Sitting in the airport ready to catch my flight after three pleasant days diving in Moalboal, Philippines, I thought I would share with the board a totally new experience that I had on Sunday.
During the Sunday afternoon dive it was just me and Filipino DM (question: why do people stay in a dive lodge and then only do two dives a day? Anyhow...). We went out to Pescador Island, which is really just a big sheer pinnacle that comes out of the water, and drops pretty much straight down to somewhere around 270 feet (I am told). The plan was to drop in on the West side, swim around the North face, and get picked up on the East side. Start deep, work shallow. Very typical of all the diving we had done. Weather was uncommonly rough topside (most days were idyllic), but hey, that is a problem for the guys left on the boat.
So we drop to about 90 feet. Swimming into a mild current, but no big deal. Enjoying the dive. As we come around the north face, I suddenly realise I have lost track of the DM whilst enjoying the scenery. Irritated with myself, I wonder what to do. Can't go up - the waves would pound me against the cliff. I decide that I had best press on and just try and find the boat again once I get to the East side. I have one more really good look around... and I spot him. He is about 20 feet above me, kicking as if making for the surface, and energetically signalling for me to come up.
My first thought was to look down, to see what it is that he was apparently "fleeing", and I got a bit of the start. There below me were my own exhaust bubbles. Not all of them of course, but any bubbles the size of a quarter or smaller were either static or heading down the wall. I was caught in that mythical diving monster - the down current.
Had a bit of a flutter as one does when we feel something keeping you from the safety of the surface (reminded me of my first time in deco). I thought to just kick upwards like the DM, and then realised that wasn't a smart way to go about it and just blasted some more gas into my wing. Once I got up to 70 feet or so by the DM I stabilised - or tried to, getting bouyancy right in a down current was trickier than I though.
We kept working our way around, when we travelled about another 30 yards or so, the down current abruptly stopped and we were suddenly caught in a ripping currently sweeping us along the wall in our direction of travel. Both the DM and I reversed ourselves to kick against our direction of travel to slow ourselves down, but we still go periodically banged against the wall (me more than him I must say). I badly regretted leaving my thick lobster gloves at home for the trip.
When we got to the exit point, shame to say, we were both clinging on to otherwise innocent bits of coral. With remarkable sang froid, he gave me the signal for "swim around" (in Moalboal, SOP is to finish each dive with about a 12 minute swim around that also serves as a long safety stop). I gave him the signal for you-must-be-fricking-kidding-me and we terminated the dive.
Don't get me wrong - this was no ride of terror, it was enjoyable dive, but two of the three currents were unlike anything I'd ever experienced before. So what do I think that I learned? Well...
During the Sunday afternoon dive it was just me and Filipino DM (question: why do people stay in a dive lodge and then only do two dives a day? Anyhow...). We went out to Pescador Island, which is really just a big sheer pinnacle that comes out of the water, and drops pretty much straight down to somewhere around 270 feet (I am told). The plan was to drop in on the West side, swim around the North face, and get picked up on the East side. Start deep, work shallow. Very typical of all the diving we had done. Weather was uncommonly rough topside (most days were idyllic), but hey, that is a problem for the guys left on the boat.
So we drop to about 90 feet. Swimming into a mild current, but no big deal. Enjoying the dive. As we come around the north face, I suddenly realise I have lost track of the DM whilst enjoying the scenery. Irritated with myself, I wonder what to do. Can't go up - the waves would pound me against the cliff. I decide that I had best press on and just try and find the boat again once I get to the East side. I have one more really good look around... and I spot him. He is about 20 feet above me, kicking as if making for the surface, and energetically signalling for me to come up.
My first thought was to look down, to see what it is that he was apparently "fleeing", and I got a bit of the start. There below me were my own exhaust bubbles. Not all of them of course, but any bubbles the size of a quarter or smaller were either static or heading down the wall. I was caught in that mythical diving monster - the down current.
Had a bit of a flutter as one does when we feel something keeping you from the safety of the surface (reminded me of my first time in deco). I thought to just kick upwards like the DM, and then realised that wasn't a smart way to go about it and just blasted some more gas into my wing. Once I got up to 70 feet or so by the DM I stabilised - or tried to, getting bouyancy right in a down current was trickier than I though.
We kept working our way around, when we travelled about another 30 yards or so, the down current abruptly stopped and we were suddenly caught in a ripping currently sweeping us along the wall in our direction of travel. Both the DM and I reversed ourselves to kick against our direction of travel to slow ourselves down, but we still go periodically banged against the wall (me more than him I must say). I badly regretted leaving my thick lobster gloves at home for the trip.
When we got to the exit point, shame to say, we were both clinging on to otherwise innocent bits of coral. With remarkable sang froid, he gave me the signal for "swim around" (in Moalboal, SOP is to finish each dive with about a 12 minute swim around that also serves as a long safety stop). I gave him the signal for you-must-be-fricking-kidding-me and we terminated the dive.
Don't get me wrong - this was no ride of terror, it was enjoyable dive, but two of the three currents were unlike anything I'd ever experienced before. So what do I think that I learned? Well...
- down currents do actually exist
- they are not actually that difficult to manage, although a bit scary as a concept
- but it is much harder to get your bouyancy right when you are in one
- when you "pop out" you may need to dump some gas pretty quickly
- most unexpected thing: when your bubbles stop going up, they start to obscure your vision pretty quickly
- a strong current pushing you into a wall is something to be avoided
- if PADI really want to create a useful specialty, they should create a "ripping-like-a-mother current diver" course. But they won't - wouldn't fit in well with the marketing of diving as fun and easy.