DOWN CURRENTS -Any with true real-life experience?

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Recalling this question being asked once, I did a search for old threads on down currents, and it turned up quite a few. In addition to the replies we're seeing here, we might take a look through old threads. Just a few examples:




Thanks for doing the searching.
 
Another Cozumel incident. Bottomed out at 205 ft.

…Very dubious.

Drove himself to the “hyperbolic chamber” Freudian slip?, lol.

Lots of holes in that story. Does not pass the sniff test.
 
Another Cozumel incident. Bottomed out at 205 ft.

If he couldn't think to drop his weights, he wouldn't likely be able to use a spareair without a mask 😂. I doubt it happened.
…Very dubious.

Drove himself to the “hyperbolic chamber” Freudian slip?, lol.

Lots of holes in that story. Does not pass the sniff test.
agreed - very doubtful
 
I have not read most of the comments, but it happened to several of us a few years ago. The first sign was swirling bubbles and popping of the ears. It happened very quickly and the key for me to get out was to quickly swim perpendicular to the current or horizonal. I was quickly out but rose up inside of a swirling mess, about 40-50 feet across. It was like being inside a washing machine. The boat noticed us, there were three and slowly backed into the edge and we climbed out. Don't panic, stay together if you can and keep breathing. I don't remember any BC activity until we go on the surface.
 
I have not read most of the comments, but it happened to several of us a few years ago. The first sign was swirling bubbles and popping of the ears. It happened very quickly and the key for me to get out was to quickly swim perpendicular to the current or horizonal. I was quickly out but rose up inside of a swirling mess, about 40-50 feet across. It was like being inside a washing machine. The boat noticed us, there were three and slowly backed into the edge and we climbed out. Don't panic, stay together if you can and keep breathing. I don't remember any BC activity until we go on the surface.
So when you say you swam perpendicular/horizontal to the current, does that mean you swam straight through it? I was under the impression you had to swim down OR up to get out of a current or am I missing something?
 
So when you say you swam perpendicular/horizontal to the current, does that mean you swam straight through it? I was under the impression you had to swim down OR up to get out of a current or am I missing something?
Yes, straight through it. It was a while ago and that is what I remember. I did not try to fight it. The same as a rip current at the beach.
 
So when you say you swam perpendicular/horizontal to the current, does that mean you swam straight through it? I was under the impression you had to swim down OR up to get out of a current or am I missing something?
I believe the strategy is to swim perpendicular to the current. So if the current is a down (laterally) you swim on the horizontally till you escape the current. You can't fight the current by going up and going down just makes it worse. This is the same as a rip tide where you should swim parallel to beach until you escape the rip current.
 
Wowser!! I am going to St. Croix, USVI, to get open water certified in four weeks. This thread has me sweating 🥵 and fretting 😱 about getting sucked into the great abyss!! And, to think, I was afraid of a great tentacle reaching up from the abyss and pulling me under. Oh, no…the ocean’s going to suck me down 😳!!
 
Does anyone know of any sites in Cozumel where I can get exposure to diving walls and dealing with current? I'd like to dive a wall with minimal current OR does not go too deep. Experience is a good teacher but I don't think I should do the washing machine for my first wall/current experience.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/swift/

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