Ocean Depth Comparison

[Sharp Guy]

Anything over about 12ft deep and I'm uncomfortable! If I can't see the bottom, chances are I'm not going in it.

I've always been a good swimmer and grew up on a lake but the ocean is a whole different beast for me. I've only been in it a few times and don't usually stay in for long. I guess I just don't like the idea of swimming in a body of water that contains creatures that can eat me and I can't see until after they've decided I was their next meal. No thanks!

EDIT: That was an interesting video. Thanks for posting it

[The Mastiff]

What I found strange was how deep some rivers can get. Who would have thought of an 800 foot deep river?!
http://www.theworldgeography.com/2011/1 ... world.html

[TkoK83Spy]

Well, it's safe to say there's a lot of sane people in this thread haha! Glad I'm not the only one terrified of the deep!

[James Y]

As a kid, I used to be at the beach (ocean) every day in the summer. I was into body surfing and boogie boarding (but not regular surfing). During those years, I got caught in rip currents twice. Luckily, both times I was able to get out of them and back to shore safely. The second time was the worst. I was pulled out past the line where the waves were breaking, and the beach seemed really far away. I heard a voice over the loud speaker from the lifeguard station that I needed to swim parallel to the beach to get out of the rip current, then turn towards the shore, which I already knew. I swam north a bit and got out of it. I was glad they didn’t actually have to rescue me. They had been preparing to, but I was able to get to where the waves were breaking, which helped push me back to where I could feel the bottom again. I don’t know how deep it was where I got pulled out; maybe 20 feet or so. It was freaky how fast the rip current had pulled me out beyond the waves. I shudder to think what would have happened if it were someone who didn’t know how to swim.

Jim

[The Mastiff]

Rip currents are pretty dangerous. I was swimming with my brother one time and he was maybe 10 feet away and I saw him swimming as fast as he could foreward while going backwards out to sea. Only 10 feet away where I was there was no current at all. It was like he had jumped into a small river. He didn't panic fortunately and responded pretty much as you did. There was nothing I could have done.

[SpyderNut]

Anything over about 12ft deep and I'm uncomfortable! If I can't see the bottom, chances are I'm not going in it.

I've always been a good swimmer and grew up on a lake but the ocean is a whole different beast for me. I've only been in it a few times and don't usually stay in for long. I guess I just don't like the idea of swimming in a body of water that contains creatures that can eat me and I can't see until after they've decided I was their next meal. No thanks!

EDIT: That was an interesting video. Thanks for posting it

I certainly agree with you both. Swimming in deep water always gave me the willies. I've swum in in the Pacific and Atlantic, but always at a depth where I could see the bottom. (Hey, I grew up watching "Jaws" as a kid. Those movies scarred me for life ) On one occasion during our honeymoon, I decided to take a swim in the Caribbean Sea. I hadn't gotten very far when I heard a fellow swimming (a woman) scream. Turns out she got stung by a jellyfish and had to get carried out of the water by rescue personnel. I was probably only 60-80 yards away from her when it happened. Needless to say, I was done swimming for the day.

[Doc Dan]

Hey, even shallow water is not safe. I stepped on an electric skate once. It was a hair raising experience, literally. the same day my cousin was stung by a stingray. Most shark attacks occur in three feet of water or less.

[TkoK83Spy]

Most shark attacks occur in three feet of water or less.

It's crazy how often you can read in the news about shark attacks in shallow depths, or all the videos of people out in the beautiful, clear waters and have no clue that there is a sharking swimming 15-30ft away from where they are!

[Doc Dan]

Most shark attacks occur in three feet of water or less.

It's crazy how often you can read in the news about shark attacks in shallow depths, or all the videos of people out in the beautiful, clear waters and have no clue that there is a sharking swimming 15-30ft away from where they are!

It is scary. What is more scary is that Bull Sharks often attack people in fresh water. In fact, the movie Jaws was based on a real event in New Jersey and New York, etc. where a Bull Shark started chomping people in fresh water where everyone thought they were safe.

[James Y]

Leopard sharks come to La Jolla every year to feed and mate. They are considered safe, as long as you leave them alone. And they’re not known to bite humans. Many swimmers and surfers share the water with them.

In all the years I swam and bodysurfed in the ocean, I never encountered a shark. I was more concerned about stingrays, but amazingly, I never got stung by one. My older sister got stung by a stingray her very first time in the water. I did get stung by jellyfish a couple of times.

I swam at La Jolla Shores a few times as a kid, but mostly frequented beaches south of there.

https://youtu.be/GDAaWNb10Ww

https://youtu.be/T9hgt7J6QHk

Jim

[W7H2O]

Things go bump in the night.
This one time in band camp(Army), I was doing a night 3000m compass dive back to shore with a swim buddy. It was very dark and I was in my groove just finning away. Something large bumped and pushed me. I did not know what it was but it scared me LOL. I couldn't see it. I was waiting for it to chew me up the whole way in.

[yablanowitz]

I finally watched the video last night. Interesting stuff, and I was surprised to see my old boat in there. USS George Washington, SSBN598 listed at 210 meters. It was a hoot to watch new guys when she started creaking and groaning with depth changes.

[cabfrank]

I liked the video, thanks for posting it.

[cabfrank]

I'm sure there are things down there we literally haven't imagined.

[James Y]

How 29,000 Lost Rubber Ducks Helped Map The World’s Oceans (an article and a video)

Besides ocean depths, ocean currents are equally fascinating:

 https://www.treehugger.com/what-can-rub ... ut-4864165

https://youtu.be/_UjAxuSuLIc

Jim

[JD Spydo]

The ocean has always blown my mind and terrified me. The fact that we know more about outer space than we do the oceans on our own planet... that's a scary fact to process in my eyes.

I’ve always had a fear of deep, dark water. I’m sure just about everyone does, but ocean (and many lake) depths are mind-boggling.

I heard somewhere that Scotland’s Loch Ness, if it were drained, could supposedly fit 10 times the world’s entire human population in it.

Jim

That's an interesting summation Jim. Because just recently I heard a similar factoid about Lake Baikal in Russia. I heard that Lake Baikal is so deep and holds such a huge volume of water that at least 3% of all the world's fresh water can be found in that lake. Now that was on one of the shows on the Science Channel that I heard that and I've not double checked it yet.

But I've also heard that Lake Baikal has it's own unique ecosystem and that many animals and fish are unique to that lake and are only found at that one location on the entire planet.

Also I've wondered if they have ever determined how deep the Mariana Trench is in the western part of the Pacific Ocean? I've heard estimates of it being over 7 miles deep in places.

[JD Spydo]

The thing is, we don't know what lives there. We only know a little of what lives in the upper 1% or something. Something to think about next time you get on a ship.

Doc,

Yeah, I’m certain there are a LOT of ocean creatures of all sizes, including very large ones, swimming around in the oceans, that we know nothing about.

Jim

One of thee weirdest of all deep ocean creatures is those "hagfish". It's like they are a combination of a leech, eel and snake all together. They are the clean up crew for much of the ocean's floor.

Some of the more intriguing shows I've seen on the Science Channel are the submersible craft that go down to the ocean floor to observe the weird creatures that live down there. It blows my mind that anything can live at that depth with the massive pressure. Even the different species of weird sharks down that deep look like a space alien type creatures.

But seriously folks check out those "hagfish". They are like a giant version of Sea Lampreys. It's mind boggling that God would even create something that weird.

[James Y]

The ocean has always blown my mind and terrified me. The fact that we know more about outer space than we do the oceans on our own planet... that's a scary fact to process in my eyes.

I’ve always had a fear of deep, dark water. I’m sure just about everyone does, but ocean (and many lake) depths are mind-boggling.

I heard somewhere that Scotland’s Loch Ness, if it were drained, could supposedly fit 10 times the world’s entire human population in it.

Jim

That's an interesting summation Jim. Because just recently I heard a similar factoid about Lake Baikal in Russia. I heard that Lake Baikal is so deep and holds such a huge volume of water that at least 3% of all the world's fresh water can be found in that lake. Now that was on one of the shows on the Science Channel that I heard that and I've not double checked it yet.

But I've also heard that Lake Baikal has it's own unique ecosystem and that many animals and fish are unique to that lake and are only found at that one location on the entire planet.

Also I've wondered if they have ever determined how deep the Mariana Trench is in the western part of the Pacific Ocean? I've heard estimates of it being over 7 miles deep in places.

Joe,

It’s said that the deepest point in the Mariana Trench is 36,201 feet. Almost 7 miles. If you were floating on the surface and the water suddenly disappeared, and you started falling to the bottom, it would be the same as being dropped from an airliner flying at around its maximum height.

IIRC, Lake Baikal is the oldest, largest, and deepest lake in the world.

As for hagfish, yes, they are very weird-looking creatures. And there are many other bizarre-looking creatures way down there. And IMO, if there are gigantic “sea serpents” and other unclassified sea creatures, which I believe there are, they probably don’t even live at the maximum extreme depths, due to the extreme pressure.

Jim

[standy99]

Worked on Christmas Island for a while and being a volcanic island there was a drop off of 500 meters at just 20-30 meters from land at places.
At just 100 meters from land it was 2 and a half KMs deep at places.

Fishing was epic. Had a GT as big as a GMC Yukon bonnet/hood tow us about a mile and a half from where we hooked up.

[bearfacedkiller]

I figure if it is too deep to touch then it is all the same. I dont see the difference.

I have swam in water that was 300-400 feet deep. It doesn’t seem any more dangerous than water that is 20 feet deep. I have fished in both the ocean as well as lakes that were 300-400 feet deep. I am usually much more concerned about my distance from shore. I know I can swim a mile and I think if my life depended on it I could swim at least two. In my youth I once swam two miles for the fun of it. Not easy but doable. I think that if I was three miles from shore I would be done for but I don’t really know. I was a strong swimmer as kid but now I am a much less fit middle aged man. About seven years ago I trained for a sprint triathlon and was swimming a mile twice a week. I was 36 then.

I was ice fishing and I pulled a lake trout up from off the bottom of a lake in Colorado at 320 feet. My fish finder is rated for 300 feet but that depends on water clarity. I wanted to see if it would actually work at that depth. When I was walking over there my buddy acted concerned. He said it was dangerous because it was so deep over there. We were fishing in about 60 foot of water at the time. I replied that going through the ice in 60 foot of water will kill me just the same as going through in 300 feet of water. Either you can touch bottom or you can’t.