Do currents cause accidents?

[Blackcrusader]

I was on a dive at Pescadore Island Moalboal Cebu Philippines. It is known for currents that sweep around the island. Normally you go with the current and end the dive half way around the island. Sometimes you start with a current but then it can change as you go around the island. On one dive after around 5 mins into the dive there was a down current. It wasn't really fast. I was with a guide I have done several hundred dives with and noticed a Japanese lass just descending and advised the guide I would go after her. She was calm as ever enjoying the dive but never checked her gauges. We were near 35m depth when I got my hands around her tank valve and put some air in my BCD to slow our descent and had us both swimming away from the wall and away from the down current and began slowly ascending. I pointed up to where the rest of our group was and showed her our depth on my Perdix. She then looks at her SPG and is quite surprised. We slowly continued the dive and returned to join our group of divers. So we didn't race to join the other divers just continued at a normal pace and the DM guide slowed his pace to allow us to slowly catch up. One thing is that we did get a lot of distance between us and I used my dive torch to signal to the DM we were fine. He also used his torch to show us his location as the visibility at Pescadore can often be not so great.

After the dive we discussed her adventure and she was very thankful for my help. She admitted she was just enjoying the dive and never looked at her gauges in the first part of the dive. She didn't realize she was in a down current. She had not experienced that type of thing before either. She asked why I had us swimming away from the island wall at a 45 degree angle. I explained the angle is to help against the down current and swimming away from the wall as that was where the current was it's fastest. I think we ended up around 60m away from the wall and into the open ocean, another thing she had not experienced but she stayed calm.

The good thing is that this lass was an experienced diver with hundreds of dives, just no experience with down currents. She stayed calm, followed my instructions, and we still had a good dive experience. Many divers would try to fight currents too much wasting air they need. I have dived Pescadore Island over a hundred times in several years. It can be a difficult dive to divers with no experience of fast currents. Even going with a fast current has divers struggling. I've seen divers lose fins in the currents.

Fortunately as this happened at the beginning of the dive we still stayed within NDL limits.

 

[TMHeimer]

I've been in nasty currents maybe half a dozen times. Sometimes it was planned, sometimes not. These were horizontal currents such as tidal or rip currents. I can't imagine the feeling when I read about these upwellings and downwellings and don't wish to ever experience that. I'm sure these can cause serious incidents.

 

[lowwall]

My favorite dives are drift dives with a fast current. Other than low-level wingsuit gliding, which is a whole 'nother level of dangerous, it's the closest we can come to flying.

If I need to get across a current I keep calm and do it. It's just swimming and I've done plenty of that.

The real issue is your physical and mental preparation. I've swum rivers and open water and bodysurfed. I know to respect current, but I don't let it scare me.

 

[Kharon]

What was the explanation for not at least getting you out of the water? What, if any, communication did you have with the boat before they came and picked you up?

They gave no explaination other than that was their policy. I cancelled the rest of my dive package with that shop. I continually sounded my Dive Alert till the gas in my main tank ran out. Once I switched to my pony I regularly screamed for help. They told me they heard both the Dive Alert and my calls.

 

[lowwall]

...

@Kharon

What was the explanation for not at least getting you out of the water? What, if any, communication did you have with the boat before they came and picked you up?

There's a long thread about this: Request for information not covered in any course

Note that it takes awhile before Kharon starts giving the details of the dive, maybe page 7?

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

My favorite dives are drift dives with a fast current. Other than low-level wingsuit gliding, which is a whole 'nother level of dangerous, it's the closest we can come to flying.

If I need to get across a current I keep calm and do it. It's just swimming and I've done plenty of that.

The real issue is your physical and mental preparation. I've swum rivers and open water and bodysurfed. I know to respect current, but I don't let it scare me.

First time I did the Narrows, it was an advanced only trip. Keeping with my buddy was difficult as whomever was closer to shore was slower. So one of us would zip past the other, grab a rock and be a flag in the wind waiting for the other. We ended the dive when my buddies knee hit a big barnacle and tore into his dry suit. Fortunately that was at the end when we were almost getting low on gas. One of my funnest dives ever.

 

[lowwall]

First time I did the Narrows, it was an advanced only trip. Keeping with my buddy was difficult as whomever was closer to shore was slower. So one of us would zip past the other, grab a rock and be a flag in the wind waiting for the other. We ended the dive when my buddies knee hit a big barnacle and tore into his dry suit. Fortunately that was at the end when we were almost getting low on gas. One of my funnest dives ever.

What's the sign for "hold my hand"?

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

What's the sign for "hold my hand"?

I don't think I'd want to hold onto anyone's hand in that kind of current. Even with both hands free (Goodman handle/dive light on my left hand).

 

[АлександрД]

about downstream currents:
Дайвинг в Санкт–Петербурге :: Просмотр темы - 2013 год - 49 человек
translated by google:
The tragedy occurred on the penultimate dive, the next morning one more extreme was planned in the vicinity of Sabang. Usually we dived in two groups, seven people in one, where very strong divers gathered, and four people in the other, where there were two very decent newcomers, the guys who volunteered to be Slava and Igor, who immediately became friends with his neighbor and buddy Dmitry. Probably, almost everyone who has been to the Philippines and who knows the narrow downward flow at one of the corners dived on Verde Island. Sometimes it weakens, but for 14 dives on Verde without climbing the wall, I passed it only a couple of times. In 2007, I was plucked down from 18 meters to 42 in seconds, crawled out with difficulty. A year later, the forum member @ndi jerked with a partner at 46, also somehow got out. They took people a couple of times to the open sea, went out with a buoy, since the current was strong, but not wide and not long, they were picked up by boat. In general, the site is very complex, but also very beautiful, which I have warned everyone several times about. In the morning Igor was in order, told me that he went to bed very early and slept well. Dmitry, his buddy, confirmed this. Further it turned out that Igor did not take the buoy (!!!), Slava found a spare for him. He also did not have gloves, I gave him my right one, otherwise everything was in order. We went with three guides led by the owner of the center. The first dive did not last long, part of the group fell lower, but Igor did not go deep. Pretty quickly reached the corner, behind which the barrel was already seriously. Dmitri, Igor’s buddy was thrown blue, but he quickly got out. We didn’t go further, got on board and went to desaturate. The current didn’t scare anyone and went back from the other side. The first 10-12 minutes were very comfortable, about 27 meters lowered, but Igor’s consumption was already increased, apparently, his not perfect physical condition and age affected him. Then it started to blow harder and haphazardly, I had to fight already, the consumption increased, by the 16th minute Igor had risen to 22 meters, in a tank of 108 bar. By the 22nd minute, he was at a depth of 20 with 70 in the tank and at that moment we buried in a strong downward flow. Its width was small. Everyone stopped in a small grotto, took a break and skipped these twenty meters, clinging to stones, after which the current weakened. Igor walked third from the end, there were no guides nearby, because one led upstairs to Dmitry, who had lost his belt, the second in front, the third in the back, but there were two strong guys behind him. If at this moment he did not hesitate to show the problem, it seems that everything would be in order. It turned out the other way around, apparently getting excited by a small amount of air, and, not catching my breath, rushed forward and up, knocked down a mask from one of the guys, suffocated myself and by the 24th minute had 37 in the tank. Consumption was already going off scale, and then it ripped off depths of about 17 meters with an almost empty cylinder, in which thirty remained. In two minutes he fell to 40.6, apparently continued to fight with all his might. When there was 15 bar of air left over the computer, one had to think it was already impossible to breathe. He did not drop the load, the 60-pound wing blew out and flew up as soon as the current ended and released him within a minute. The lungs were filled with water. After about 5 minutes, two Filipinos were lifted up on Igor’s aboard a foreign boat, stripped, they began to make artificial respiration. After another 5-7 minutes, they boarded them
three of our guys who had not yet suspected anything and a guide. They saw Igor without signs of life, there was a lot of white foam on his face. Slava and Sergey from Moscow embarked on CPR; they fought for ten to fifteen minutes, but nothing came of it. Almost at the same time as Igor, Oleg, a photographer from Moscow with a large box in his hands, also fell down there. Oleg did not fight, did not lose his composure and came to the surface with 20 bars, though in a 15-liter cylinder ... Here's a story ...

 

[Stoo]

One of the main reasons I am interested in cave diving is, in my opinion, it is safer.

This is a unique opinion, and one which I doubt you'll find many others sharing. Some cave systems have incredible currents... and that's just the beginning.

I'm going to buck the trend here, and say that currents don't typically "cause" accidents. Currents do however, create more challenging conditions that can make solving other problems more difficult to resolve. Several people here have mentioned the "danger" associated with being carried away from the group. While this could be concern, many of us choose to stay well away from "groups" anyway. The important thing is to understand with the DM and boat Captain what "the plan" is, if you're separated. Carrying a GOOD DSMB and knowing how to deploy it is critical.

Similarly, while down-currents can happen, knowing how to deal with them really minimizes any risk. We dive north of Vancouver Island every year where there can be a 12' - 16' tide... if the tide varies a little, you're going for a ride, so just enjoy the ride. Once in a while, you might get pulled down, or even spun around in a back eddy (or Vortex of Doom as I call them) but it's all good.

Anyway, currents happen everywhere... oceans, lakes, certainly rivers, and even caves, so learning how to use them to your advantage is a handy skill. And yes, once in a while, a big one will crop up and demand your best to get through it.