Under Currents What To Do In Case You Get Caught ?

[z28pwr]

My girlfriend and I are going to Cozumel in a few weeks and read that sometimes there are some under water currents that can pull you down and wanted to know what should be done in case that we get caught in one (God Forbid). We have 0 real dives (just certified) and will be talking to the DiveOperator and only visiting sites that are for Novice and will try to stay > 70' deep.


This hole thing got her a little worried.

So far only thing I've read is to kick as hard as you can and inflate your BCD.


Thanks.

 

[MikeFerrara]

I haven't the ocean experience that some do but if you took a PADI OW class there was some info on diving in currents in the text. You need to know what kind of current you're dealing with.


You're on the right track I think.
First of all...don't dive untill you get some information from some one who knows the area. Even if you were an experienced diver this would be a good idea. bTW that advice was also part of the class. There may very well be teqniques specific to the location the locals have developed to deal with the conditions.

Different types of current require different actions, for instance there is a big difference between an undertow and a down welling yet both are "underwater currents" that can pull you "down"/out.

When asking locals where and how to dive a place be honest and let them know your experience. they may have some great spots that you're not ready for.

 

[DivingLonghorn]

I have close to 50 dives in Coz and have never experienced an "under current" that pulls you downbut I have also only dove the std recreational dives in Coz. There are some "experienced" only dives in which you can run into some wicked currents.

One thing you might want to do is select the 1 tank afternoon dives to start off with. These dives are shallower (around 40'), but with a lot to see. If you go on the 2 tank am dive, many times the DM will ask where you want to go...it seems Columbia Reef and Palancar are always the first destination. These are great dives, but they are on the south end of the island and are pretty deep (80 - 90') for beginner divers.

My wife and I had our honeymoon in Coz and it was our third post-cert dive, we did afternoon and shore dives the first 3 days, and when we felt comfortable with our weight and experience, we did the am dives.

One thing I will iterate is to have your weighting issues resolved before the boat dives...if you are stuck at the top trying to get down, the current will seperate you from your group.

One thing is certain....You will have a great time !!!

 

[epconti]

Hi there.

You're going to love Coz. Just a beautiful place. When my wife and I were there, neither of us were certified, so we didn't dive, but all the talk we heard (and still see on the Coz boards) about the strong currents is that they are on the east side of the island. The west side, where the city and resorts are, the tide is not nearly as strong. But whether you dive it or not, you'll definitely want to at least visit the east side. Incredible. Enjoy!

- eric

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

I experienced a down-current in Bali ... doing a blue-water ascent with my wife from about 85 fsw. Your options really depend on the terrain ... if you're close to a wall, for example, swim close to the wall the get out of the current ... but you're basically on the right track about finning up while (carefully) inflating your BC. Just don't go too wild on the inflation, and be prepared to start letting air out instantly. These currents tend to be transient, and can often pass you by ... putting you in a situation where if you don't react quickly you'll cork to the surface. Keep a close eye on your depth gauge, and as soon as it starts to show you're ascending, start deflating as necessary for a slow, controlled ascent. Also be prepared to invert and fin down to slow your ascent if it starts to get out of control. Down-currents can be very disorienting to a newer diver, and the most important thing is to watch your depth gauge carefully, and inflate/deflate cautiously so as not to over-respond.

Also, on our trip my wife was still quite inexperienced. When I realized what was happening, I had her grab ahold of one of my BC d-rings and deflate entirely. It was easier that way for me to control us both and not risk getting separated in the current.

Don't worry about it too much though ... be honest with the divemaster about your experience level and they'll be more likely to choose a dive site where you won't have to practice this particular skill ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[SDAnderson]

I've been caught in a downcurrent a couple of times, both on wall dives. There is usually some foreshadowing of trouble - you start swimming into a current before it grabs you and send you on an express ride down.

First, remember your training for any emergency: Stop. Breathe. Think.

• Inflate your BC till it overfills.
• Keep your hand on your BC dump. You are probably going to have to very quickly dump air once you escape the current, lest you rocket to the surface.
• Reverse direction and swim as hard as you can back out of the current.
• As a very last resort you can dump weights, but I wouldn't do that until you have no other choice. Normally, these currents diffuse pretty quickly (although it can seem an eternity while you're in them) and losing your weights creates a whole new set of problems that can just as easily kill you.

They're kind of scary when it happens but a great story afterwards. Don't get ahead of your skills and training and keep your wits about you - you'll be fine.

Steven

 

[Zagnut]

I've done about 30 dives at all the popular sites and never experienced it either. Of course, always be prepared. Like Mike said, review your OW book and think over your course of action ahead of time so your not at depth trying to decide what to do if it does happen.

There are certainly more experienced divers than me on this board who have been in this situation before, but my thinking would be to resist the urge to drop your weights and instead remedy the situation by inflating your BC and swimming up. Once you get out of it, be sure to dump the extra air from your BC or you may end up heading to the surface too quickly.

The only situation where I would consider dropping my weights at depth would be if my BC was already completely full of air and I was kicking up with all I had, and I still couldn't beat the down current or get away from it. Once you ditch those weights you're in a runaway ascent. Not a good thing.

Most importantly, IMO, is to tell the DM exactly what your experience is and what your concerns are. That way they can keep an eye on you and/or choose sites that are in tune with your experience.

Since you're new divers without any overhead environment training, if you go on a dive with swimthru's, you should opt to go over the top of them rather than through them, and meet up with your group on the other side (the DM will explain this at the pre-dive briefing). Good bouyancy is a must for swimthrus.

I've seen divers go in, bump their tank, freak, then go vertical and bump their head, then freak some more and come shooting back out of the entrance like a bullet. Once a girl took my mask off my head with her flailing hands on the way out. I saw it coming just before she did it so I caught the mask as it came off my head and it wasn't a problem.

Ever since then, when I go through a swimthru, I hold up at the entrance just a second or two, to let a little distance get between me and the person in front of me to make sure they aren't coming back out the same way they went in, so it doesn't happen again.

Don't worry too much about it, just keep your head together and you'll be fine. You are gonna have a great time!

 

[AquaDog]

I just posted a thing about this the other day. I was on a dive in Coz where 5 divers got bent on the same dive. They were mostly good divers that got caught in a bad situation and had to make emergency ascents just to get out of a strong downwelling.

But be mindful of the downwellings over the walls. One or two of the Coz walls are abysses and drop down to approx. 1000 or more feet.

If you are inexperienced at wall diving, stay away from the walls. If you're diving a reef that has a wall, stay over the flats and don't drift over the walls.

Some ofthe above posts gave excellent advice on what to do if you got caught in one so check with them.

Let me add, Coxumel diving in absolutely amazing. You'll have lots of fun. Just dive safely and follow your training.

 

[Braunbehrens]

NWGratefulDiver once bubbled...
Also, on our trip my wife was still quite inexperienced. When I realized what was happening, I had her grab ahold of one of my BC d-rings and deflate entirely. It was easier that way for me to control us both and not risk getting separated in the current.

Bob, I think this is very dangerous. If she lets go, you go up and get bent and she goes down and drowns. You can't help her because you are going opposite directions.

Just my opinion.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

In most situations, I'd say you have a valid point. However, in my judgement this was the right thing to do in this case.

First off, I know my dive buddy well enough to trust that she isn't going to let go ... and that if for any reason we do end up separating, she'll know how to react to get herself under control. I also trust my own skills enough to know how to prevent a "cork" under the circumstances ... which were these ...

We were diving at a place called Mimpang. It's a series of small, rocky islets known for unpredictable currents. Our dive started out with very little current, but rather quickly picked up as we approached a breach between two islets. When we realized it was turning into a drift dive we decided to surface (about 25 minutes into the dive) and began our ascent. At that point I'd estimate we were in 2.5 to 3 knots of current ... a moderate drift dive ... and heading away from our point of entry. We began our ascent from a max depth of roughly 80 fsw. At about 38 fsw I noticed that suddenly my depth gauge was telling me we were going down (although it felt like we were still ascending). At about 55 fsw, I signaled for my wife to take ahold of my BCD, and started working the inflator. We were in "blue" water, with no visual clues to help with our orientation. At this point, my priority was making sure we didn't get separated while we work through the situation. We both still had plenty of air, so I'm not too concerned as long as we can manage to not go down too deep. At about 65 fsw we stopped descending ... apparently the down current had passed us by ... and we began a slow ascent to the surface. On the way up ... we started equalizing the air in our BCD's and separated to do our safety stop.

Overall, it was fairly well-executed ... despite my wife's relative inexperience (about 50 dives up to that point). In hindsight, it was the right thing to do ... when we surfaced the boat was not in sight. We had literally shot between the islets, and the boat was on the other side waiting for us to surface. With the islets in the way we could not see each other. I deployed a safety sausage and we waited ... about 25 minutes later a fishing boat spotted us and contacted our dive boat to tell them we were drifting away from their position ... by now we were roughly about 1.5 miles separated from the boat. I'd hate to think how things might have turned out had my wife and I become separated out there ... under those kind of conditions, one of us might not have come home.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)