Submarine sonar scares divers

Diving with Stuart Cove’s in Nassau, Bahamas at the Pumpkin patch. We heard a high pitched squeal. It startled our guide. The squeal could be heard on the surface also. Not sure if it was submarine or not. If you have any idea let me know in the comments.

[Wulfjager]

I've swam in a large lake while speed boat races are taking place about 5 miles away. I couldn't hear a thing outside of the water but upon submerging my head it sounded like the engines were a football field away. It's terrifying how well sound travels underwater

[aludamin]

Imagine being a whale and constantly hearing the humans underwater shenanigans, has to be maddening.

[FirstNameLastName-gzsw]

Hearing sounds underwater is freaky.
I was snorkeling in Hawaii and went a fair ways out with a few other people. I dove down to look at the fish and as I was about halfway down I heard a bunch of whale calls. It sounded like it was coming in from every direction. I knew what they were but it really freaked me out. It was an instant reminder that I was not alone, and that the blue void I saw when I looked out, stretched out further than I could comprehend.

[nooneisback]

I love that you can hear distant echoes seconds after the main sound.

[stephenhoward]

If it was actually a sub, you wouldn't have heard sonar. Subs do NOT casually "Yankee-search". Surface-ships, on the other hand, do it rather frequently. THAT was definitely a surface sonar, have heard that too many times. Being afraid of sonar isn't a bad thing, as at high power, it can F you up if you're in the water. Cruisers use it to prevent underwater approaches while anchored-out overseas.

[DivingHawker]

It's so eerie to hear such an artifical sound in the middle of nowhere, with the echos and all.

[cherishedparks]

Lmao I love how you can still hear the diver go “What the fuck was that?” 😂

[simula]

You can hear surface ship sonar from up to 100 miles away, and within like 50 miles it can affect you. It can also blow up your lungs and do alot of nasty stuff so ships rarely activate it near the coast in peacetime to avoid killing any divers and maritime animals.

[glashoppah]

Diving in Okinawa and experienced an earthquake at 60 feet. Sounded like a bell the size of a mountain, with a definite *thump* against our chests. Really impressive.

[rhino]

subs don't typically do active sonar pings, their aim is to see without being seen, sending out an active ping is like holding up a bright road flare in a pitch black room, this is probably a surface ship either testing its sonar, or doing a training exercise.

[dcvendex]

i love how you can audible hear the "the fuck was that???" even through the mask

[lsq]

The loudest noise one can hear in the air is 194dB, which is ear shattering.
The loudest noise that can be heard in the water is 270dB. This is hundreds of times stronger (logarithmic scale) and is quite simply deadly.

[Buconoir]

Love it!! Yeah, you got pinged. Actually, the DESTROYER that went active was probably a good bit away from you, since sound propagates through water for a long ways. The tones you heard and the changes in frequency and pulse are familiar to any sailor on today's USN destroyers since this can be heard throughout the ship's hull whenever we go active. If she was closer that sonar can mess you up. In port we can use it for antidiver purposes since anyone trying to get close to us underwater would FEEL it and come up with one button push.

[bricksonm]

Wow, that’s so loud and clear. I didn’t expect it to sound like that.

Sound traveling underwater is crazy. It’s interesting how many sounds like sonar, a boat’s motor, etc… travel like crazy underwater, but if you’re in a pool with a friend, one on one side, one on the other, you can barely hear each other if you yell underwater, if at all.

[ParallelSyntax]

I went to a swimming pool with a friend who had a Casio digital watch. Although it’s only half Olympic size (or maybe 2/3, I forget), I could CLEARLY hear him playing with the setting from it underwater when we are at complete opposite ends, even with all the kids and people splashing about. Truly mind-blowing, but makes sense when molecules that carry the sound are so close together in liquid.

[DemonPig]

Why are SONAR sounds so spine-chilling (and spine-destroying)

[theletsplayer]

Something hauntingly beautiful about hearing an almost otherworldly screech in an serene almost equally alien enviorment

[l.a.xgunner]

There is a US Naval base close to Nassau. Definitely could be active sonar testing.

[mrobviuos]

Honestly, you and your dive partner should be grateful that you got out of the water alive with no injuries! Sonar is no joke! The two of you must have been far away enough from the source to not been seriously hurt or killed.

[merrickx]

The sounds that powerful sonars emit are often proprietary and guarded, but there are quality recordings out there, and this video is one of the best. That absolutely is the sound of sonar- not dissimilar to the fictional frequency detection and listening scenes in the movie Sunshine from 2007.