Visibility...what a concept

[BillM777]

Visibility (noun) vi-zə-ˈbi-lə-tē: being able to see things that are beyond your reach; seeing the bottom while descending before you bump into it. surfacing with your buddy even though you were frequently separated by 20' or more; looking up from 90' and seeing your dive boat

This week I found the stuff is pretty common in Hawaii. I hadn't really noticed it in Texas.

After one of the dives the dive master was apologizing for the poor visibility (about 20' - due to the big swells) and said it was the worst he had seen. I just laughed. The next day it was back to 100'+

 

[Voodoo Reef]

Spoken like a true Swamp Diver!

 

[ZzzKing]

Good visibility is for the weak of heart and mind.

 

[JessH]

Heres a little tip. If you start getting freaked out by seeing all that stuff do a night dive with no lights. It will make you feel right at home again. That is atleast until your eyes adjust to the moonlight coming down through the water and the phosphorescents in it; then you can unfortunately see the boat again. On second thought, just come back to Texas. That good visibility stuff is for sissies.

~Jess

 

[drdiver1952]

This is true. You appreciate seeing things in Texas viz--you gotta get so close to them!

 

[Pearldiver07]

Yeah - when I was a DM I was used to assisting classes in Stillhouse Hollow - for those of you who don't know it, SH makes most lakes look crystal clear.

Anyway, the Army had me stationed in Arizona, so I was assisting with a class down in San Carlos, Mexico. The instructor was near panic, considering cancelling her class's dives because surge had knocked the viz down to the 20' range. Apparently, she'd never dived fresh water.

I considered it to be so easy that it wasn't even worth logging as reduced viz. Funny what your experience and perception will do to how you view that very same situation.

 

[redacted]

Good visibility in TX lakes just mean you can see not much from further away. With normal visibility, at least you can enjoy the suspense.

 

[raider11]

I considered it to be so easy that it wasn't even worth logging as reduced viz. Funny what your experience and perception will do to how you view that very same situation.

That´s funny, I got use to dive in 20´viz or lower since my checkout, so now I only log details of viz when it´s greater than 20´.

 

[BillM777]

I was assisting with a class down in San Carlos, Mexico. The instructor was near panic, considering cancelling her class's dives because surge had knocked the viz down to the 20' range. Apparently, she'd never dived fresh water.

When we arrived at the "low viz" site, the captain wanted to call off the dive (2nd dive of the day) because she could not see the reef from the surface. I had to convince her and the dive master that although my son and I were new divers most of our experience was in 10' or less visibility. The dive went just fine in spite of the 20' viz and was certainly worth doing.

Now that we're back home I guess we will have to go back to diving by touch.

 

[DiverLS]

I normally dive the Channel Islands off S. California. It's a long dive from home so I jump as much as I can. The normally good vis was down to about 10 ft with all the algae in the water. But that was a benefit. Jelly fish feed on algae and Sun Fish feed on Jelly fish. Wonderful!

I was using film that time and shot three 36 exposure rolls on one dive, yep, jumped back on the boat to reload film twice