Random chat with a marine biologist on a surface interval made me rethink how I approach low viz jobs

She said 'you're fighting what you can't see instead of working with what you can feel' and now I've started trusting my hands more in zero vis situations, has anyone else shifted their mindset like that after a conversation?

3 comments

3 Comments

patricia3211d ago

I had almost the exact same thing happen in a quarry. A dive master told me to feel for the silt cloud before I swim into it and now I use my hands way more than my eyes in bad vis. Closing your eyes to reset actually sounds like a great trick, I need to try that.

gavin_kim11d agoMost Upvoted

I was on a night dive in like 15 feet of water off Catalina a few years back, total blackout conditions after my light died. A buddy of mine who works commercial salvage told me to just shut my eyes and feel the bottom composition change from sand to rock to kelp. That little trick pretty much saved the dive for me. Now in low vis I actually close my eyes for a few seconds to reset my brain and focus on what my hands are telling me. It's wild how much you can read from texture and movement when you stop trying to force your eyes to work.

robinp8911d ago

Wait you shut your eyes completely in zero vis and that actually works @gavin_kim? That's kinda blowing my mind lol. I always thought closing your eyes in a panic situation would make it worse, not reset your brain like that.