An answer to the question "Do you see more fish on CCR than OC"...

onetime

Common question and it seems there are three answers whenever the thread comes up:

"yes", "no", and "yes and no"

Feeling a little experimental and since my Rebreather was apart a couple of weeks ago I decided to drop into my local lake using my OC gear. Not a particularly special dive, just needed to get wet and wanted to check out one particular area where lots of people anchor on the weekends.

Anyway, water temp 79 degrees at the surface, wind about 5 mph, a few clouds in the sky, little to no boat traffic. Dropped down the anchor line to a depth of ~25 ffw bottom temp maybe 5 degrees cooler than the surface (some spots it dropped another 10 to 15 degrees where the springs feed the lake). Counted 5 fish (locally known as Sunnies) hanging just out of clear visual range. Visibility was ~5 ft and they had their faces right at that 5' mark. Wherever I moved they kept that 5' space between us until they lost interest in me and I went wandering around the bottom for a while.

Today, jump in the same spot this time on my Rebreather. Same water temps, air temps, boat traffic, visibility, depths, everything is as it was two weeks ago. This time I lost count at 25 fish all within 1' of me. Some were just inches away. One was less than 1/2" from my mask, another hanging right near my hand on the anchor line. This one was one of the bigger of the bunch. Figuring I'd have some fun I stuck my finger out and wiggled it. Without any hesitation the little bastard bit it and retreated a couple of inches away.

Not many people ever dive here so the fish are completely unaccustomed to divers. On OC there's no doubt in my mind they were frightened by the bubbles. On CCR they had no fear and acted as if I belonged there. When I dove this lake over the past years I always felt like I saw more fish on CCR than OC but since I was always moving around to different spots could never really quantify it. In this admittedly rather unscientific study I saw 5 times as many fish and they were 5 times closer to me. The interest in me lasted about the same amount of time but they were closer and far more interactive with me. I was able to reach out and touch them and they were never more than a foot or so away from me.

Just thought I'd share.

Dive Safe.

--Paul

dan@scuba-training.net

I have very informally observed an extra-ordinary number of blacktip sharks while diving on the Inspiration in Florida than I have when diving the same places on OC.

Hmmm, an electrical solenoid operates by creating a field...

... and the solenoid fires at irregular intervals...

...and sharks like electrical fields...

...Naaaa! Couldn't be...

silent running

Hello Dan, the electrical field/solenoid thing might have something to do with it, but I never saw so many Blacktips before I started diving CCR. I know they are comon in places like French Polyenesia, but in most places I've dived, they are not often seen, except by us silent types... -Andy

lizardland

I don't know if it was coincidence but over the weekend our boat was followed by dolphins. The OC divers only saw them on the surface but they were swimming around me on the line.

It also makes evading divemasters good fun in low vis

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MHD

We have a local reef in Brisbane that is OW heaven, lots of pretty coral and 10 to 15 m deep. A mate and I jumped with many collective dives in this area (OC) on Rebreather's together ands much to our surprise we ran into a mid size whaler. Now this place can literally get a 100 dives a day on weekends and I had never heard of a shark being seen there before. Certainly convinced me of the benefits of RB's regarding seeing more fish life.

Matt

Jens Kallmeyer

HI

Last year I went diving with a whole group on a wreck. My buddy and me were the only Rebreather divers, so we had quite a bit more bottom time than the OC crowd. After we send all the bubblemakers up we had the whole wreck just for ourselves. It was unbelieveable how many fishes suddenly showed up. They were there all the time, but hiding.

Jens

cameron

They just seem to come out of hiding when it is quiet....

DZLHED

I've been living on and diving the waters of Maui for 11 years now. Worked at the Maui Ocean Center aquarium during it's first few years of operation. The vast majority of sharks we caught for the tank were Sandbar sharks. In 5k dives I had never seen one in the wild. Thought it a bit strange. One day on open circuit I did an inhale only decent to 165 ft. center reef, Molokini crater (reasonably sharky destination) being as stealthy as possible. Low and behold... Saw my first ever sandbar. Exhaled, and he was gone. I've seen 3 since March this year on my Rebreather. Coincidence? Perhaps. Doubt it. Some fish care, others don't. I believe exposure to divers has a lot to do with the amount of tolerance some species have to open circuit racket. Molokini gets a hundred or so divers a day. Most fish there don't care what UBA you are on.

Aloha

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Aloha,
Dieselhead

To err is Human... to ccr, Divine.

www.NorthShoreExplorers.com

Dutchy

Yet another good reason to go KISS I guess

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onetime

Unless you want to see sharks. Then, being a KISS diver, you just have to soak your buddy's suit in chum the day before the dive.