Diving in Muddy Waters

I've been doing some diving at a marina lately. The waters are murky and the bottom is soft. I have no problem doing underwater work on boats. My problem is finding things that were lost overboard. Went looking for eyeglasses yesterday. I can't seem to remain in a certain area due to visability (none). A few times I found myself several yards away from my taget area.

Any ideas on how to keep myself in a certain area? I was thinking an anchor with a short line. Feasable?

Re: Diving in Muddy Waters

Heh, diving by feel. Been there, done that!
Sure you can drop an anchor, or anything with some weight.
Just don't tie yourself directly to it.....
One hand on the line while the other one sweeps.
If there's a moderate current you can extend the search area by tying a streamer of 1/4" poly directly to the anchor ring so it'll lie parallel to the bottom and with the flow.

Re: Diving in Muddy Waters

With zero visibility, a streamer will serve no purpose.

Finding yourself several yards away from your target area sounds like current. This issue is easily solved with timing the dive. Slack tide lasts for aproximately 30 minutes. The depth of the soft, partially suspended "muck" at the bottom, along with water depth, will dictate whether or not the slack before high tide will be any more workable than the slack before the low. To be on the safe side, I would start with the slack before high. The deeper water will allow less turbulence at depth from surface movement of the water. During the slack tide, particularly prior to high tide, you may be fortunate enough to find a few inches or more visibility. Your chances of this will be greater if you wait at least 5 minutes into the slack before slowly entering your target area from the surface with smooth and minimal movement.

Dropping an anchor, along with your movement while hanging on its line will only cause more stirring of the "muck". Slim chance... but you might even crush the glasses with an anchor.

If your going to be sweeping your hands through the muck, though, visibility isn't an issue. A strong magnet, methodically swept through the muck may work... but only if there's any iron in the frame of the glasses.


Good luck and safe diving, my Friend!!!

Re: Diving in Muddy Waters

I was searching for my buddy's lost wedding band in about 25' of rather turbid, muddy water, but the big problem was the heavy layer of silt on the bottom that got stirred up when I moved near it. A rope/anchor seemed to help me stay in one area. I was unable to find the ring, so my friend hired a recovery diver with an underwater metal detector, and it took him an hour to find the ring. I believe his fee for the recovery was about $350, but money well spent to keep his wife/marriage happy!Good Luck!

Re: Diving in Muddy Waters

arks said:

Heh, diving by feel. Been there, done that!
Sure you can drop an anchor, or anything with some weight.
Just don't tie yourself directly to it.....
One hand on the line while the other one sweeps.
If there's a moderate current you can extend the search area by tying a streamer of 1/4" poly directly to the anchor ring so it'll lie parallel to the bottom and with the flow.

Click to expand...

That's what I was thinking, arks. I'm going to give it a try.

veritas honus said:

With zero visibility, a streamer will serve no purpose.

Finding yourself several yards away from your target area sounds like current. This issue is easily solved with timing the dive. Slack tide lasts for aproximately 30 minutes. The depth of the soft, partially suspended "muck" at the bottom, along with water depth, will dictate whether or not the slack before high tide will be any more workable than the slack before the low. To be on the safe side, I would start with the slack before high. The deeper water will allow less turbulence at depth from surface movement of the water. During the slack tide, particularly prior to high tide, you may be fortunate enough to find a few inches or more visibility. Your chances of this will be greater if you wait at least 5 minutes into the slack before slowly entering your target area from the surface with smooth and minimal movement.

Dropping an anchor, along with your movement while hanging on its line will only cause more stirring of the "muck". Slim chance... but you might even crush the glasses with an anchor.

If your going to be sweeping your hands through the muck, though, visibility isn't an issue. A strong magnet, methodically swept through the muck may work... but only if there's any iron in the frame of the glasses.


Good luck and safe diving, my Friend!!!

Click to expand...

Not much current here, veritas honus, just a bad job of the diver. I can't help but stir up the bottom. Just a little movement clouds the waters. I need the luck and will be safe, brother!

robert graham said:

I was searching for my buddy's lost wedding band in about 25' of rather turbid, muddy water, but the big problem was the heavy layer of silt on the bottom that got stirred up when I moved near it. A rope/anchor seemed to help me stay in one area. I was unable to find the ring, so my friend hired a recovery diver with an underwater metal detector, and it took him an hour to find the ring. I believe his fee for the recovery was about $350, but money well spent to keep his wife/marriage happy!Good Luck!

Click to expand...

I can relate with that, Robert. We had a guy who worked this marina and he became ill. He was the best. He went down once looking for a ring in the muck. The thing ended up on his finger in less than 5 minutes. I'm a ways off being as good as he was. Maybe never.

I actually thought of the anchor while typing this post. I was also thinking of tying off a line to the boat and using it to search a parameter, same as I would the anchor line.

Thanks, guys. I'm going to give it another try in a couple days. Anchor, magnet, and luck!

Re: Diving in Muddy Waters

I used to do a lot of diving to do sediment sampling in murky water in San Diego Bay. Best technique we found was the one described above - anchor with a "tag" line attached that lets you circle the anchor at specific diameters.

The "tag" line also allowed us to alert/pull the diver(s) in the event of an approaching aircraft carrier or similar vessel.