anchochile
Contributor
I finished up my AOW in Key Largo recently with a deep dive on the Spiegel Grove. There was a mild current but I had no problem descending on the line down to around 95 feet, heading into the current to explore the boat a bit, and drifting back to the mooring line for the ascent. I was relaxed throughout and had a great dive.
The next morning, I headed out to the Duane for my first deep dive post-AOW. The current was much stronger - the crew estimated it at 1-2 knots when I asked. Not sure how accurate that is, but we were definitely flying like flags on the descent line, and my mask would start to flood if I turned my head sideways to the current.
The captain announced that we'd do the dive as a drift, given the current, descending on the bow mooring ball and ascending on the stern mooring ball.
The problems started on the surface. Entering from the stern of the dive boat, we first used a tagline to pull ourselves to the mooring ball at the bow of the boat, probably a distance of 50-60 feet. The current was strong enough that hauling myself against it, hand over hand on the line, for 60 feet was enough to leave me winded by the time we got to the mooring ball. The guide and one of the other divers in the group were already there and eager to descent, given the unpleasant surface conditions (current and 3-4 foot chop). I said that I wanted to catch my breath and wait for a minute. After maybe 30 seconds, the guide asked if I was ready to descend. They were being polite but clearly ready to get going, so I said ok, figuring I would be able to catch my breath further on the descent.
Descending on the mooring line, despite the fact that I was negatively buoyant, it felt like hard work pulling myself down, hand over hand, against the lateral force of the current. It also took some effort to keep a solid grip on the line with my hands, given the force of the current. I was using only my hands, not kicking at all, but effectively I was still at a level of exertion that was too high for my breathing & heart rate to start coming down.
Once at the deck of the Duane, at 100fsw, the guide let go of the line and kicked himself a few feet forward to hold onto the bow rail of the ship, face into the current. I did the same - with maximal effort it was possible to kick against the current for those few feet from the line to the bow railing. But this last bit of exertion left me completely out of breath. I held onto the bow railing, face into the current, sucking air like I've never sucked before and feeling totally unable to catch my breath.
Being in this situation at 100 feet at the beginning of the dive made me feel nervous - what if I can't calm myself down? - and I felt that this could be the very beginning of a panic response, which I've never experienced before. I closed my eyes, focused on slowing my breathing, but it didn't really help. I indicated to the guide that I wasn't doing great, using hand signals to communicate that I was breathing too heavily. He grabbed my arms, looked me in the eyes and helped me calm down. After a minute or so, my breathing was back down to a manageable level and I felt more relaxed, so I indicated to him that I was ready to proceed with the dive.
We let go of the railing and started drifting quite quickly towards the stern. The ship was stunning, encrusted in corals and sponges, with so many fish everywhere. But with the ripping current we found ourselves at the stern almost immediately. I was doing ok on air, even after my overexertion at the beginning, but it turned out one of the other divers had a similar experience on the way down and was already below our planned ascent pressure, so the guide signaled us to start our ascent on the stern mooring line.
The ascent was better than the descent, since I started it in a relaxed state (vs the exerted state I was in on the surface), but again, pulling myself up the line while in a horizontal position, against the lateral force of the current, increased my exertion level. But I ascended calmly with no problems, completed my safety stop (at this point, the guide began sharing air with the other diver who was getting quite low), surfaced, and made my way back to the boat, again out of breath and heavily exerted from the effort of the ascent.
It was certainly a learning experience. A few lessons I've taken away:
The next morning, I headed out to the Duane for my first deep dive post-AOW. The current was much stronger - the crew estimated it at 1-2 knots when I asked. Not sure how accurate that is, but we were definitely flying like flags on the descent line, and my mask would start to flood if I turned my head sideways to the current.
The captain announced that we'd do the dive as a drift, given the current, descending on the bow mooring ball and ascending on the stern mooring ball.
The problems started on the surface. Entering from the stern of the dive boat, we first used a tagline to pull ourselves to the mooring ball at the bow of the boat, probably a distance of 50-60 feet. The current was strong enough that hauling myself against it, hand over hand on the line, for 60 feet was enough to leave me winded by the time we got to the mooring ball. The guide and one of the other divers in the group were already there and eager to descent, given the unpleasant surface conditions (current and 3-4 foot chop). I said that I wanted to catch my breath and wait for a minute. After maybe 30 seconds, the guide asked if I was ready to descend. They were being polite but clearly ready to get going, so I said ok, figuring I would be able to catch my breath further on the descent.
Descending on the mooring line, despite the fact that I was negatively buoyant, it felt like hard work pulling myself down, hand over hand, against the lateral force of the current. It also took some effort to keep a solid grip on the line with my hands, given the force of the current. I was using only my hands, not kicking at all, but effectively I was still at a level of exertion that was too high for my breathing & heart rate to start coming down.
Once at the deck of the Duane, at 100fsw, the guide let go of the line and kicked himself a few feet forward to hold onto the bow rail of the ship, face into the current. I did the same - with maximal effort it was possible to kick against the current for those few feet from the line to the bow railing. But this last bit of exertion left me completely out of breath. I held onto the bow railing, face into the current, sucking air like I've never sucked before and feeling totally unable to catch my breath.
Being in this situation at 100 feet at the beginning of the dive made me feel nervous - what if I can't calm myself down? - and I felt that this could be the very beginning of a panic response, which I've never experienced before. I closed my eyes, focused on slowing my breathing, but it didn't really help. I indicated to the guide that I wasn't doing great, using hand signals to communicate that I was breathing too heavily. He grabbed my arms, looked me in the eyes and helped me calm down. After a minute or so, my breathing was back down to a manageable level and I felt more relaxed, so I indicated to him that I was ready to proceed with the dive.
We let go of the railing and started drifting quite quickly towards the stern. The ship was stunning, encrusted in corals and sponges, with so many fish everywhere. But with the ripping current we found ourselves at the stern almost immediately. I was doing ok on air, even after my overexertion at the beginning, but it turned out one of the other divers had a similar experience on the way down and was already below our planned ascent pressure, so the guide signaled us to start our ascent on the stern mooring line.
The ascent was better than the descent, since I started it in a relaxed state (vs the exerted state I was in on the surface), but again, pulling myself up the line while in a horizontal position, against the lateral force of the current, increased my exertion level. But I ascended calmly with no problems, completed my safety stop (at this point, the guide began sharing air with the other diver who was getting quite low), surfaced, and made my way back to the boat, again out of breath and heavily exerted from the effort of the ascent.
It was certainly a learning experience. A few lessons I've taken away:
- If I'm out of breath on the surface, don't descend and start the dive until my breathing and heart rate are back to a relaxed state. If the group wasn't able to wait for this to happen, I should've called the dive and gone back to the boat rather than starting the dive out of breath.
- Don't try to fight a strong current at depth. When the guide kicked a few feet into the current from the mooring line to the railing, I should've waited on the line, catching my breath, and joined the group when they started to drift back towards me.
- Until I become more skilled at managing strong currents, don't do a deep dive with that level of current. I need to build my confidence at managing currents on shallower dives with more margin for error on air use. For now, I will only dive deep when currents are mild, or on drift dives with free descents (as opposed to descents on a line where I can't drift with the current).
- My certification says that I can dive in conditions similar to those in which I was trained. Well, I was never trained on how to handle strong currents. I'm not sure if such training even exists, but clearly I need to build skills in this area.
- Is there a better technique for hauling yourself against a current on a line at the surface? I don't think i was kicking at all, just hauling hand over hand, but it was super tough work.
- Is there a better technique for descending on a line in strong current, to minimize exertion?
- How can I better judge the current on the surface, before getting in the water, so that I can call the dive at that point if the current is beyond my comfort level, rather than figuring this out after I've hauled myself all the way to the mooring ball?