underwater white out

[MadisonK]

Anybody ever get into an underwater blizzard? Our dive today had 8-10 feet of vis up until 30 minutes into it. As I headed back to the boat the visibility went to less than the length of my arm when a large cloud of white stuff moved in. I could not see my fingertips and I am not exagerating. I'm glad I took a navigation course! PS - we were diving off of Peaches Point in Marblehead - there were swells but we were out of the wind and the chop.

 

[johlar]

How deep were you

 

[MyDiveLog]

It happens here in Ca to me when diving through notches in the reef. A big wave breaks over the reef and everything turns to 'snow' ... can be a bit upsetting to new divers and exacerbate bouyancy problems. Aerated water is less dense, so they start to sink, so they add too much air to the BC, and end up surfacing in about the worst possible place.

Sounds like you did a great job handling it, relying on your nav skills. Nice work!

 

[MadisonK]

How deep were you

we were in 15-25' of water diving for lobsters (actually got a total of six- not bad given the vis) The white out came with the rising tide. I think with all of the rocky islands around and the punding surf most of the debris was pulled offshore until the tide turned around. My friend was diving the opposite side of the boat and he had the same experience (we dive solo when lobster diving).