Heads up, the bottom is coming

[m2b]

Diving in shallow waters but in waters deeper than what you have ever dived previously...waters where you know you can make bottom...waters where you have at the most 10-15 feet of visibility at the bottom, what do you do to give yourself an indication that you are about to be on the bottom?

I've been diving in deeper water the past several days thanks to making some big changes, safety wise, to the equipment and it gives me more freedom of movement and willingness to head off to deeper waters still along shoreline but in other parts of the lake. I've been noticing as I head down into 40-45 foot deep water that I find myself getting 'anxious' because of not knowing when I'm going to be getting to the bottom. Admittedly once I get down to within 5-10 feet of the bottom I do catch a glimpse of some rocks or other things on the bottom and that calms the mind right down...AH!

I have my dive line marked each foot to give me the indication of how deep the water is before I ever get in the water and so I can use it to mark other things as well. I have thought about putting something like a streamer on the line at 10 and 15 feet above the bottom, since I mark it out from the bottom up, but I'm wondering what you guys have did in the past. Since I diving to unfamiliar depths I don't have any previous experience to give me any kind of feedback.

The problem is definitely a result of the mind wanting to know where the bottom is and not anything else. I also admit yesterday it did seem to be a bit better than it was on Saturday but I could tell the 'anxiety' was still there.

Ryan

 

[cdavis]

Practice definitely helps the anxiety.

Counting kicks will give you a surprisingly accurate measure of depth. Also, usually with that kind of vis, you will be able to see a change in light intensity as the bottom approaches. Sometimes subtle, but very helpful in knowing when to flare out and not ram the bottom.

Connor

 

[Erik]

I know that feeling well as most of my diving has been in very dark waters.

If you are diving on a line, surely the line is weighted and you know how much line is played out? Plus you will dive down the line with an 'ok' thumb/finger around the line?
We always marked our lines every 3 metres with a big zip tie and then a cylum stick every 10 metres for example.

Now that I only spearfish, I have a 30 metre floatline attached to my gun that completely reassures me that I will be able to find 'up', no matter the visibility.
Cheers,
Erik

 

[alexrom1207]

I'm not sure this will work for everyone, or if it is consistent for everyone....so if this is bad advice for you please ignore it, but it works well for me. I primarily just do spearfishing but am getting more and more interested in freediving...so when I go out, if I can't see the bottom I do the first dive and count how many equalizations it take me to get to the bottom. (Valsalva Technique) Then I have an idea of how close I am. I'm not sure if equalization is always consistent...but for me at least it has been a good measure. At the very least it prevents me from getting apprehensive about hitting the bottom.

 

[m2b]

Connor,

You could say the kick idea works...most of the time. When you make changes to equipment the results may vary. Granted when you are forced to make unplanned changes to equipment, like before my last dive yesterday, it can really throw things off. Hence why I'm looking for something more external to use. I dive finless so normally about the first 15-20 feet I use both arms and legs and then I just use legs only until I hit neutral, naturally depending on where neutral happens to be on any particular dive.

I do agree and have noticed that in limited vis waters the water does get darker starting around 20 feet down or so. The strangest thing is it always seems to act almost like a compression...the closer I get to the bottom the darker it gets until I get to the point where I can see the bottom(5-10 above it). If I go to deeper water the darkness starts further down than it does in shallower water, hence my use of the word 'compression'.

Erik,

Since I have made big changes in my diving equipment the line went from having a simple piece of 1/2 inch threaded rod on the bottom of it, to act as weight, to now having a 5 pound weight resting right above the threaded rod. I went from swimming out to the dive location, always close to the 'put-in' to now paddling a two man raft out to the dive location. To keep the raft from floating away I had to change the way I was weighting the dive line by force. The raft has really changed everything for my diving and made it feel a 100 times more comfortable being in the water. Now I don't worry about boats like I used to when they would see nothing but my body on top of the water to know I was there. Now they have both the raft and a dive flag.

My dive line is marked nice and visible, but small, every foot up/down to 45 feet and then not as well marked, visibily speaking, to I believe 60 or 80 feet. My markers are a piece of duct tape, a piece of clear plastic and between them I put a slightly smaller piece of paper with the depth written on it with a permanent marking pen. I taped them on the dive line each foot and it gives a nice readable depth indicator. Granted when I roll the rope back onto the cut apart arm band the marker do have a tendency to bend and fold over so I may have to unfold them to read them.

I dive parallel to the dive line but I don't touch the dive line or wrap my fingers around the dive line. Like I said above I am diving finless so I do arm stroke with both arms for the first 15-20 feet of the way going down.

Alex,

This isn't a bad idea either unless you were to have the last dive I took yesterday. I still don't know what happened but it was the weirdest/sweetest situation I have seen thus far. I'm not complaining. I'm hoping I can figure out what the heck I did so I can repeat it more often.

Normally in 25 foot deep water I have to equalize(valsalva) around three times, if I'm remembering correctly. Admittedly I have never really counted for sure, I'm just trying to remember the best I can from all the past dives I taken. It has always seemed like on about half the dives I take I end up fighting with one of the equalizations about mid way down.

Yesterday, on the last dive while in roughly 44 foot deep water I ran into a minor problem several minutes before I started down. It was only the beginning of the problems I would see between that point and when I finally got back to shore, which would include almost losing the dive line, losing the weight belt, losing the homemade the dive flag, and breaking the paddle(YEAH...an interesting end to a dive session). As a result of taking care of the initial problem, when the dive line got stuck on the arm band and wouldn't continue unrolling, I ended up losing my homemade bunge cord weight belt. I figured given the fact I was going to be fighting bouyancy that I would probably only make it down to 30-35 feet more than likely. No way I would make bottom, I didn't the day before when I intentionally wasn't wearing a weight belt. I breathed up, very motionless, and started down. As I progressed further down I noticed I was having no trouble with equalizing, in fact I wasn't even needing to equalize. There was no pressure building up?????? I finally forced myself to equalize just out of routine/to play it safe. I didn't like the feeling of not having the pressure build up...I wasn't use it. About one to two seconds after equalizing all of a sudden I noticed the rocks on the bottom of the lake. I was stunned. I didn't give myself a snowballs chance of making the bottom but I found myself on the bottom anyways.

Like I said above, I would rather use something that isn't about the diver to give an indication of how close to the bottom I am. The circumstances on each dive can change. I have noticed the way my bouyancy can change quite a bit from one dive to the next, yet alone any other aspect of the dive. I would much rather have something completely unattached to the diver.

I'm thinking along Erik's idea which I initially mentioned anyways and my idea of using it has changed slightly. I'll have to try it out and see how visible it might be down at depth. Actually I might have a couple of ideas right now.

Ryan

 

[alexrom1207]

Sounds like you may have been unconsciously doing the "yawn" technique. Been trying to get that but have been unable to. Much better than the valsalva but takes a bit of practice apparently.

 

[azapa]

Ryan, I had the same challenges and posted questions too here. Some advice i can repeat:
- its hard to head straight down, but think of the surface as a launch pad and push away from it. Its a "visualization" thing
- it becomes easier with practice. The first few murk dives I did were awful and scary, now I can swim happily though waiting for the bottom to appear. Practice.
- a white line float to bottom is great
- i am awful about counting finstrokes as I eternally battle buoyancy issues (how much weight to use..) I also "forget" to equalize so those reference points don't work for me too well
- having a buddy up top always makes diving feel better, although it is not the case as often as I would like

good luck

PS a quick note on marking depth on floatlines: buy a white stiff line and mark it every 5M, one band of black tape at 5M, two at 10, 3 at 15, 4 at 20. That is more than enough as the distances between can be guessed. I use polypropylene rope, stiff, does not tangle, and floats. It is also the cheapest in the DIY store, I think it is about 4mm or 5mm. Use electrical tape to mark

 

[m2b]

Ryan, I had the same challenges and posted questions too here. Some advice i can repeat:
- its hard to head straight down, but think of the surface as a launch pad and push away from it. Its a "visualization" thing
- it becomes easier with practice. The first few murk dives I did were awful and scary, now I can swim happily though waiting for the bottom to appear. Practice.
- a white line float to bottom is great
- i am awful about counting finstrokes as I eternally battle buoyancy issues (how much weight to use..) I also "forget" to equalize so those reference points don't work for me too well
- having a buddy up top always makes diving feel better, although it is not the case as often as I would like

good luck

PS a quick note on marking depth on floatlines: buy a white stiff line and mark it every 5M, one band of black tape at 5M, two at 10, 3 at 15, 4 at 20. That is more than enough as the distances between can be guessed. I use polypropylene rope, stiff, does not tangle, and floats. It is also the cheapest in the DIY store, I think it is about 4mm or 5mm. Use electrical tape to mark

I don't really have any trouble diving straight down, the diveline gives me the reference to follow and I stick to it religously. Everything else you said above except for the last one I agree with. I haven't dove with anyone yet, so I haven't had the chance for that experience yet. My biggest comfort reliever came when I started using the raft to get out to the dive location. Having something in the water to mark that I was in the water made a big difference in my comfort level. BIG DIFFERENCE. Being out in the water with no place to put a dive flag or having any kind of way of marking that you are there is quite unnerving. I would always lift my head when I heard engines coming. I never was able to get a decent breathe up as a result. I don't have that problem anymore.

Like I said before I use clothesline rope and its marked each foot with a number to indicate what how far up off the bottom I am. I went out after making my last posting and added a piece of red duct tape I believe at the 5 foot intervals and a piece of white duct at the 10 foot intervals, maybe its the other way around, it gives a GREAT reference to tell how far I am from the bottom. The markings are quite visible and I can count the markings and know how far I am off the bottom now.

I was out last night diving and it was definitely far more comfortable than what it has been. If I would have had my hood, gloves, and booties on it would have been all that much nicer. Darn, I didn't think I had been seeing thermocline last weekend in 40-45 foot deep water but diving in the same location as last weekend I sure was finding awfully darn cold water last night. I bailed on both dives early because of the cold water. I did come close to the bottom on the last dive I could see the outline of the thermometer I have one foot up off the bottom of the dive line, so I know I was probably within ten feet of the bottom. With the extra cold water gear I would have hit the bottom. I dicked around enough coming back up to the surface so I could have easily hit the bottom without trying, but the cold water was making me chicken out.

Last night was the first time I have let myself sink below neutral. Normally it seems like I end up in a bad position one way or another...I'm not diving in deep enough water or don't have enough weight on to really get below neutral bouyancy for more than just a few feet. I've never had the chance to experience any decent negative bouyancy. Last night I hit it. I love it. It does seem strange to be sinking effortlessly. Kinda spooky, but fun at the same time.

Ryan