Down Currents.. how real of a threat?

[Tortuga68]

1. How real of a threat are they ?

2. do they only manifest themslves on wall type structure?

3. Can they occur in open water non adjacent to walls?

4. Anyone ever been in this situation?

1. They are real but not much of a threat if you follow the correct procedure/don't lose your head

2. No

3. Yes

4. Yes, pretty regular occurence in Puerto Galera, Philippines where I do most of my diving

Hard to say what's going on in that video except for someone ****ting themsleves and hyperventilating. I didn't hear them hit their inflator once. You can see in the foreground bubbles from other divers being supressed so certainly looks like a downcurrent. Swim away from the wall if you're on one/inflate your BC

 

[Malpaso]

scurbswife (wife and mother of divers involved) discusses it here http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/ne...-hand-account-down-current-video-footage.html

 

[CarcharodonCarcharias]

If your bubbles are not floating up and heading down or dispersed to the sides, you are in a down current.

I was caught in a down current few months ago in Indonesia. I was truly humbled by the power of mother nature. One minute I was in a tumbling washing machine where I had currents coming from my front, back, left, right, top, and below - six different directions. I've managed to swam out of it (that is when I found out split fins are useless) but into a large crevice along the wall where the down current was so strong that now I know how it must of felt getting flushed down the drain. My solution: Hang on to the rocks or dead corals on the wall and rock climb your way out of it because that is the only way out. It was my shortest dive ever (22 min) because the diving guide (an instructor) decided it was not worth the risk to put our lives in jeopardy. So I was doing two sports at once: scuba diving and rock climbing to go back up to the surface and we call it gecko diving.

Bottom line: When caught in a strong down current, stay close to the wall and hold on to something and work your way. And don't forget your safety stop.

Again, a strong down current is no joking matter.

 

[Wingy]

Carch your experience wasnt at Bangka island by any chance was it?

 

[CarcharodonCarcharias]

Carch your experience wasnt at Bangka island by any chance was it?

No mate. I was in Maratua.

The currents were pretty gnarly and my dive buddy was 5 meters below me within a matter of seconds and you can hear the diving computer going off.

 

[PeterNBiddle]

Pretty sure this video was exhaustively covered on scubaboard - including stills with little arrows, etc. and the people from the dive weighed in.

 

[Malpaso]

Pretty sure this video was exhaustively covered on scubaboard - including stills with little arrows, etc. and the people from the dive weighed in.

See post #12

 

[Mike]

Was researching down currents in Cozumel for an upcoming dive sometime next summer. Not sure this video even took place there but very scary video of an apparent down current. How real of a threat are they ? do they only manifest themslves on wall type structure? Can they occur in open water non adjacent to walls? Anyone ever been in this situation?

Diver caught in downcurrent, heart-stopping footage - YouTube

A diver having a fear of down currents in Cozumel is the same as a non-diver being scared of sharks. Both fears are un-founded, based on lack of real experience and believing bad information.

The video you posted is the subject of a long thread about down currents. That video has been torn apart many times. What you witness in it is a diver who descends out of control, in the process abandoning his dive buddy, he finally realizes he's dropping like a rock and starts to correct his descent too slowly by putting air in his BC, to find himself in a current. A current. Not a mythical down current. It's simply a current running parallel to the wall with a slight downward direction. He basically craps his pants and panics, as a diver so unskilled and so wildly abandoning the basics of scuba procedures is likely to do.

My advice is to save your worries about down currents until you actually go to a dive location that has them to be worried about.

 

[tracydr]

When I went to Cozumel, I was a pretty new diver with very little experience in currents. I had no trouble at all with the down currents that we experienced.
Since then, I've experienced some real,strong down currents and washing machine currents. Pay attention to the instructions of your dive guide. There is usually a trick to diving the spot which will make it fun rather than frightening. We really enjoyed the washing machine in Galapegos, it was like an amusement park ride. And, in Africa, we got into some crazy currents going every which way. We paid attention to our depth and had a fun ride. At the end, we were all scattered across the bay like balls on a pool table and just sat back, relaxed, while our DMs picked us up on the pangas. Thank goodness for SMBs! Took 90 minutes to pick us all up.
Down currents are all about the method. Don't try to fight them. Get away from the wall, or if you really can't, than get closer to the wall. Usually, that's all you need. You may need to use your BC for lift but be careful that you don't fly to the surface. Same with dropping weights, I wouldn't, unless its a last ditch effort.
Finally, keep an eye on your gauges. I think what really got the boy in the video is narcosis. He didn't know he was deep until he was too deep and than the effects of narcosis probably contributed to his panic.make sure you stay above 100 feet if you have a chance of down currents because 130-150 can sneak up in a hurry. Narcosis can have strange effects. If you've never experienced it, the middle of a down current isn't the best place to try it. Better to stay out of narcosis range so that you have your brains about you to problem solve when needed.

 

[Tortuga68]

The way that diver was breathing, CO2 retention would have been the biggest problem