Drift Diving - How to slow down and stay with your buddy/group

[Centrals]

Holding onto something if available.
The strength of the current will determine if swimming against it is worthwhile!
Make sure you have all those signaling devices when attempting a drift dive.
Keep a close eye on your buddy/dive guide on descend.

 

[Streydog]

Couple other tips. Stay in the same position as your dive guide. If you get ahead of the group you can slow down quite a bit by getting closer to the reef without touching it. There will be a mound at some point you will be able to tuck behind. Even tucking behind a sponge, without touching it. can slow you down.

 

[Nemrod]

In most drift dive environs, Cozumel or SoFla as examples, I just do an occasional 360 or loop. Or I will also duck behind structure where I can. What I do not do is grab the reef or even the sand bottom. I usually try to either get out front or way behind in such groups.

Cozumel is weird, My wife zoomed by me lickety split, I was seemingly going the other way and we were only a few feet separated. The current twirls and twists and eddies as it interacts with the reef structure. Cozumel is like being in a washing machine sometimes.

My only OOA occurred in around 1978 in SoFla drift diving. I got assigned to carry the flag. The group was constantly going a different direction from me being pulled by the flag buoy. In exasperation to close the distance between me and my wife I put out a burst of speed to try and get back to the group. All the while I was fuming (and distracted therefore) over the FACT that nobody in my group including my wife was trying to stay with me but making me chase them. One minute I had 2000 psi and the next I had NONE! We were at 80 feet and I immediately began a slow ascent, my wife actually looked back finally and saw me and I signaled OOA. I was now at about 60 feet when she closed on me. We buddy breathed until 30 feet (yes, prior to octopus regulators being common place) and at 30 feet I separated from her and finished my ascent including about a one minute stop, breath holding. I was rather unhappy. The boat captain started fussing at me and then he quickly discovered I was not in a mood to be fussed at by him. That afternoon, we bought octopus seconds.

N

 

[eleniel]

The Cozumel currents love to toss me around and move me much faster than the rest of the group, regardless of how high or low I am in relation to the reef - trying to stay at the same level to the guide, for example, results in me being blown into the guide if I don't deliberately fin against the current. In the past I would frequently end up in front of the group and would then need to circle around while burning air (or find a crevice to wait in).
My current solution is to hang towards the back of the group (my dive buddy likes to do the same so it works well). I keep the group in sight and carry a DSMB and signaling equipment (for underwater and above water both) just in case I/we get separated from the rest of the group. I do a lot of photography so I'm used to paying attention to my pacing and distance relative to other divers.
I added freedive fins on my last trip to Cozumel and they made a huge difference both in my air consumption rate and my ability to fin against or across current. As I said, I do a lot of photography and it's not easy to get in focus shots while finning against a current, especially without gulping air - the freedive fins made it almost effortless to hold my spot in the current.
Obviously, I didn't mess around in any extreme currents - don't dive outside the limits of your ability/experience/training.

 

[Joneill]

We buddy breathed until 30 feet (yes, prior to octopus regulators being common place) and at 30 feet I separated from her and finished my ascent including about a one minute stop, breath holding. I was rather unhappy. The boat captain started fussing at me and then he quickly discovered I was not in a mood to be fussed at by him. That afternoon, we bought octopus seconds.

Why on earth would you ascend from 30 feet holding your breath??? Why wouldn't you have continued to buddy breath with your wife all the way to the surface (and forego the safety stop if air was low)??? You are lucky not to have had a lung over-expansion injury!

 

[scubadada]

...My only OOA occurred in around 1978 in SoFla drift diving. I got assigned to carry the flag. The group was constantly going a different direction from me being pulled by the flag buoy...

It is the responsibility of the other members of the group to stay with the flag, not the other way around. I will do my best to swim a good line with the flag and will hook off and wait, when appropriate. People I have dived with before know the rules. I let people I have not dived with before, explicitly know my expectations, including, to ascend on their DSMB, if they end up separated. It works out well, I can't remember the last time I lost a diver.

 

[ReefHound]

My only OOA occurred in around 1978 in SoFla drift diving. I got assigned to carry the flag. The group was constantly going a different direction from me being pulled by the flag buoy.

Often, when they ask who will carry the flag, they will mention "the only one who's never lost is the one with the flag".

 

[Nemrod]

Why on earth would you ascend from 30 feet holding your breath??? Why wouldn't you have continued to buddy breath with your wife all the way to the surface (and forego the safety stop if air was low)??? You are lucky not to have had a lung over-expansion injury!

Uh, let see, 1) from 30 feet I made a gentle ascent, exhaling. 2) I did not continue to buddy breath with her because I did not need to, I breath hold dived (free dived) at that time, regularly in excess of 100 feet or more, the 30 feet was nothing, why bother my wife and put her at risk. 3) Hmmm, the incident was 42 years ago, I had already been a SCUBA diver for 12 years, my wife was still a relatively new diver. 4) In 1978 we did not have computers, we used the Navy Tables, the original version, we did 60 FPM ascents and "safety" stops were not required or even routine. And I did a stop.

By "breath holding" I meant, free of SCUBA (breath hold diving, skindiving, free diving are synonymous in this context), I of course exhaled as was needed. There was no panic on my part or my wife.

N

 

[RogueClimber]

Uh, let see, 1) from 30 feet I made a gentle ascent, exhaling. 2) I did not continue to buddy breath with her because I did not need to, I breath hold dived (free dived) at that time, regularly in excess of 100 feet or more, the 30 feet was nothing, why bother my wife and put her at risk. 3) Hmmm, the incident was 42 years ago, I had already been a SCUBA diver for 12 years, my wife was still a relatively new diver. 4) In 1978 we did not have computers, we used the Navy Tables, the original version, we did 60 FPM ascents and "safety" stops were not required or even routine. And I did a stop.

By "breath holding" I meant, free of SCUBA (breath hold diving, skindiving, free diving are synonymous in this context), I of course exhaled as was needed. There was no panic on my part or my wife.

N

I'm glad you clarified, I was with @Joneill and thought you had held your breath from the time you stopped buddy breathing and was surprised that you had not "popped"

 

[johndiver999]

I'm glad you clarified, "

Me too. if we discovered that a ghost who died 40 years ago was making posts.. well that would scare me a little.