You must have really clear lakes up there. 5-10' is more like what I was used to in Louisiana, and under a foot in the rivers.Originally Posted by MORGAN
Welcome to the Cave Diver's Forum.
I’ve been comfortable in low vis since the get go.
It’s taken a number of dives to be pretty comfy in low vis, but I’m good now.
I’m newish to cave diving. I am still on the learning curve to the comfort level I want to be.
All this talk of low/no vis is freaking me out. I’m giving up cave diving.
Who cares? It won’t happen to me.
You must have really clear lakes up there. 5-10' is more like what I was used to in Louisiana, and under a foot in the rivers.
As long as the line is moving, you are not alone. Waited on the line one time in no vis and there was a happy feeling when the line started wiggling, knew he was coming back.
The only thing that would bother me is losing your buddy and finding your way to clear vis with no sign of him. After you decide on the "got to go" pressure, you look and do everything right and finally must punt. Only to find him at deco. That is where communication on a signal for I'm gone comes in. Leave a light or personal arrows or something. A detailed "to whom it may concern" note would be nice.
I agree you should never get into that situation, but you should never be struck by lightning in a closed up house. I've done the latter.
If cave diving were Star Wars, who would be Yoda?
Our lakes are pretty clear - some have reliable 40-50 foot vis, though most have 20-30 feet and some are worse. The rivers are generally clear except for just after heavy rain and of course during spring snowmelt and runoff when they're too high and fast to dive anyway. I never saw tannic water in a river until I started coming to Florida.
Lol Eric! That is funny! You aren't that bad.My dive buddies must be pretty comfortable with it. They keep diving with me and let me lead.
Low vis is disappointing when you can't see anything.
The only type that really bugs me is low vis in bigger passage where you can't see or feel a side-bottom-top. Just swimming through that soup with no point of reference is disorienting.
Or maybe tight, complex breakdown. That can be difficult to navigate with all the corners, projections, pockets and such to get snagged and caught on. If you can see anything at all it's usually fine though, just have to take your time with it.
I have a weird relationship with low vis/no vis, I imagine similar to Russell. I HATE, false, LOATHE brownouts, they are disorienting and I just don't like them. So, I clip my light off, close my eyes, and pretend it's a blackout, and will open my eyes every once in a while to see if it has cleaered. Don't mind blackouts at all, they've never bothered me. Siltouts don't freak me out, I just cope by shutting my eyes since they aren't doing anything but trying to confuse you anyway
I think I close my eyes, too. I call it "going to my zen place."
Land of Enchantment -- not so great for cave diving, but mighty scenic!
My first 8 years of diving were in gin-clear conditions. My worst dive outside of training still gave me 100ft+ of visibility, and my training was conducted in 50+ft of visibility. Then I started river diving and zero viz became the norm. Then I did ZERO VIZ in a cave, and realized what zero viz meant. First it was (obviously) drills. Lights all went off and so did the masks. The first couple times I was nervous.....but it was because it was new. After Cavern/Intro, simulated zero-viz was no problem but I was worried about what a real-life scenario would do to my nerves. Come to find out, I was nothing more than frustrated with poor viz and frustrated+extra aware in zero viz.
The worst part for me is that I get a bit of vertigo every so often.....especially if my buddy is pulling on me. Any time I get to a tie-off or solid point and the vertigo has hit, I stop/focus/breathe for a second and then carry on. It just takes a second for it to pass if I have a fixed point of reference and makes me MUCH more comfortable and MUCH swifter on the exit.
Some how I think your zen place is determining if that silt out is composed of particles that are 0.0039mm or 0.0625mm
"Not all change is improvement...but all improvement is change" Donald Berwick
Good vis is like a treasure for us up here!
Its the main reason Caves have taken my heart, the first time I went into OG / Peacock it totally blew my mind.
We dive up here inland lakes, quarries, and the Great Lakes with varying degree's of vis not always bad but it can change quickly.
We learned early on in some night dives in soup that either good or bad its still diving.
On a dive in Lake Huron I watched the current change and a wall of 10-15 vis at best, envelope probably 40+ feet of vis.
I simply ducked inside the wreck and enjoyed the good stuff!
When I have been in bad vis in the caves, its warm, your focus is high, line awareness, rewinding the map in your head, maintaining good trim its very relaxing.
In some little cave it can be more taxing renegotiating some turns, etc. but still relaxing.
JCG
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