Current is the Worst

[Ardy]

Tassie Rohan - that must be it. I read about it some years ago. The pictures of the area would seem to ban the thought of diving it, even between tides this area could change very quickly.

 

[Underwater Ogre]

TBPF>>>>>>>>>

Watch ahead of you - if the fish are pointing up or down and swimming to stay in place then you have an up or down current. Schools of fish often gather as up currents bring goodies from the depths...

This is a very good "tell tale" watch which way the fish are pointed......if there are hiding...get ready! There are probably hiding from the current.

 

[Hank49]

If you get caught in a strong downcurrent get close to the wall - the current is a lot less within 1-2 metres of the bottom/wall. Add some air to help you ascend - it can be exhausting to kick against a strong down current - but be be prepared to vent your air as you ascend and the current releases you closer to the surface.

Cheers,
Rohan.

I think this depends on where you are. I've experienced a fairly strong down current, caused apparently by the dropping tide and water "spilling" off the reef over the veritcal wall surrounding it.
In this case, you're right, you could get close to the wall but there will still be down current. You're not out of it staying close to the wall and will still have to make headway against it. We swam out into the blue and got completely out of it within several meters of the wall. It wasn't extremely strong, but we were going down. No bc inflation...just finning out to the blue. It was pretty localized, "spilling" into a vertical cut in the reef.

 

[String]

When we surfaced, the boat was GONE -- it had followed the group around the end of the point.

Still fail to see the problem, SMB on the surface any semi competent boat crew would be aware that was happening and be aware to retrace to that bag. And nominate someone to keep an eye on it.
100% of dives here happen with situations like that with no incident at all (most commonly people drifting off a wreck when slack ends while others hold on for all theyre worth until time to surface). Nobody goes missing as a result of that. Provided the boat crew are competent there's no issue.

 

[String]

this is one of the reasons I always carry my divealert with me in addition to my SMB.

Ive found those near completely useless. Typical day where you have say 10-15kt wind, a boat engine running maybe, some wave noise you really cant hear the things more than 30m or so away.

I decent DSMB/SMB can be seen for much much further.

As for indicators of vertical currents - watch your bubbles closely. Getting away from them is often a case of just getting away from the wall thats causing them and not going parallel to them.

Another reason i had this moored boat in a current is it greatly shortens my dive time. Id much rather have a nice 1hr+ drift with a current the whole time than spend 20mins sucking up gas and fighting against a current then a 10 min drift back to the boat.
Even if its a light current you could swim against (not common) then if im on a wreck not coming back to the boat means my entire dive time can be spent seeing the wreck rather than only seeing half of it then having to turn around.