OP
Crock
Contributor
That is a good point. "Strong current and bad visibility."
What are the dangers of fresh water diving?
- Thread starter Crock
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To give honest answers there are alot of risk involved in freshwater diving. The visibility is rarely better then 30 feet and usually thats hard to find too.
Alot of people love to fish in freshwater and loose anchors and fishing line and when the anchor has floating rope they both can be very easy to entangle in before you really even realize they are there.
Fresh water also tends to have very sharp thermoclines so dressing for the correct temp can definately be a challenge since out of the water you may be wearing in some cases a farmer john for a dive in 50 degree water yet the temp out of water may be 100 or better. With this in mind drinking enough water is a very important thing to remember.
Knowning the area is a key factor too since visibility can be so bad that you can accidently swim into a cavern and before you realize it your in an over head environment. Also enquire about the area and learn if snake spotting is frequent or rare.
Make sure you also bring along the proper equipment too such as a flashlight and make sure you also use dive flags. this is important despite the fact 90 percent of boaters tend to want to use them for the race corner marker and try to hug the corner at 30 plus miles per hour.
Due to boaters lack of respect for diver the most important rule of fresh water diving is sound. NEVER surface when a boat sounds near. I wait till I no longer hear it before I surface for safety.
I have seen people secure their selves to the buoy line for safety stops. This is not a good idea either since some moron will come along and pull the buoy up to see whats under it. This can be equally as dangerous for him since all he will usually witness is a diver with a knife in his hand and very frantic.
Hope this helps
Alot of people love to fish in freshwater and loose anchors and fishing line and when the anchor has floating rope they both can be very easy to entangle in before you really even realize they are there.
Fresh water also tends to have very sharp thermoclines so dressing for the correct temp can definately be a challenge since out of the water you may be wearing in some cases a farmer john for a dive in 50 degree water yet the temp out of water may be 100 or better. With this in mind drinking enough water is a very important thing to remember.
Knowning the area is a key factor too since visibility can be so bad that you can accidently swim into a cavern and before you realize it your in an over head environment. Also enquire about the area and learn if snake spotting is frequent or rare.
Make sure you also bring along the proper equipment too such as a flashlight and make sure you also use dive flags. this is important despite the fact 90 percent of boaters tend to want to use them for the race corner marker and try to hug the corner at 30 plus miles per hour.
Due to boaters lack of respect for diver the most important rule of fresh water diving is sound. NEVER surface when a boat sounds near. I wait till I no longer hear it before I surface for safety.
I have seen people secure their selves to the buoy line for safety stops. This is not a good idea either since some moron will come along and pull the buoy up to see whats under it. This can be equally as dangerous for him since all he will usually witness is a diver with a knife in his hand and very frantic.
Hope this helps
lulubelle
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I'd be interested to hear from someone who knows their bugs what organisms thrive in freshwater versus salt and the relative risk to divers.
What I know is that I cultured the mouth of the Neuse River in 1987 and it grew out some really scary stuff.
But I also know that we are now culturing the superbugs in the ocean, the survivers. Things like MRSA, Vibrio, etc.
What I know is that I cultured the mouth of the Neuse River in 1987 and it grew out some really scary stuff.
But I also know that we are now culturing the superbugs in the ocean, the survivers. Things like MRSA, Vibrio, etc.
Snorkelboy
Registered
Other people, some places its like walking through Wal-Mart, they are oblivious you are even there or don't care. Some not all...
OP
Crock
Contributor
OP
Crock
Contributor
True. Thinking about it now, I would say one big danger is boaters. A lot of f**king idiots.
NC Wreck Diver
Contributor
Man, I hate Bulls.............I have read about attacks in the Mullica River in NJ back in the 1920's. They took out two kids swimming and a man who tried to save them. This was about twenty miles inland. They love murky water, salt or fresh. It's one of the only sharks that will hit you once, and come back and hit you again. We were just discussing them today. In the USA, one guy stated that they were found as far as the Illinois River. I've seen the show on them being up the Amazon, but it didn't seem that they would were aggresive to swimmers, let alone divers.
As a spearfishing diver, they are my biggest enemy.
Watercraft operating idots, entanglement from fishing lines, limited vis, cold, in my area we even deal with too hot of water in a couple of locations, the urban legends that fish as big as a man are down there, lack of pretty fish causing boredom and ice diving to name a few.
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