows you to crawl/swim and hug the bottom. I would probably wear an extra 6 or more pounds of lead.

The last question about feeling bad.. it can be extremely disorienting to move through sandy zone and it can cause dizziness and vertigo. It can make you puke. I have suffered from it. You need to concentrate on your hand and not look at the sand too much, but I still suffer from it sometimes. The best solution is to move through the zone as fast as possible and minimize the exposure to the stimulus..

 

[RXTdiver]

I don't understand the first part of (1); why you couldn't get deeper than 1-2 ft. Were you in a wetsuit? The compression at 1-2 ft vs 4-5 ft is almost identical. Were you actually underwater, or were you actually floating, or partially floating?

I couldn't get deeper because as it turns out I wasn't carrying enough weight. I was in a 3 mm wetsuit. Yes I was actually underwater maybe a foot or two below the surface as far as I can tell. I don't think I was floating but I might have been partially floating.

 

[RXTdiver]

yes, the deeper you go, the less energy from the waves. If you want to move through a high energy, shallow area, you will be very happy to have extra lead on that allows you to crawl/swim and hug the bottom. I would probably wear an extra 6 or more pounds of lead.

The last question about feeling bad.. it can be extremely disorienting to move through sandy zone and it can cause dizziness and vertigo. It can make you puke. I have suffered from it. You need to concentrate on your hand and not look at the sand too much, but I still suffer from it sometimes. The best solution is to move through the zone as fast as possible and minimize the exposure to the stimulus..

Thank you. I was hoping for something like this (the part in bold).

I guess I will have to try more weight next time.

 

[tursiops]

I couldn't get deeper because as it turns out I wasn't carrying enough weight. I was in a 3 mm wetsuit. Yes I was actually underwater maybe a foot or two below the surface as far as I can tell. I don't think I was floating but I might have been partially floating.

Have you taken a scuba class?

 

[chrisch]

I couldn't get deeper because as it turns out I wasn't carrying enough weight. I was in a 3 mm wetsuit. Yes I was actually underwater maybe a foot or two below the surface as far as I can tell. I don't think I was floating but I might have been partially floating.

The laws of physics disagree. If you can sink 2 feet you can sink to the bottom. Once you have water 100% above you will continue to sink until you add gas to the BCD.

 

[Chavodel8en]

All the sloshing around is why I surface swim (you can swim much faster on the surface) out a bit before I descend - yes, of course there is less wave and surge action as you get in deeper water

 

[gamon]

(you can swim much faster on the surface)

I always feel like I make better progress when I drop down from the surface and swim closer to the bottom but hey that's just me and it could be my imagination I never did it under controlled test conditions.