wb416
Contributor
I think you got that backwards... the lights are 2-3 times that!do it easy:
...and the drysuits are a fair amount cheaper unless you get suckered by a salesman. 
What is the appeal of Lake, Cold, Low vis diving?
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...and the drysuits are a fair amount cheaper unless you get suckered by a salesman. 
ClevelandDiver
Contributor
fppf:
You hit the nail on the head.
How many warm water vacation divers have ever seen a 100+ year old wooden shipwreck that was nearly intact? Its like looking back in time.
Stephi:I'm sorry.I suggest you get a backhoe and dig until you hit water. (Note to self: Don't move to Texas.)
Just got to watch where you move to in Texas, Stephi.
Central Texas actually offer some pretty fair lake diving, and a few nice river dives, plus gulf makes for a good day or weekend trip.
I live in Texas, Lake travis is 10-20 minutes away with viz that can range from crap to ~25 foot, not great, but can dive with very little time or money spent (air fill, park entry, gas< $15). While I love diving blue water, can't do that nearly enough to satisfy my need for submersion.
awerda
Registered
For me its mainly the fact that its local. As well instead of cool fish you see amazing wrecks that are incredably well preserved. As for quarrys usually they have some interesting mining equipment left over, or tunnels.
Dive1Dennis
Guest
My freshwater diving is done mostly in the Great Lakes. If I only had dark quarries and muck bottom lakes to dive I would dive, but I'm sure that I would dive a lot less.
- When you live in the middle of a continent, freshwater is close and convenient. I couldnt bear diving only once or twice a year on vacation.
- We don't have all those fish getting in the way of seeing the wreck.
- If you get thirsty, just take a drink.
- Besides, what fun is diving without 20lb of lead, drysuit, undies, hood, gloves, a steel tank or two, etc. I really do think that there is an extra challenge to freshwater diving that those of us who do it enjoy.
- When you live in the middle of a continent, freshwater is close and convenient. I couldnt bear diving only once or twice a year on vacation.
- We don't have all those fish getting in the way of seeing the wreck.
- If you get thirsty, just take a drink.
- Besides, what fun is diving without 20lb of lead, drysuit, undies, hood, gloves, a steel tank or two, etc. I really do think that there is an extra challenge to freshwater diving that those of us who do it enjoy.
smoothfin
Registered
H2Andy:
yah, i guess this is a large part of it. keeping the skills up to date, the simple joy of diving, i get to hang out with people that I like diving with, and the wrecks in the great lakes can offer some truly memorable dives. the cold water is something you can deal with using the right exposure suit for you. the lower visibility is challenging, but you learn to deal with it. the aquatic life is nowhere near as colorful as what oceans can offer, but its still interesting enough to make it worthwhile as you learn more about it.
wb416
Contributor
This is SO not true! Perhaps you're not familiar with a common phenomenon resulting from CWD's diving in the Caribbean called HIGH VIZ Narcosis....JimLap:
Results when a cold water diver is shocked to realize that it's possible to see all the divers from the dive boat at the same time.
CWD = Cold Water Diver
Manifests itself in a number of ways:
1) CWD loses track of time due to state of wonderment.
2) CWD runs out of air at a depth much deeper than they can do an ESA, because "I can still see the surface".
3) CWD goes deeper than planned profile because "I can't be that deep...I can still see the boat".
4) CWD's inability to judge distances. They think everything they see is only 10-20ft away. They will wonder off into the wild blue trying to reach an item that is really a mile or so away.
Local Orientation Dives with a Divemaster are a highly recommended precaution. Usual preventative is using a 100 yard measuring tape hooked to the boat, instead of a line. Diver overcomes initial inability to reliably judge distances by trusting numbers on tape.
In your dive briefings, use the Acronym TADD (Time, Air, Depth, Distance) to reinforce the dangers to CWD's listed above in points 1 through 4.
This was intended as a Joke! :rofl:
fppf
Contributor
Bob, you are very correct.
We warn people going on trips all the time of the clear vis and depth issues.
But I do not think the problem is that bad, because the vis is so low I think cold water divers tend to watch there gauges more closely.
At least the cold water diver will find there way back to the boat. I still don't understand how people loose the boat when I go on vacation, makes me laugh.
We warn people going on trips all the time of the clear vis and depth issues.
But I do not think the problem is that bad, because the vis is so low I think cold water divers tend to watch there gauges more closely.
At least the cold water diver will find there way back to the boat. I still don't understand how people loose the boat when I go on vacation, makes me laugh.
What's the appeal or cold, dark, and murky? Apparently, it's just that I'm one of those completely loopy divers who has his fins on his head.
I've been known to drive 10 hours to a dive in Tennessee when salt water in Florida is only half that time away. I suppose the cost aspect is there, as a boat ride is more expensive than even the most expensive quarries and springs. There's also the fact that while time and tide wait for no man, fresh water often sits out on the porch whittling until you get around to dropping by.
If I were the type of person who needs to see new and pretty things all the time, my diving might be different. Instead, I'm the kind of person who can look at silt for hours and still be fascinated. The appeal, then, is just that it is diving. (Can anyone come up with a Latin motto "diving for diving's sake"?)
I've been known to drive 10 hours to a dive in Tennessee when salt water in Florida is only half that time away. I suppose the cost aspect is there, as a boat ride is more expensive than even the most expensive quarries and springs. There's also the fact that while time and tide wait for no man, fresh water often sits out on the porch whittling until you get around to dropping by.
If I were the type of person who needs to see new and pretty things all the time, my diving might be different. Instead, I'm the kind of person who can look at silt for hours and still be fascinated. The appeal, then, is just that it is diving. (Can anyone come up with a Latin motto "diving for diving's sake"?)
JimLap:
Amen Brother Diver!
Last Sunday we did the "8th Annual Underwater Easter Egg Hunt" here in C. Illinois. 45 deg. at 30 feet... 2 to 3 ft. viz. IT'S A CHALLENGE MAN!!! I mean, they didn't just put the eggs on the structures... they wuz' in the MUD too... sweet...
Cruise the bottom a foot or so off the silt, one eye on the bottom... one eye on your compass, one eye on your buddy-line (I *KNOW* I've got a buddy attached to me somewhere...), one eye on whatever else you need to keep an eye on... and a couple of grey cells focused on the task at hand...
The temps really aren't THAT bad... I dive a 5/4/3 wetsuit with a 3mil vest (8 mil. over the core), 3 mil. dive socks, hood and good gloves. (Ok... in fairness it was 82 out that day... so when ya' get out of the water it wuz' comfie out... cold air temps take a *bit* of the fun out of it...)...
... besides, you haven't dived until you've dived on a "Gleaner" field combine...
I guess it's kinda' like the old joke about the guy who answers "... because it feels so good when I stop..." to the question, "Why are you banging your head against the wall?" Hey, if all ya' did was dive beautiful reefs with gorgeous fish... in 75 deg. plus water under a clear sunny sky with "see eternity" viz... how could you possibly truely appreciate the beauty of what you have if you don't have a good point of comparison???
... and then there's the joy of being able to drift up to the surface and have the local fishermen ask, "See any bass down there?" ... to which you can go... "Wow... you wouldn't belive the size of the one we saw on the _(insert imaginary structure here)_... it's right over there by that marker ball..."... It's like throwing a stick for a puppy... (only they don't bring it back to you... but then... come to think of it... neither does my puppy...).
Mud-diving has it's own charms... it's a treat all of it's own... the videos of the dive are generally lacking in... well... pretty much everything... but, as others have pointed out... ya' don't have a bunch of salt to wash out of yer' stuff...
... as they say, "Not everybody gets to be first violin... SOMEBODY's gotta' push air through the tuba..."
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