How I almost drowned -- twice

[billt4sf]

In The Dampier Strait area of Raja Ampat, the dive site is called Cape Kri.

I am writing this 36 hours and one dive after a dive where I felt threatened from drowning -- twice. At the end of the dive I came up from 50 feet in about 5 or 10 secs with a zero reading on the SPG.

We began with a briefing that explained quite well that current was expected and we should stay with the guide who would try to route us best to reduce up and down currents which could be present. The dive plan was to go to 90 feet or so to check out a school of sweetlips, then return to 60 - 70 feet and proceed along the shelf (staying off the tip of the shelf where current was expected to be the strongest), reef hook in at the point, view pelagics, then drift along the wall (again, not over the top of the shelf) to where the current slowed, finally using our SMBs to ascend safely.

We followed the plan at first. Not much current, descended to 90 feet but found no sweetlips, proceeded along the wall in the direction of the current which got stronger and stronger. I was getting quite nervous and breathing pretty hard as I tried to calm myself. We hooked in, saw four or five sharks, and after a few minutes I signaled to the guide that I had 1000 lbs. We were about 65 - 70 feet.

He signaled us to unhook, which we did, and the wild ride began. We were all carried over top of the reef to about 25 feet by a very strong current, despite trying to stay off the top. Everyone was carried over the top, including the guides. My reef hook caught at about 30 feet. At that point I lost the guide and I was in fear of drowning. Somewhere around this time I saw one of my dive group and signalled madly "low on air" but there was nothing he could do although there a mere 10 feet between us and I remember thinking that this could be one of those moments when later he says "The last he was seen alive was...". I was flying like a horizontal flag and barely managed to pull myself along the reef hook line, grab a rock with one hand, and unhook. Another guy in our party, I discovered later, could not pull himself up and had to unhook from the BC, which he managed to do after considerable effort.

After unhooking we were flying and I looked at my SPG to see 400 lbs. I was at about 50 feet and being pulled up and down wildly. My computer was beeping and showing every alert possible. At one point I was down at 70 feet and was swimming madly up to no avail. Then suddenly I was at 30 feet. The cyclone finally spit me out at 50 feet. My SPG showed zero, this was the second time I was in fear of drowning, I swam for the surface through my safety stop and through a SLOW alert. I was panting, thank God my wing inflated and it was a few moments of breathing hard off the reg before I could summon my mind to take the reg out, clip it off, and try to relax.

After the dive my computer showed that I blew through a SLOW ascent and also through the safety stop. It gave me an alert to extend the surface interval and I did not dive any more that day -- yesterday. I had a medium headache and fatigue but not exhaustion and a tingling like when you're stoned but no other symptoms.

Others in our party had similar problems but didn't run out of air like I did. Everyone, including the guides, were deeply upset by what we experienced. Several people got pulled down to 100 ft. Had that happened to me I have a hard time imagining the scenario where I come out alive. No one had the presence of mind in the up and down currents to swim horizontally to get out and it wasn't covered in the dive briefing. Most did what I did -- kicked like hell in the down current and tried to vent air in the up currents. So that is obviously lesson number one.

Lesson two (for me) is that I should not have followed the guide down to 100 ft to look for the sweetlips. I knew in the back of my mind that it was not a good idea but I was focused on staying with the guide as my best chance to stay out of strong currents. Turns out no one could.

Lesson three is to continue to try to relax, even in difficult circumstances. I do go through air very fast, partially because I am big, partially because I need to work more on relaxing and "sipping" air (actually I have made a lot of progress on that, and other skills, on this trip). I did the one dive today and it was great, I was very relaxed and came up with plenty of air.

No doubt I could have flown with the currents more rather than resisting -- that sure is hard to do on up and down currents! I have been on drift dives in Coz and loved them. But usually currents where I have to position myself or try to achieve a goal cause me significant anxiety.

I am 64, and being aware of the need to be in shape to dive we do exercise regularly and vigorously. The dive was on 32% nitrox, and I have my computer set to the air settings.

Comments welcome. No flames to me or anyone please.

- Bill

 

[KevinNM]

Was 1000 a surprise or did you expect to see roughly that value when you looked then? In retrospect, was the dive plan reasonable (assuming no unexpected crazy currents) given your typical SAC? How much reserve did you expect to have when you got to the deploy SMB stage? Was that enough given the currents that were described?

The other thought is that when you start thinking "I'm not happy doing this, maybe I shouldn't keep going?" you can stop and go back somewhere where you feel you safer/better. You should (when reasonably practical - if you are feeling uncomfortable because the guide just swam off like a bat out of hell...) tell your buddy or guide that you are not going any further so they don't start searching for you. If nobody is paying you to dive then you don't have to do things that are not fun.

 

[Cali_diver]

Well first off, I am very glad you are ok. I think I remember telling you in a previous thread that currents can be very challenging in many places in Indonesia (not just Komodo). If you don't like current I would pick your dives carefully. Was your wife with you?

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

Would it have made sense for you and the other diver to cut the line on your dive hooks? (I've never used one) Would that have saved you some air? I'm trying to figure out how you could have conserved some air. I am a big believer in pony bottles, even hauling one with me to Greece last September. I think if I'm going to be on a potentially wild ride like you were, I'd want at least 19 cubic feet with me extra.

I don't think the up and down currents I've experienced in Deception Pass come close to what you experienced. Yes, we are taught to swim perpendicularly to strong currents, but we never are able to practice it. We just hopefully remember. I'll be honest in that I think in my first time in that sort of situation, I probably wouldn't. As far as what I've experienced in Deception Pass, I was just riding it out as I had plenty of air (117 cu ft tank, 30 cu ft pony).

Thank you for posting. I'm a bit tired from a food coma, so I haven't fully processed all that you went through. Glad you made it out okay.

 

[chillyinCanada]

Ah gee Bill. Sorry that happened but very glad you're here to tell us about it. I know to swim cross current but I've never done it and don't know that I'd remember in the thick of things.

During a dive in Raja Ampat (don't recall where exactly ), the group was hooked in hoping for sharks to come by. I didn't have a reef hook only a pointer. And since I'd really rather look at pretty fish and macro, that was fine with me. However, there came a time when the current really picked up and I just wasn't strong enough to keep my pointer stuck in a hole. I waved goodbye to my dive guide (the one that wasn't hooked in) and took off up over the top. What a ride! And I was happy to see the guide had come with. There was a large school of huge bumphead parrotfish grazing
up there. The current was still kicking but not so much that I couldn't anchor and hold on. We watched the bumphead's for a good amount of time and then surfaced normally.

I'd never realized until reading your post, how serious an experience it could have been for me.

Thank you for sharing. Take care and wishing you all the best for the remainder of your Raja Ampat adventures.

 

[Pearlman]

No one had the presence of mind in the up and down currents to swim horizontally to get out and it wasn't covered in the dive briefing. Most did what I did -- kicked like hell in the down current and tried to vent air in the up currents. So that is obviously lesson number one.

- Bill

Thank you for posting your experience and reminder for caution. I would like more experienced folks to comment on what is the best way to tackle this kind of up-down currents. I am not clear how swimming horizontally would help here for example?

Pearlman

 

[Tippytoes12]

Thanks very much for posting and it's obviously great news that you have made it back into the water and have enjoyed it. I honestly don't see what extra you could have done , your alternative would have been to speak up at the briefing and offer an alternative plan or sit out the dive ?????

Our OW instructor in Egypt said to remember that we will have diving experiences that we wont enjoy and I always try to remember this. Very strong currents are a fact of life in RA and in Komodo. Perhaps though going down that far to see sweet lips may not have
been the cleverest dive plan in the world by your guide , but I presume he had done it many times before without a problem. Hindsight is a wonderful thing , the only science that is 100 percent accurate.

Enjoy the rest of your trip and best fishes x

 

[bowlofpetunias]

Wow.. so glad you are ok. without experience with the up and down currents it is hard to remember and actually perform the actions we have been told are best. That is why practice is so much part of scuba training. It is a physical skill and you need to build muscle memory and comfort in performing the skills.

I love to play in swell and enjoy drift diving but I HATE up currents and down currents! I have never experienced them to the degree you describe and I hope I never do. The ones I have experienced were worse closest to the wall because the current/waves hit the wall and are redirected up or down it. Think of a river flowing along and you get into the current. You can't swim against it but if you swim diagonally across it you will get across the strongest part and be able to control your direction more. These up currents and down currents are very much like that river within the ocean. You can't see the sides but when you get away from the wall the strength of the current is less.

We have been fortunate in that the sites we have dived with the up and down currents the hard bottom was in the 25M (82ft) range. My husband will happily find the edge of the current spill and play there... letting it move him up and down a meter (3ft) or so. I hate the feeling of not controlling my depth and move out away from the wall or find a protected spot to hang on. In spite of doing over 50 dives in these conditions I am not sure how well I would have managed what you describe. I have no intention of diving sites where they are likely either

It is great that you got back in and have enjoyed a dive since then. You made some really wise choices about not diving the rest of the day. Remember that there is a difference between a safety stop and a deco stop. Can you tell us if you actually went into deco?

It seems like you have learned some valuable lessons about following the dive guide when your personal alarms are saying no. Sometimes it is hard to decide if it is safer to abort or stay with the guide tho. You have to make those decisions based on what is going on at the time. I guess opening your mind to that reality is a start.

 

[timz]

I had the same experience at Pulau Tioman on my last dive trip. Trying to breath more rapidly while got pulled by strong current.

I also breath deeply which help a little in calming myself. However, i wasn't too lucky to find any rocks to grab. I just grabbed on some corals and broke quite a number of them. Stung me well that i later found out it was fire corals.

Another diver managed to swim through current and helped me... with one hand free, i managed to deflate and stabilized.

On the boat, i figured out ot wasn't just the current. It's also ascending from 30m to 20m. Where the air in my bc expanded and causes the lift.

 

[tstormdiver]

That kind of reminds me of my little adventure at Wolf Island in the Galapagos. I was the only diver in our group wearing a drysuit. While we were next to the island, at about 70 ft, I got caught in an up- current; it caught my drysuit like a sail. It sent me from 70 ft to 40 ft very quickly, before I could latch onto a rock. I tried to claw my way back down to the group with no success. At that point, a rock I grabbed broke off,... The was then "blow & go",... I had no control whatsoever. It took me from 40 ft to the surface. I popped up only a few feet from a sheer cliff of the island, in 12 ft seas. Good thing it happened near the beginning of the dive; I had plenty of air & I had to maintain my regulator because of the seas. I had to swim out, away from the island, assemble my rescue flag & used the BC air line whistle to get the attention of the Panga driver. He was on me within a few minutes. I got out & relaxed until the others popped up. Was I excited? Yes. Was I panicked? No.... I just dealt with the situation I was handed.