Can You See the Bottom? See Anything Interesting?

Hello all, Being able to see all the way down to the bottom is probably the most fascinating experience to me. Besides open water swimming I am an apnea diver (=trying to stay under water without a breathing device as long as possible). Neither among OW-swimmers nor among apnea divers it is easy to find a lot of people who consciously enjoy looking down as deep as they can. I am not exaggerating: In a few isolated places, such as on the Maldives, in Greece, in the Red Sea or in Croatia I was able to see beyond a depth of 100ft/ 30mt. Admittedly, in order to see this, I was snorkelling with a diving mask instead of swimming with a pair of goggles. I used to take a 2-lb-piece of weight made out of lead, wrapped a white plastic bag around it (to reflect the light) and tied it to a calibrated line. Sometimes, after lowering the weight down to the bottom as far as 100ft/30mt, I still had eye contact to the weight. You can make the same experiment with a rock or with a bottle that is filled up with sand. Just make sure that You place some markers (or tie some knots) on the rope in regular intervals, so You can always measure the depth. In some places the sea-water was so clear that I could still see my watch, after I dropped it, resting on the sandy bottom, at a depth of 60-70ft (approx. 20mt). It was such a fun dive to pick it up again! But even when I swim with my goggles in Croatia (when they are not fogged :)) I may be able to see a sandy bottom 40-50 feet below me. enjoy you open water swims to the max Gerald

Hello all, Being able to see all the way down to the bottom is probably the most fascinating experience to me. Besides open water swimming I am an apnea diver (=trying to stay under water without a breathing device as long as possible). Neither among OW-swimmers nor among apnea divers it is easy to find a lot of people who consciously enjoy looking down as deep as they can. I am not exaggerating: In a few isolated places, such as on the Maldives, in Greece, in the Red Sea or in Croatia I was able to see beyond a depth of 100ft/ 30mt. Admittedly, in order to see this, I was snorkelling with a diving mask instead of swimming with a pair of goggles. I used to take a 2-lb-piece of weight made out of lead, wrapped a white plastic bag around it (to reflect the light) and tied it to a calibrated line. Sometimes, after lowering the weight down to the bottom as far as 100ft/30mt, I still had eye contact to the weight. You can make the same experiment with a rock or with a bottle that is filled up with sand. Just make sure that You place some markers (or tie some knots) on the rope in regular intervals, so You can always measure the depth. In some places the sea-water was so clear that I could still see my watch, after I dropped it, resting on the sandy bottom, at a depth of 60-70ft (approx. 20mt). It was such a fun dive to pick it up again! But even when I swim with my goggles in Croatia (when they are not fogged :)) I may be able to see a sandy bottom 40-50 feet below me. enjoy you open water swims to the max Gerald