Caught in a Surge

[bongabonga]

real example on how bad is split fins against current...

 

[razorbackdiver]

First of all that looks cool as heck.
Second that looks to be beyond my current training and experience level.

I going to Bonaire this summer is this what the advanced only sites look like?

 

[jwelburn]

And... dang it, somebody beat me to the split fins joke!

 

[ccx2]

Wow, I'm a lowly OW card so my opinion won't hold much weight, but I think they shouldn't have been diving there or wouldn't have been if they had a good dive plan. Or maybe they had the correct Card for that dive.

 

[Scuba-dan]

What's the hand signal for "I've got two broken legs"?

What the hand signal for i did a little poo poo in my suit?

 

[Hank49]

I was in a surge at least that bad in Tobago many years ago....
The one I was in was about 100 yards worth, to get into a vast 4 football field size enclave full of more fish than any place I have ever seen in my life. The waves were like 40 foot rollers, many breaking.
This was a place where three major currents converge about 3 miles out --someone familiar with Tobago may know the area I am speaking of.

I do have to say, this is an awesome video, and my hat is off to both the videographer and his "stunt man" with camera, in the video!!!!!!!

Just to be clear, this is roughly a 30-35 foot wave. The one in the video was probably in the 6 foot range based on the water depth and even then it would have been almost Pipeline like dumping from deep, onto shallow water. 6 feet is big. 10-12 foot face and will hold you down longer than you want to be if you get caught in the impact zone. 40 feet is fricken' huge. The whole ocean is alive then. I would be screaming for my mama.

 

[Oldbear]

I was once caught in on in the UAE. Not as dramatic as the surge in the video, but still enough to make me feed the fish.

 

[xyrandomyx]

Just to be clear, this is roughly a 30-35 foot wave. The one in the video was probably in the 6 foot range based on the water depth and even then it would have been almost Pipeline like dumping from deep, onto shallow water. 6 feet is big. 10-12 foot face and will hold you down longer than you want to be if you get caught in the impact zone. 40 feet is fricken' huge. The whole ocean is alive then. I would be screaming for my mama.

View attachment 146626

Just on the other side of the peak in the picture below are some lovely dive sites suitable for beginners.



And then there's also this:



The two spots are probably no more than a mile apart. Of course, 'good' conditions for diving are not the same as 'good' conditions for big wave surfing.

I was hit by a wave with a 10-ish ft face while playing around in surf when I was a teenager. I remember not knowing which way was up or down. And crawling out the water with sand up my nose, sand in my mouth and handfuls of sand inside my boardshorts from being dragged along the bottom. I don't care to do that again. And I can't imagine diving in that. I'll have to be careful to clarify what I mean when I say I'm 'comfortable with diving in surge'.

 

[danvolker]

Just to be clear, this is roughly a 30-35 foot wave. The one in the video was probably in the 6 foot range based on the water depth and even then it would have been almost Pipeline like dumping from deep, onto shallow water. 6 feet is big. 10-12 foot face and will hold you down longer than you want to be if you get caught in the impact zone. 40 feet is fricken' huge. The whole ocean is alive then. I would be screaming for my mama.

View attachment 146626

Hopefully someone on here will know Tobago.....the area I am speaking of has 3 major currents converging, creating what almost seems like a circle of huge waves around the 4 or 5 football field sized interior....This was far from shore, and on the side of Bucco Reef. Boats could not penetrate the waves here, no matter what. Only a handful of divers have ever been inside this, as far as I know. The bottom was about 55 to 60 feet deep where the waves passed over , and the bottom of the "churn" was at about 47 feet, give or take. Said another way---the waves were of a size that created a huge churning effect down to about 47 feet deep---swim up into the churn, or near the interface, and you would be yanked upward in the rotation.....The "churn" was extremely visible. Vis was about 70 to 100 feet when I did this. The bottom was all coral boulders, with a maze you could make your way through, like channels. The coral structures here came up about to about 6 to 8 feet off the bottom. The waves were enormous. I have done plenty of diving in 12 foot seas, and that would be mirror flat compared to this

---------- Post added February 5th, 2013 at 05:58 PM ----------

I just emailed a few of the dive operators in Tobago....with luck, one will get back to me and have knowledge of this spot...I actually would love to dive Tobago again, anyway
I am not sure who I could get for a buddy on the dive, this go-around. :-(

 

[chillyinCanada]

I'll go with you Dan. Been wanting to dive Tobago and now you'd give me even more reason.