Drift diving is NOT so relaxing!

[Soloist]

“Drift diving is NOT so relaxing!”

I think you’re being overly dramatic with the scenarios depicted in this thread and frankly it’s a disservice to divers interested in drift diving. Personally I LOVE drift diving. Jump off the boat and enjoy the ride. No anchor lines, no there and back, no circular navigation, no rocky shoreline and no putzing around under the boat because you still have half a tank of air to burn.

Sure there are some fundamental skills drift divers should have, but these are skills EVERY diver could benefit from. Be able to deploy an SMB from your safety stop or better yet from 60, 80 or 100 feet (deploying at depth is actually much easier than 15 feet). Be able to maintain a constant safety stop depth without using an anchor line. Be comfortable waiting on the surface for 10 to 20 minutes without anxiety in the event the boat can’t get to you right away. Be able to haul yourself up the ladder at the end of a dive.

Beginning divers should ONLY dive with a guide and stay with the guide. If they burn through their air before the end then they should follow the dive flag line up to the surface. Otherwise stay with the guide until the group surfaces. If you lose site of the group, can’t keep up or feel uncomfortable then deploy your SMB and surface. It’s not complicated.

After hundreds of drift dives I have NEVER seen a captain send someone into the water to fetch another diver on the surface. They simply back the boat up to you. It’s called reverse. We have grabbed the ladder many times in 8 foot swells. It’s all about timing and not getting so close the ladder comes down on your head. Just grab the ladder at the bottom of the swell and ride it up! I can guarantee if you start blowing a whistle or honking a horn on the surface the captain will have your head on a stake if it’s not a true emergency. Don’t do that. Risk of dying from running out of air? That’s on you.

I assume I am now on the ignore lis...

 

[DanielRJones]

done a few drift dives with the wife and they are easy down at swanage captain wants everyone with sealed DSMB inflated on the boat before jumping in. leave it spool out hold onto your wife's hand and just start ascending at 80bar. only issue with some drift dives in the uk is you can only see about 5m in front of you and you have to be within 1m of the floor or you may miss it. you will get about 1mile of traveling done in the dive

 

[KeithG]

Drift diving is not fighting the current.. but sitting on a bus while admiring the scenery passing through.

Very good analogy.

 

[scubadada]

Drift diving is usually the most relaxing, easy diving there is. Jump in, swim with the current for an hour or so, surface and get picked up by your boat. Ok, so someone has to carry a flag, no big deal. Occasionally there will be ripping current, surface wind and/or current, that will make things more interesting.

 

[KeithG]

Drift diving is usually the most relaxing, easy diving there is. Jump in, swim with the current for an hour or so, surface and get picked up by your boat. Ok, so someone has to carry a flag, no big deal. Occasionally there will be ripping current, surface wind and/or current, that will make things more interesting.

It would be interesting to learn where flags are required. I believe Florida wants them. And COZ wants a SMB at the end of the dive. Anywhere else uses them?

I have never seen either...

 

[mcohen1021]

I vaguely remember watching a PADI drift diving video, about how relaxing it is just to go with a current. However, it can be the most stressful and dangerous form of diving there is. Diving in still water or on a protected shore is still ideal for beginners. Drift diving often involves being on a boat, which carries its own risks, especially in areas where anchoring is not permitted.

Reefs is static. It runs north and south, or east and west. Current is not. And wind is not. Now you have 3 vectors - 1. The divers who want to follow the reef. 2. The current that wants to carry the divers. and 3. The wind that wants to carry the flag.

Unless all 3 are along the same direction... drift diving is not as simple as drifting with the current.

Next... you add moving unanchored boats ...

Next ... you add waves, rigid dive ladder, losing a fin while you try to hand it on deck...

Next ... you add low on air or out of air

Next... you add surfacing without a dive flag and without a surface marker device....

I am not sure if a "drift diver" or "boat diver" specialty course can prepare a beginner for diving when the combination of the above is together.

I would like us to envision situation where in a drift dive, you have experienced difficulty and how to prevent it and deal with it safely.

What I think are best practices:
1. all the divers should follow the same general path
2. the divers should stay close to the wall if currents are carrying them out
3. If it’s a drift on a reef, you go with the flow, but stay as a group
4. Photography/video should not take place when the current is too challenging and the divers skills are lacking
5. The unanchored boat should not play into it at all. You come up safely as you were taught, and the boat should be there
6. Waves and ladder, yes can be tricky. My wife was tossed like a rag doll from a ladder once. Timing is important. For that rough of water, keep reg in mouth
7. Low/out of air, should never happen. 29 yrs and counting, never for me anyways.
8. I like to stay at my 15’ safety stop hovering over the group until they are on their way up, that way the marker is up and seen by the boat as I come up.
9. A class isn’t bad, but if you have a river close by with a current, you could simulate it yourself

 

[MaxBottomtime]

A ton of my diving involved climbing goat trails, entries/exits over slippery rocks, timing surf and poor visibility. Others involved double 120s, two deco bottles and long stops in cold water. I'd take all of them over another drift dive in Cozumel.

 

[fisherdvm]

The whole point is that 80% of drift dives the current is fine. Northward and shore bound. Even Cozumel current reverses once every year or so, and Florida east coast goes from north to south, and east ward into the deep water occasionally. Not all drift currents allow you to drift ..... you will need to get to the wall in Cozumel, if you drifted off your original drop point. The bottom line is - be prepared, know how to deploy your smb from depth if you can, and keep plenty of extra air when you are on the surface. With current and wind, you might have to swim to the boat, and that could be 500 psi if you need your reg in the mouth to do that. The common experience shared here by the non-flammer suggested that it is at time more challenging. Especially for out of shape once a year vacation divers - like many of us.

 

[rhwestfall]

We routinely drift dive the Niagara River (and it is taught here as a part of certification - a component of AOW). It is a 3+ knot constant current, and done by boat or shore. Did it from the day I was certified as do many around here....

The whole thing is self restraint (don't do more than you can), and the need for folks to be told "no, this dive is beyond your skill level"...

There is a wreck I dive that has a stigma of having killed a few divers over the years. I think it is more that the location is too accessible to inexperienced divers and the holly dollar for the charters allowing folks to get in over their heads than the wreck........

humility rather than hubris....... words to live by

 

[fisherdvm]

It would be interesting to learn where flags are required. I believe Florida wants them. And COZ wants a SMB at the end of the dive. Anywhere else uses them?

I have never seen either...

Florida mandates them. Enforcement is strict in some area. Ft Lauderdale all uses one. WPB has a guide with one. You are supposed to all ascend with it. However, most do not stay with the guide and surface with their own smb. Some inflate on the surface and some at depth. Eventually someone will get hurt, and all will have flags.