Komodo For Beginners? Current Training?

[Ravenwood]

Hello Scubaboard,

Short term lurker, first time poster!

I am 42 years old. I obtained my Padi Open water 12 months ago and did an additional 5 dives abot 4 months ago. (Only 10 dives all up)

I have very average to low cardio abliity. I am not overweight or particulary unfit, cardio has just always been something that was very hard for me. I have always been someone who runs out of steam very quickly, for example i really struggled to get through the 200m swim test for my open water certificate due to being exhausted by the end of it.

I am terrified about diving in strong currents due to my inability to push forward into oncoming currents and running out of breath due to being exhausted. I would say i am confident for someone with only 10 dives and have reasonable byouancy when diving in low or no current environment.

So now that you all know a bit about me, I have a few questions I hope you can help with:
1) Is diving Komodo something that should be off limits to me considering the notorious currents in the area?
2) Is there any training that exists that can specifically help me with being better when diving in a strong current?
3) Are there simple dive sites in Komodo that are suitable for someone trying to avoid fighting a strong a current?

Any advice or guidance would be greatly appreciated.

 

[kaylee_ann]

My cardio had always sucked too. Big time lol. What massively helped me was walking up hills. Surprisingly, you need a lot of cardiovascular and respiratory endurance to do it! So I just kept walking the hills and it improved so much. Maybe try that- it’s actually fun to walk around the neighborhood

 

[rongoodman]

If you're interested in visiting that specific area, why not get in contact with the local operators and ask them? Strong currents are only a problem if you have to swim against them. The currents out at Cocos Island or Palau can be quite strong but often you're just hanging out on the bottom waiting for the sharks to come by and then drifting off to do your ascent and safety stop in the blue when it's time to go. Dives where you have to return to a moored boat regardless of the current can be quite a different issue.

 

[Lorenzoid]

I am terrified about diving in strong currents due to my inability to push forward into oncoming currents and running out of breath due to being exhausted. I would say i am confident for someone with only 10 dives and have reasonable byouancy when diving in low or no current environment.

I have only dived the Komodo area once, so I am far from an expert. But from my recollection, the challenges were not so much from having to swim into currents as they were trying to deal with currents coming from different directions, like being tossed about in the proverbial washing machine. That said, the dives with current and/or the washing machine effect were a very small minority. For most of the dives, there was no current of note. Of course, it depends on the dive site and probably the time of year, and currents are not always predictable. Maybe we were just lucky.

 

[Ravenwood]

My cardio had always sucked too. Big time lol. What massively helped me was walking up hills. Surprisingly, you need a lot of cardiovascular and respiratory endurance to do it! So I just kept walking the hills and it improved so much. Maybe try that- it’s actually fun to walk around the neighborhood

Great minds think a like, I had already started on the treadmill using an incline

 

[Ravenwood]

I have only dived the Komodo area once, so I am far from an expert. But from my recollection, the challenges were not so much from having to swim into currents as they were trying to deal with currents coming from different directions, like being tossed about in the proverbial washing machine. That said, the dives with current and/or the washing machine effect were a very small minority. For most of the dives, there was no current of note. Of course, it depends on the dive site and probably the time of year, and currents are not always predictable. Maybe we were just lucky.

Good to know, maybe I have been overthinking the whole thing due to almost getting in trouble in a current we where fighting on one of my early dives. I was having to kick so hard for what felt like forever just to get close to the wall, it scared me so much my instinct is to never find myself in that situation ever again!

 

[runsongas]

there are areas of komodo that are less exposed so you don't have to deal with current or rough conditions. like wainilu/secret garden/sebayur. but it would suck to go all that way and miss other sites like the shotgun/crystal/castle though.

additional training like gue fundamentals and some experience with currents like diving nusa penida would be a good way to work up to the more advanced sites in komodo.

 

[LFMarm]

There are plenty of sites in the south that have mild to no current. In the north however there can be very strong currents that require negative entry, I would not advise to go there as a beginner.

 

[Ravenwood]

there are areas of komodo that are less exposed so you don't have to deal with current or rough conditions. like wainilu/secret garden/sebayur. but it would suck to go all that way and miss other sites like the shotgun/crystal/castle though.

additional training like gue fundamentals and some experience with currents like diving nusa penida would be a good way to work up to the more advanced sites in komodo.

there are areas of komodo that are less exposed so you don't have to deal with current or rough conditions. like wainilu/secret garden/sebayur. but it would suck to go all that way and miss other sites like the shotgun/crystal/castle though.

additional training like gue fundamentals and some experience with currents like diving nusa penida would be a good way to work up to the more advanced sites in komodo.

Funny thing is my incident with the strong current happened at crystal bay in nusa penida although Im not sure if that was normal day or a much stronger day than normal. Now that I think back to that dive I sort of feel like we drifted way to far on descent and then had to work harder and longer than expected to get to the desired location which is what exhausted me.

 

[weeksd]

Check when the full moon is and avoid that time. Batu balong dive site in the middle of the channel between komodo and rinja island has whirlpools all around. It does have down currents also. It might be the one site to avoid. Makassar dive site is a flat plain 60ft deep and has current but just go with the flow to see mantas. Shotgun when done north to south you end up in a beautiful coral garden. The other direction you MUST be on a particular side of the channel to avoid the down current. All the other sites are fine