Whether you’re SCUBA diving, snorkeling, or free diving, at some point, you are probably going to get an opportunity to visit a kelp forest. While many people have encountered kelp lying on the beach after a big storm, many are a bit intimidated by kelp diving since entanglement is a real possibility. Divers who are not prepared for kelp can become entangled, panic, and drown – which is why it is a good idea to learn as much as you can about diving in kelp before you visit the kelp beds.
What is Kelp?
Incredibly, kelp is a kind of algae, which gets its energy from the sun, transforming carbon dioxide into sugars. It has a holdfast, which is a rootlike organ that anchors it to substrate (normally rocky), plus a stipe, which is a long, hollow tube that leads to its bladder, an air filled sac located near the surface. Its blades are leaf-like appendages which can be seen floating near the top of the water, and which have the important job of collecting the sun’s energy. Kelp lives at depths between 6 and 30 meters, and requires clear, cool water to survive. It lives in waters from the Arctic to Antarctic, with the largest kelp forests being found where the average water temperature is less than twenty degrees Celsius.
There are many different species of kelp, but diving in one variety is much like diving in another.
Kelp Forest Life
Like forests on land, kelp forests are beautiful places with many different inhabitants. Depending on where you dive, you might encounter seals and sea lions, otters, and diving birds as you explore. Several types of fish are adapted to live in kelp forests, too. There are kelpfish, which have blade shaped bodies that help them blend into the forests with ease; they range in size from very tiny to a few feet long.
In addition, kelp forests sustain masses of sea urchins, which sometimes congregate in huge, colorful and spiny balls. They are a favorite food of sea otters, but be careful not to touch them as they are harmful to humans. Without the otters to keep them in check, the sea urchins are capable of decimating kelp, since they chew through the stipes at a rapid pace. Interestingly, when otters were hunted to near extinction in the past, the kelp forests all but disappeared in areas where otter populations plummeted.
Snails, crabs, and lobsters live in kelp forests too, as do different species of starfish, rockfish, skates, small sharks, and thousands of other creatures. Besides providing a habitat for these animals, kelp is known as one of the most productive and dynamic of all the earth’s ecosystems. Kelp forests and other masses of marine plant life produce between 70 and 80 percent of the oxygen in our atmosphere – in essence, we exist with its help.
Tips for Diving in a Kelp Forest
One of the most important tools you can carry while diving in a kelp forest is a very sharp dive knife, kept within easy reach on an arm or thigh or clipped to your BC – not strapped to your calf. Most kelp diving accidents happen because some piece of equipment has become entangled in kelp – fin buckles, and other protruding objects can be freed calmly and easily with careful cutting, so long as you can reach that dive knife.
Be sure to streamline yourself as much as possible before entering kelp. You can tape over buckles before diving to smooth them, and by watching where you are going, and always leading with your hands, you can prevent a snorkel or mask entanglement. In addition, be sure your navigation skills are up to par before diving in kelp. You want to be sure that you can find your way back to the starting point, without having to surface.
Stay away from the surface canopy, as this is where the kelp fronds are heaviest. If you have to surface in kelp, do so carefully, leading with your hands and making slow, deliberate movements. If you are prone to panicking, simply explore the edges of the kelp forest and do not enter. If you are ever entangled, simply find where the entanglement is, and calmly free yourself. It might help to feel a piece of kelp before diving, simply so you know what its properties are. While you usually cannot rip it or pull it apart, you can often snap stipes in half the way you would snap a carrot into pieces. Some divers have even bitten into kelp to free themselves from it – keeping a spare knife handy might prevent you from having to do this.
Besides not surfacing inside a kelp bed, you want to make your descent on its outside edge or approach it from a short distance away. Making a descent in a kelp bed is just asking for trouble, and despite the fact that sea lions and otters roll around in kelp, you should never make quick sideways motions. Plan every motion to stay out of trouble.
If you do find yourself in trouble, running out of air, and needing to surface swim, then you will need to make your way deliberately to the top of the canopy, inflate your BC, and switch to your snorkel. Once you are up, make your profile as compact as possible. Reel in your SPG, and tuck in anything that dangles. Next, get your knife into your dominant hand, get both hands out in front of you, and slowly swim across the top of the kelp. Look around to find the shortest way out of the kelp; this might not be a straight line back to the beach or the boat, it will just lessen the amount of time you have to spend working to get out. Always send the most experienced diver to the head of the line, with the least experienced somewhere in the middle.
With careful planning and navigating, you can avoid kelp diving accidents. If you can, have a dive instructor work you through some emergency drills to help you prepare for problems that might arise. Once you are confident, you are certain to enjoy many fantastic dives in some of the most magical places on earth.