I have always dived in excellent visibility and never really understood why anyone would even consider diving under poor visibility conditions. What is the fascination of going scuba diving where you see nothing, are constantly making an effort to find your bearings, keep losing your buddy, and see nothing but your depth and air pressure gauges throughout the entire dive? Well I didn’t really understand it until I tried my first low visibility dive several years ago, and really enjoyed the experience despite not seeing a single fish throughout! This got me thinking as to why did I enjoy that dive so much?
1. Requires Intense Focus with Constant need to remain Aware and Alert
For starters a low visibility dive forces the diver to remain focused at the job at hand. You have no distractions of brilliant fish zipping by or arrays of stunning coral in front and thus spend a lot of your dive concentrating on trying to keep your focus on what’s coming up ahead in front of you. This forces you to slow down and concentrate.
Just as you have to focus your attention on what’s coming up ahead, under low visibility conditions a diver must remain completely aware of his surroundings, orientation and his buddy’s position. The lack of distractions makes monitoring of air pressure and depth gauges more frequent. A diver becomes aware of his air consumption, and buoyancy, improving awareness of diving skills. Just like an aircraft pilot flying through fog, you tend to become more reliant on your instruments and instincts.
2. Makes you appreciative of clear water and good visibility
I did my Open Water course in a tropical Island with miles of clear water, no suspended particles, and you could always see the dive boat and the sea bed at all times. I must say, this really spoiled me, I found it really difficult getting used to murky water and it made me realize that I never really did appreciate the clear water diving I enjoyed during my Open Water course. Now having witnessed both kinds, I never take good visibility for granted.
3. It’s Relaxing
I sometimes equate low visibility and night dives as being almost relaxing. I know it may seem like I’m contradicting myself right after mentioning above how much you have to strain yourself; but while diving almost blind, the intense focus, lack of distractions and the methodical checking of instruments, coupled with the sound of your breathing is almost Zen-like or meditative. A heightened sense of awareness of having limited visibility and the surrealistic swirling of particles in front of you is probably the cause of this sense of relaxation.
4. Sharpens your diving skills
Low visibility forces the diver to use everything you learnt in your dive certification courses. You use your compass to hold your bearing; you’re trying to fin without disturbing the particles which could further ruin visibility, you’re watching your exhaled air bubbles to determine your orientation, using innovative new dive signals using your underwater flashlight or sound to communicate. All of which add up to making you a better diver through the process.
photos by Pandiyan , sharkbait,and kgorsuch
Continue Reading… 10 Reasons Why Low Visibility Diving Can Be a Good Thing- Part 2
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