What is the definition of “Muck Diving”?

[Eric Sedletzky]

Muck diving sounds kind of gross.
The term “muck diving” gives me the impression that it’s diving down in low to zero vis dark mud bottom sludgy gross place full of muck, like a sewer pond.
What is muck diving???

 

[Cthippo]

Glad I'm not the only one wondering this

 

[boulderjohn]

It's diving in clear, shallow tropical waters over a bottom that is dark and void of coral or vegetation. The attraction is to photographers with mammoth cameras because it has loads of nudibranchs and a variety of other hard to spot critters in an ideal photographic setting.

I've done it, but I am not a photographer with a mammoth camera, so I don't get as excited.

 

[Brett Hatch]

It's when you dive over a sand or dirt bottom with the intention to see or photograph the bottom-dwelling wildlife. As opposed to, say, a reef, a kelp forest, a cave, or a wreck.

I would exclude stuff like training dives in a lake or a quarry, even though those often have a sandy/silty bottom, because the purpose of such diving is not to hang out with the critters living in the muck.

 

[Lorenzoid]

It’s a poor name for diving over a mostly featureless sandy or silty bottom looking for creatures that hide in the sand or silt or in the occasional shell, coconut shard, or trash. I enjoy it, and I’m not a photographer. I don’t think muck diving implies a water clarity, but places with clear tropical water are more likely to attract divers.

 

[rmorgan]

What is "muck diving"?

Ive heard the term muck diving a couple of times recently, but am unclear what it means. So I looked up muck in my American Heritage dictionary, and the following is what I found: muck n. 1. A moist, sticky mixture, especially of mud and filth. 2. Moist animal dung mixed with decayed...

scubaboard.com

 

[Reefy]

As others have said, it's largely for the purpose of macro photography- you dive over a loose sedimentary bottom with the puropse of seeing and photographing the small creatures (nudibranchs and other invertebrates are of particular interest) that live there "in the muck".

I agree it doesn't have the most appealing name.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Well that leaves me out of it. I’m allergic to warm water anyway, I feel like it chokes me and I get unnerved, and big cameras (actually my wallet is allergic to big expensive cameras) so no muck diving for me.
The closest I get to my idea of muck diving is looking for lost items at the bottom of the Bodega Bay harbor in the “real” muck.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

Some of my best friends live in the muck.

 

[Scuba_Jenny]

The local muck diving spot is world renowned and photogs have visited from around the world to photograph the array of critters from tiny nudi to spotted eagle rays and manatees. It's the go-to site when the ocean is snotty.