Kirsty Andrews yearns for the coming season , musing over her ongoing quest for great visibility
KIRSTYANDREWS
Bright and clear
Kirsty Andrews yearns for the coming season , musing over her ongoing quest for great visibility
It ’ s been a long off season . As I write this , the daylight hours have just about begun their cheering habit of getting longer , but my local waters have recently taken a chilly turn , into single figure centigrade . And they ’ re still murky as a cup of tea that ’ s sat on the side for far too long , brown with a disturbingly scummy milky residue in places .
But I don ’ t like to focus on the negative , and I ’ m hopeful that , by the time this column hits your doorsteps , Spring will have sprung and diving will again be the pleasurable activity we all know and love . Drifting on a tide of positivity I thought I ’ d reminisce about how good the visibility can be , without lingering over how disappointing it has been recently .
Clearly ( pun intended ), offshore trumps onshore in this respect . Mercifully free from the churning effect of breaking waves on shallow sediment , and river runoff . At the incredible end of the spectrum , those of you who ’ ve snorkelled with blue sharks a dozen or so miles offshore of Wales or
Submarine E49 in spectacular Shetland visibility
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Cornwall will know how incredible that viz can be , but we ’ re not usually quite so lucky with SCUBA gear on .
A sandy or gravel seabed is also a boon , as it reflects the light , and unless unduly churned up , doesn ’ t add to the in-water particulate . The stunning wreck of the E49 ( in northern Shetland ) will attest to this ; the submarine is small , being 176 feet ( 54.5m ) long originally , but often the entire length can be seen at once , slowly submerging into clear white sand . Lovely bright sunshine definitely makes everything better too .
Does depth make a difference ? My buddy recently muttered to me that “ it always looks good in the shallows ” even when from about 3m it ’ s murky again . Shh , Eeyore , and back to our daydreams of clear waters . Confusingly , my intrepid deep diving friends , venturing on wrecks below the reach of air , often seem to enjoy great visibility . Or maybe they ’ re making it up to make me jealous … but the photos don ’ t lie , do they ?
Location-wise I have a number of favourites for the hope of good visibility . Offshore Scottish seamounts have really delivered for me , as have reefs in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly . But you don ’ t need to visit the ends of the earth , or indeed country , to have a great time . With a period of settled weather , even our mostlyaverage , familiar locations can really deliver .
It ’ s a rather nice feeling to revisit a familiar site and be pleasantly surprised with great visibility : suddenly , you can navigate a lot better and it almost feels like a new spot . One example of this for me was the wreck of the M2 in Dorset . It ’ s a favoured dive for me , for a lot of reasons but I ’ ve had a number of dives on her when I had to practically feel my way ; on one memorable occasion I lost my buddy in pitch blackness at the bottom of the shot , even with torches on .
On the other hand , on one glorious summer day in blazing sunshine , as we located her on the echo sounder , the entire wreck and an occupying school of fish were visible in astonishing detail . Under the surface was even better ; the dive site stretched out in technicolour ; an underwater playground . Of course , my camera wasn ’ t working that day ( user error ), but the memories will sustain me until my next great visibility dive . If you ’ ve taken anything from this page , it ’ s that submarines always sink in clear water . Sadly not correct , but I hope it ’ s given you hope for some cracking high-viz dives of your own this year . �