What Viz will you dive in. (please post!)

[Griff]

This is a continuation of the Safe Viz thread, and its to add some info with respect to shark attacks and diving activity.
we have a chart of shark attacks vs water viz. now we need diver numbers in the water vs viz. with the assumption that the number of divers in the water can be likened to the diver's limit in terms of bad viz. (i havent ever heard of someone say, no, it was just too clean to dive)
please post your figures.
Only marine diving can be considered because we are talking about sharks, and not the mutant sea-bass that divers like Jon and Ted encounter when swimming in the Nulcear Reactor effluent.
thanks
Mark

 

[bluecape]

Hiya Mark

I guess it depends on how desperate I am to dive, but a general rule of thumb is that I would not really consider getting in if viz was less than about 3 meters. I would have to be pretty hard up to dive in 3 meter viz as well, but then I'm fortunate to live within a short drive of 2 oceans which offers regular 15-25 meter viz in the 2 seasons, summer and winter.

 

[unirdna]

Originally posted by Griff
and not the mutant sea-bass that divers like Jon and Ted encounter when swimming in the Nulcear Reactor effluent.
Mark

rofl

The only mutation I've seen, is how the 'warm water discharge pipe' has changed into the "nuclear reactor effluent"

 

[cdavis]

Hi Griff,

Its a little hard to answer the poll. Bad visibility limits my diving, especially depth, but not because of sharks. I guess my minimum would be about 20 ft, mostly because I haven't dove in poor vis for so long. My diving is in the Bahamas, all clear, but very different by area. Rough weather can drop the vis to undivable for a day or so, but it is generally too rough to dive then anyway. Some areas are very sharky. They can be aggressive, but their aggression is much more related to poor spearing technique than the vis.

Good luck with your research, please let us see it when you are done.

Connor

 

[Shadowkiller]

20ft is pretty much the minimum worth bothering with, any less and the water is a brownish tinge anyway. So I don't bother getting wet.

40m viz is available some 15km offshore at the FADs, and that worries me more since the "bottom" factor is gone.

 

[Jon]

NEGATIVE RETINA

With a tank on I have made plenty of dives with no vis at all- what we like to call "negative retina".

When it comes to freediving we have made many dives with 3' of vis. I finally had to switch to a shorter gun so I could see the end of it. This meant that I could actually shoot a fish with out having to hold the muzzel in my hand and trigger it with my big toe.

Then again, we don't have any sharks to worry about around here.

There are other times where you have to break through a layer of crud to get down into the cold, and clear, water. Your vis might go down to 3' and then open up to, a dark, 40'-50'!

Jon

 

[ash]

I never know what kind of vis I'll have at my local shore dive site until I swim out.

I have made the swim on occasion only to find 1-2m of vis.

In these conditions, I won't stay out too long but I am still in the water for 60-90 minutes because of the swim there and back.

If I can get 6-8m of vis, I am pretty happy and will spend hours out there.

Ash

 

[Jeff06]

Hello!

I can spearfish with a minimum of 2m of visibility...
But in the Med sea, there is no shark attack!

The only problem for me is that, in the case of very poor visibility, I usually come quickly to the sea sickness :yack

@+
Jeff

 

[Cingene]

Lucky if i could see pass my hand here. There are many times I hit my head on the bottom because I can't see it.:head

 

[defofthecrown]

2-4' vis is doable b/c I have to drive for hours. 8' is ideal, and 12'+ and I feel like I'm in an aquarium.

Of course I've been 40 miles offshore w/ 30' vis feeling a little claustrophobic.

it's allll relativity

 

[jeadiver]

I will, and have, dived in almost any short of a mud bog. The Quarry's good a 10', the Gulf Stream is good at 50'. the Cooper River is good at 2'. Relatvivty is more than your crazy cousin!

 

[rigdvr]

too many variables to give a real good answer. Things that sway me one way or the other include...
type of hunting
depth
confidence level of procuring fish
"sharkiness" of the area
ect.

 

[Eric Walker]

depends on what type of fish you are going for. blue water is generally in 75-100 rangs atleast. california you hardly ever get good vis so 10-40 if you are lucky. it just depends on the conditions.

 

[Pekka]

Well again.. here I am in UK and last time I went diving wiz was about 3ft, perhaps less, back in good old Finland I have gone diving more than once with wiz around 3-6ft thats quite normal.

When the water is murky one will dive into total darkness after 15m and that is kind of cool.. so I think it is not all about the visibility, but then again I used to dive without a gun..

Pekka

 

[Memo]

I feel safe with my gun on hand, if I'm freediving at a bad viz, I would never attempt to enter the water with viz less then 15m...

 

[SpearSlinger1]

It depends on how I feel about going at that particular time. Back home in Florida I've successfully speared in water so dark I couldn't see my fins. Over here I've seen days when the visibility is over 100 ft. and I've been in the water on days when the weather had things so stirred up I couldn't see past my mask lens. I normally go whenever I have the time and feel the urge. I know my next door neighbor thinks I'm bananas after the night he went outside before 2 A.M. to investigate a noise and found me loading my gear in the Land Cruiser :hmm, but on a full moon night around here the vis can be pretty good even without a light on.

 

[loopy]

I did one dive late last year where I stuck my abalone measurer up against my mask and couldn't see the end (that's about 12cm, or around 5 inches for you backward folk... )... that sucked

Hmmm... 1 diver who'll only go in at 100'+ vis... sounds like my old man...

 

[gonetobaja]

Down in the sea of cortez where I go the tide and wind decides all. We have huge tide swings out here of sometimes 8m. We usualy have clients so we try to find the calm spots on the back sides of the islands or shorline cliffs. As far as sharks, there are alot of them out here. The tiger sharks are the ones who can give you the problem. We make it a point to stay away from one particular Island called los lobos. This island is home to a large sea lion colony. Our very first trip to this island we saw a med size female sea lion with a big chunk bitten out of her, we fired up the motor and left to the next Island. Along shore and at the other islands in the chain we have not seen any Mr. greysuits I actually prefer to hunt in about 10 ft vis. by the time the fish realize that I am sea trash and not a rock it is too late. In baja you can have 30-40 ft vis and have the tide and wind kick up and go to 5 feet in 30 minutes. In the blue water vis is a constant 30ft+ however large schools of pelagics in the sea of cortez usualy have predators tailing them, in my area location is more important to shark encounters than vis.

I see on the poll that most of my fellow fish killers are not picky. All that really matters is that your in the water...

 

[Spearooo]

viz

I see on the poll that most of my fellow fish killers are not picky. All that really matters is that your in the water...

exactly
to hunt id say as far as my outstreched arm.. depending on the level of desperation im feeling. many times Ill only have one day available for two weeks to dive on so unless its like chocolate milk im trying for something....and when its like chocolate milk ill just bust out the fishing rods. A few of my best days have been in less the 9 foot viz.. they can't see you coming...if you are silent and are willing to risk the sharks then i guess you deserve the fish... its not like the fish just jump into the boat. this spearfishing stuff is dangerous....thats why we love it..

 

[DIVERHERB]

Here in the Gulf if we waited for anything more than 15 feet we wouldnt get to dive to many days of the year. 4 weeks ago we had about 3 feet of vis at 65 feet in the area I was diving in. Only problem is at times they see you before you see them and all you see is a shadow, so no shot