Dive briefings-Strong currents.

[Nique]

What happened to Katie?? I'm new to scuba diving, so I am being as careful as I can be.

Curious.......
Nique

 

[DandyDon]

Nique once bubbled...
What happened to Katie?? I'm new to scuba diving, so I am being as careful as I can be.

Curious.......
Nique

Sorry Nique - here's the link to the stories...

http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=42064

don

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

FreeFloat once bubbled...
First dive for me post-certification was on a charter off Brockville, onto a wrecked upside-down schooner sitting on a ledge at 45-60'or so (local divers will know which wreck I mean)

Everyone else on the boat professed a familiarity with the site, but I, being the unabashed newbie, approached the charter boat captain for a site briefing.

I was told there was "a little current - it's slight, you may not really notice it" or statements to that effect, and only after I asked specifically whether to expect current. Only because I had freedived a site further upriver in fairly good current earlier that year.

Well the current I encountered on this particular wreck site was not exactly to flagpole standards - but was certainly "noticeable". I would guesstimate it at about 2 knots. It's a long story, but I burned through a third of my tank just getting 200' upstream.....

I don't really fault the charter boat captain, but can only imagine what I might have felt like had I not thought to ask that specific question........

Actually, you wouldn't be able to swim against 2 knots of current ... that's a moderate drift dive. Most experienced, reasonably-fit divers can barely manage to make headway in 1 knot of current ... and even then only for short periods of time.

We dive in currents a lot out here in Puget Sound, and I've learned a visual cue ... when the fish are trying to swim upstream and still going backwards, it's time to call the dive ... :wacko:

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[FreeFloat]

NWGratefulDiver once bubbled...
Actually, you wouldn't be able to swim against 2 knots of current ... that's a moderate drift dive. Most experienced, reasonably-fit divers can barely manage to make headway in 1 knot of current ... and even then only for short periods of time.

Well, perhaps I've overestimated its speed somewhat - As a sailor I've gotten reasonably good at guesstimating windspeeds in knots, and fair at boatspeeds less than 12 knots (ie sailboats not powerboats). I can see it will take some 'tweaking' for me to ba able to judge current.

Where buddy and I were swimming were actually over around and through underwater shoals and rock formations which were causing quite a few swirls, diversions, and eddies. In the more open areas the current was travelling pretty quickly. I know that if I wanted to make any headway at all I had to work pretty hard.

Yes the wreck I was diving was considered a drift dive in the best of times - at the worst of times it isn't even considered for diving.