How to sneak up on Critters that move fast

by James Avery

I have been asked to write about why I seem to see more “neat” things on a dive, I gave it a lot of thought and what follows is the “training program” I used.

There was a time when I would get on the boat following a dive and listen to all the cool things the other divers had seen on their dive thinking that, either I am blind, or, we were at different dive sites because I never seemed to see the things they did. Sharks, rays, other rare or unique animals, to find I was so close and did not see them became very frustrating. So, I began to try different techniques, experimenting with what has become hundreds of theories and ideas I developed so I could see more of the “cool” stuff (it never dawned on me to just ask how they did it, it would have saved a lot of time). There is not enough memory in this computer to go over all of them, no need to really, since most did little or no good. Since I feel it is an ongoing process, I would never finish. I would like sharing some of the ideas and things that I did to help me see more.

My first thought is that for you to see something, you have to get close enough to actually see it, given the limits to visibility water presents. Animals in general, tend to flee when they encounter things unfamiliar to them. They flee to a distance that makes them feel safe. Once they feel “safe”, curiosity makes them hang around at a distance until THEY decide to come in for a closer look.

In the ocean, marine animals have senses that allow them to do all of this from a distance, most of the time it is a distance where they can see us but we can’t see them. One of the senses they use that I feel plays a big part is their ability to sense vibrations in the water. Most fish know divers are in the water before they ever see them because of the vibrations generated by our movements through the water.

Fins kicking through the water, bubbles roaring out of our regulators, underwater “honkers” blaring, it must seem to them like some alien stampede coming over the horizon. No wonder what we usually see is their tail fins and backsides as they run into a hole or to some other place on the reef with a little more peace and quiet.

My first goal was to send out vibrations that the animals do not interpret as threatening. If they did not feel threatened, hopefully curiosity would make them hang around a while. After I figured out a way to get within visual range, I had to find out what it takes to keep them in the area and let me get even closer. The most satisfying encounters I have had are the ones where the animal hangs around, studying me as much as I am studying him.

Through personal experience and observation of others, it seems to me that the worst possible thing you can do when you encounter something is start swimming like a bat out of hell towards it. From the animal’s point of view, when something starts coming after you like that, usually somebody gets eaten. They may not be too sure what the heck we are but why take the chance? Better run and be safe than stay and be dinner.

The best results I have had are from the times I actually slowed down and pretty much turned ALL motion to slow motion, eliminating ANY AND ALL sudden, quick movements. What I do from this point will vary depending on the animal I have encountered. I will give some personal thoughts on that later, they are useless until you are ABLE to get that far. That will take some effort.

The objective is to “fool” the animals into thinking that you “belong” in the ocean, and are not a threat to them. You have to give off the right “vibes”.

If the vibrations you send out appear “natural” for an aquatic animal. Hopefully, the animal becomes curious, curious enough to want to see what is creating these new vibrations, bringing them TO you rather than keeping them away. You can’t hope to fool them if you are not on top of your skills.

Your goal should be to literally swim like a fish. By that I mean fluid and smooth with no rapid, jerky movements. Everything from fin kicks to clearing your mask, all your movements should appear to be relaxed, natural, instinctive actions and not fast, or awkward (in some cases) reactions to changes around you.

I think the starting point is in buoyancy control. A personal goal of mine on every dive is to try to have my buoyancy control fine-tuned enough so that I am neutral AT ANY POINT in the dive. If I can stop at any point and be neutral (NOT stop and GET neutral), it will eliminate the need to suddenly kick harder because I am too heavy (and quickly go for the inflator to add air). Or, grab my deflator to release a burst of air from my bc because I am too light.

Motions of that kind are not natural, I have never seen a fish come to a stop and adjust his buoyancy (they have air bladders too). My goal is to be able to make these adjustments instinctively, without having to think about it. You have to dive to master that skill, a lot. I average 600 dives a year, I may be pretty good, but it is still something I work on every dive.

At first you may feel as though the inflator mechanism is glued to your hand as you go through the process of emptying and filling your bc and you move about from one depth to the next. Then you start to develop a feel for you gear (hard to do this with rental gear since you will get different gear each time), you will know just how long to hold the button in to get the right amount of air in, or out of, your bc. There will come a point where you know how soon to start inflating on a descent so that you become neutral at just the right depth, with just one push of the inflator button, like you are being lowered by a string, and not a spring.

The goal is to instinctively know exactly how much air to put in or let out depending on how heavy or light you feel at that point. This will minimize the movements involved, and, when you do use the inflator, it is in a very efficient manner, no wasted movements, or wasted air (less wasted air=longer bottom times too!).

Now, take things to the next level-use the inflator AS LITTLE AS POSSIBLE during the dive. I try to use my lung volume as much as I can to control buoyancy during depth changes, hovering is just one of the things you can do if you have a handle on using your lung volume to control your buoyancy. Flashback to your open water class, repeat the fin pivots and hover exercises, not to “hover motionless for thirty seconds”, but to find out just how much control you do have. What is the range of control? If you start with a hover 5’ off the bottom, how low can you go with out having to add air to go back up? How far up can you go before it becomes necessary to vent air from your bc to descend again?

You want to know that “too heavy” or “too light” feeling that is beyond the capacity of your lungs to compensate for. How much do you have to inhale to rise up 1’? 2’? Can you rise up that 1’ or 2’ and stay there? Going the other direction, what do you have to do to drop down a foot or two? Can you lower yourself a foot or two and stay there? By the way, you want to be able to do ALL of these movements, up and down, while remaining COMPLETELY motionless, no arms waving around or fin kicking for help, strictly lung volume.

Once you get the feel for what it takes to move up and down in the water column by varying your breathing pattern, practice changing body position using only your legs/fins, no hands and arms. Go into different positions by varying the angle of your fins, you will probably find it much easier to do. All this work will take some time and dedication, I did it and continue to do it to this day.

I am now able to drop to my desired depth and once neutral, leisurely fin along the reef using steady, smooth and fluid kicks. Since my kicking no longer has to aid in my buoyancy control, all of their thrust is forward. This, as opposed to forward and slightly up if I were a little heavy, or forward and slightly down if I were a little light. I find that now I “glide” a lot further and once I am moving, it takes less effort to keep the forward momentum going, I can actually kick easier now and maintain my “cruising” speed (made even easier with my full foot twin jets, best fins I ever had). It also helps that by internalizing my buoyancy control (from kicking and arm movements to lung volume are breathing rate), I can keep my arms up and do most of my dive with very minimal arm movement becoming more streamlined.

By using my legs and ankles to vary the angle of my fins as I move them through the water, I moved directional control to my fins and away from my arms (no more waving from side to side like a mime with a panel glass in from of him). I know when I can control my depth without going for the inflator, holding it in position while I attempt control with my lung volume, finding out I can do it with lung volume and dropping the inflator, wasted arm movement. Remember the whole goal was to look like you belong.

Picture a fish on a reef. He hovers there checking things out, I can do that-motionless hovering. He might see something just below and with a little flick of his tail fin, he drops his head down to take a nibble or closer look, I can do that-flip the fins slightly from the ankle (not the hip), exhale and then inhale at the right times and I can drop for a closer look (probably will skip the nibble). Our fish on the reef decides to go for little stroll, a flip of his tail fin to get going and then slower, smoother movements to maintain his momentum, I can do that too-more forceful kick to get going then just enough to maintain my speed.

Cruising along, the fish decides to drop to a deeper depth. Yes, I can do that, but I also know if the depth change is big enough, I am going to have to use my bc. Because I now know in advance what my limitations are, I am prepared in advance rather than acting because I have already become too heavy or light. With my arms folded at my chest, it only takes a slight bend of the wrist and I have my inflator assembly in my hand, push of the button and I add what air I need to. Or, with a slight pull, I vent what air I need to, BOTH-with my arms never leaving my chest area or having to stop my forward motion. Because of the practice I put in I can still stop and be neutrally buoyant, where before I would usually stop and have to make some sort of adjustment. Hopefully by now my swimming motions are such that it looks more like I “belong” in the ocean.

The thought now may be that, sure, I can imitate a fish now but I am so much bigger than they are (most anyway). To answer that, I observed how fish react when larger one were present and it seemed to me that what mattered was not the size of the fish nearby but what it was doing. The ONLY time the smaller one ran away was when the larger fish was swimming directly at them. Guess I can’t blame them for that one, I would move too. If the larger fish seemed to be just passing by and not a threat, the smaller ones had little if any reaction. Slightly wary maybe, but still there. I found that if I tried to appear as if I were just “passing by”, and did not suddenly start directly for them, fish I was interested in hung around longer. I could do all the moving about with minimal movements. More often now I find that instead of chasing a fish around to try to get a look, I am hovering there-me looking at him, him looking at me-like to fish checking each other out. Was the effort worth it? Every bit.

This “program” enabled me to get a lot closer to a lot of animals. Some stayed, some left but I have found that different types tend to do the same things or have certain patterns of behavior. I have been studying them and have found out some things that let me get even closer to them, or have them hang around longer. But, that is another story; I better stop this one before it goes into multiple volumes.

I can’t guarantee you an animal encounter, but this will help improve the odds of one, and when it does happen, prolong it a little bit. The experience is impossible to adequately describe-those that have had a special encounter know what I am talking about, those that haven’t yet, when it happens and the animal swims away, you will smile and think that “yeah, it was worth all the effort” and start thinking of ways to get even better. That’s what I do. Please remember that we are guests, respect them and their home.

Thanks for hanging till the end. Dive safe.